카모메, Kamome (Onigiri)

Kamome was my go-to lunch place over summer. It’s tasty, the kimbap/onigiri things are amazing, cheap and comically big. There are branches of Kamome all over the shop. This one is located in Bangi-dong.

Their menu can be a little bit confusing if you don’t read Korean too well, but if you grab a take-out menu (usually located next to the till) there are pictures.

I opted for the Kamome (카모메 세트) Set for 6000 won. This comes with your basic udong (카모메 우동) and your choice of aaannnnnnyyyy onigiri. I went for a mixed, this is just two of the fillings in one onigiri. There is a little part on the menu that shows you which combinations you can get (see red circle). I went for #6, tuna mayo and buldalk (spicy chicken). It was lush.
Phill went for Single Set (싱글 세트) for 8000 won. This comes with your choice of any udong and any onigiri. He chose fish cake udong (오뎅 우동) and tuna mayo. However, these actually work out cheaper if you get them seperately. Well done Kamome... you win.

odeng (fishcake) udong

mixed onigiri before munching

mixed onigiri mid munching

I’ve had Kamome several times from 2 different branches and never been disappointed, but I usually just get 2 onigiri, which is enough of a meal for me.
Also, there is a soup station and there are little plastic pots you can use for take out, awesome!!
TIP: When the menu says spicy (two chillies) they mean it!

아우네, Aune (Kimchi Jjigae)

It took a silly amount of time for us to discover this kind of korean dining. I like to called it DIY. I love kimchi jjigae but previous to this place I'd only ever had it as a singular order in a dolsot, which is still amazing, but I like to think of this as the next step up in kimchi jjigae consumption (whats next?!).

This place is amazingly popular, even during Chuseok when Seoul was dead, this place was full. They also have an incredibly daunting menu!

We ordered the small kimchi jjigae (김치찌개) for 13,000. Then we ordered ramyeon (라면사리) for 2,000 to go with it. So, out comes a huge pot with your jjigae inside. In fact, it was so full that we had to make sure it was in fact the small order and not the large. It was HUGE. Then you need to take those scissors and tongs and cut up all the big bits of meat and kimchi you find. Put in the ramyeon and let that cook a little while. Next, eat all the glorious jjigae goodness.

What's really awesome about this style of eating is the fact that you totally control the cooking, so if you get a little full, you can turn the heat right down and just snack on it as you go.

So, if you hold back on the beers (unlike us) then it would each come to 7,500. Which is just flipping ridiculously cheap.

Here's the address: 서울시 송파구 방이동 93-14.

WARNING: Not sure if it goes for all DIY jjigaes, but we've been here twice and the first time we got a less spicy and smaller (but still large) jjigae and the second time was huge and face burningly spicy. So, I think that it might vary massively depending on whose making it!

한솥, Hansot Dosirak

Straight up, this is no fancy meal. This is the epitome of the end of the month type of food. Hansot is a huge chain that does crazy cheap lunch box style meals. Everything is lunch (도시락, dosirak) despite the fact that the branch we went to was open until 9pm. They have a huuuuuuuuuuge menu, luckily, all with pictures!

We ended up getting 칠리포크도시락 (chilli pork lunch) and 빅제육볶음도시락 (which google translate tells me is "the big six stir lunch", I think it was just bulgogi). These came to a WHOPPING 3,400KRW each! They were pretty damn tasty too. Obviously for that price you're not getting the fanciest food, but can you really argue for that much? 

This is definitely the most casual food I've had in Korea. Whilst we were eating several people came in and got take out. It's like student food meets airplane food, and I really enjoyed it. If you're on a bit of a budget then it's actually kind of perfect. 

We will definitely be frequenting one of the many branches in Seoul when we're low on cash.

방이 칼국수 Bangi Kalguksu

This place is freaking tasty and it's always busy.

We assumed that as it's in Bangi Dong (방이동), and it's called Bangi Kalguksu (방이 칼국수) that it was an independent restaurant. However, after some extensive research (a naver search) we found out that it's a decent sized chain with branches mostly around Songpa-gu (Bangi and Jamsil station) but spread as far as Gangnam, Gangdong and Seongbuk. It may have more branches but seeing as their website (www.bangi.co.kr) doesn't work we can't be sure!

Here're the ones we found:

서울특별시 송파구 방이1동 213-8 
서울특별시 송파구 송파동 29
서울특별시 강남구 대치동 1019-12
서울특별시 성북구 동선동1가 123
서울특별시 강동구 암사동 447-27

We forgot to take a picture of the menu, but this will do for now:

전주비빔밥 - Jeonju bibimbap 6000

돌솥비빔밥 - dolsot bibimbap 7000

버섯칼국수 - mushroom kalguksu 6500

칼국순굥샤브샤브 - beef shabu shabu 6500

국수 - noodles 1000

볶음밥추가 - fried rice 2000

We'd never had DIY Kalguksu and had no flipping idea what we were doing. So we boshed together an order of 2 mushroom kalguksu and 2 shabu shabu, which gives you soup, a crap ton of meat, noodles and fried rice at the end. Turns out this is way too much for two people. 1 shabu shabu is enough.

So you get your pot with soupiness and mushrooms etc. You let that cook a little  then put in some meat, which is sliced reeeaaaallly thin so cooks very quickly. So eat the meat and vegetables and then when you want, put the noodles in, cook for a while and eat! TIP: vegetable refills are free. Then at the end they put all that glorious tasty soup in a separate bowl and make the fried rice for you.

Our meal came to a pricey 13000 KRW each, but if you don't order an excessive amount of shabu shabu it should only be around 9750 KRW per person. The next day we were considering going back, so definitely felt that it was worth it.