Mutan Yeouido — Truffle and Steak Jjajangmyeon, One Bowl Feeds Two

A Korean-Chinese restaurant on the second floor of TP Tower in Yeouido. 4.9 across 2,993 reviews — that is a high score on a sample large enough to mean something.

First: this is Korean-Chinese food, not Chinese food

Jjajangmyeon is wheat noodles in a thick black sauce made from fermented black bean paste, and it is one of the most-eaten dishes in Korea. It grew out of Chinese immigrant cooking in Incheon and became its own Korean thing — if you know Chinese zhajiangmian, this is sweeter, darker and glossier.

Almost every neighbourhood in Korea has a cheap version. This place is the opposite end of that scale.

The signature: steak and truffle jjajangmyeon

This is the dish to come for. The most-mentioned word across those 2,993 reviews is jjajangmyeon (1,352 times), and the second is truffle (930).

Thin slices of black truffle go on top of the black bean sauce, with thick pieces of steak through it. They are not stingy with the truffle — the aroma genuinely comes up at you.

Portions are large. Two adults can share one bowl and be satisfied. With another dish alongside, three can share. If you order one bowl per person you will leave food behind.

The chilli fried chicken (gochu yurinji)

The other headline dish, third-most mentioned at 754 times.

Crisp fried chicken arrives buried under a mountain of finely sliced green and red chilli. It looks alarming in photos.

Easy to skip because of how it looks. It is the third most-mentioned dish in the reviews.

How to order

This is a place for a group, not a solo meal.

• Order two or three mains and share. This is the right way. Ordering one dish means seeing half of what the kitchen does
• Look at the set menus. They are reasonable value — better than ordering the same dishes à la carte

Beyond the noodles and chicken, reviewers often mention menbosha (274 times) — deep-fried shrimp toast — plus chadol jjamppong (spicy seafood-and-beef noodle soup, described as unusually thick) and mapo tofu served in an earthenware pot.

On price

Being straight: it costs more than an ordinary Korean-Chinese restaurant. That may put some people off.

The portion size offsets a lot of it. Counting one bowl as two servings, the per-person figure drops more than you would expect. The set menus help further.

I could not confirm exact prices. Budget generously.

Book before you go

Reviews repeat the same thing: people who did not book nearly did not get in. Even a weekday evening fills up.

Google Maps shows a booking button on the listing. Use it.

The restaurant also posted an event offering three kinds of handmade dim sum to customers who reserve — but it excludes same-day bookings and says it may end early, so whether it is still running is (changes often — please verify).

Getting there

It connects directly to Yeouido Station. Second floor of TP Tower, so you can arrive dry in the rain. Yeouido is an office district without much sightseeing around it, but for sheer ease of access this is among the easiest good Chinese restaurants to reach in Seoul.

It closes at 10:00 PM.

Practical notes

• Payment — card is standard
• Ordering — a photo menu and a well-known signature dish make this straightforward
• Vegetarians — this is a meat-and-seafood menu; options are limited

Who this suits

• ✅ You're curious about truffle and steak on Korean black bean noodles
• ✅ You're a group and can share two or three mains
• ✅ You want somewhere reachable without leaving the subway
• ✅ You can't eat spicy food — the chilli on the fried chicken is the mild kind
• ⚠️ More expensive than a typical Korean-Chinese place — check the sets
• ⚠️ Turning up at dinner without a booking will not work
• ⚠️ One bowl per person is too much food