Manriseong: Classic Chinese Restaurant in Seocho

2019-12-15 · Updated: 2026-08-11 · Original (Korean)

This article was translated from the original Korean post with AI assistance. Read the original Korean post →

My team loves drinking so much that we're famous in the company as the heavy-drinking team. Everyone has their own quirks when it comes to favorite foods and how they eat them, and our newest member didn't disappoint—he has one too. He is absolutely obsessed with yangjangpi (spicy seafood and vegetable salad with mustard sauce). I think having a specific food preference is better than having none, but he's been endlessly drinking soju with yangjangpi for months now. And the place this yangjangpi fanatic names as having the best he's ever had is Manriseong, a Chinese restaurant right in front of our office.

It's a representative Chinese restaurant in this area that has been in business for decades, and it's so packed during lunchtime that it's hard to even get a bowl of jjajangmyeon (black bean noodles). The jjajangmyeon and jjamppong (spicy seafood noodle soup) served at lunch are high quality, so my coworkers go there often. It's rumored to be great at imparting bulmat (smoky wok hei flavor), so we dove right in to set up a feast full of that fiery flavor purely for the sake of drinking.

Stir-fried julienned vegetables and seafood topped with a raw egg yolk.

Close-up of a dish with mixed raw egg yolk, stir-fried vegetables, and seafood. — Yangjangpi. The nose-piercing mustard flavor is milder than at other places. It feels more focused on the quality of the ingredients rather than the spiciness of the mustard.

Thinly sliced meat topped with shredded green onions and surrounded by century eggs. — Another main dish here, ohyangjangyuk (five-spice sliced boiled pork). When this comes out, it disappears at a terrifying speed along with the drinks. It looks like regular pressed meat, but the slightly tart sauce takes it to another level.

A green round table set with various Chinese dishes including gochu-japchae (stir-fried peppers), kkotppang (steamed buns), and tangsuyuk (sweet and sour pork).

White kkotppang (steamed buns) placed next to stir-fried julienned bell peppers and meat. — Gochujapchae (stir-fried pepper and pork). It's a dish I personally really like, and as expected, Manriseong's version is quite good. The vegetables are so delicious that I wonder if they've mastered the art of stir-frying them.

Several empty soju and beer bottles on a table. — Phew..

Since the office is right next door, I expect I'll be posting an endless stream of photos. Even the photos above are a compilation of shots I've been taking since summer. It's just that delicious, and the prices are reasonable too. The dishes are priced in the mid-20,000 KRW range, but if there's one downside, the portions are a bit small. It might just be because four big eaters attacked the food, but it feels like they held back a spoonful or two. Another drawback is that there are days when the food tastes really off—I'm not sure if the chef changes or if there are shift rotations. Once, the tangsuyuk (sweet and sour pork) came out so hard it was difficult to eat, though I don't know why that happened. At a glance, it's a restaurant run by a Chinese or hwagyo (ethnic Chinese) family, so I don't think it's an issue of high staff turnover; I figure it was just a temporary fluke.

It gets extremely crowded and hosts a lot of company dinners in the evenings, so I highly recommend making a reservation. They also have a website running, though it's not the prettiest. http://www.manrisung.co.kr/home/b2.php

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