Ohnmaeul, Korean, Seoul

The beauty of bab-jip* is that you can get a hearty meal at a good price. Usually it costs 5000-6000KRW (￡2.5-￡3)for a soondooboo jjigae (soft tofu in spicy soup. usually served in very hot stone bowl), a bowl of rice, 5-10 banchans**. It is a very good deal given that a cup of Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf latte costs 4300KRW (￡2.15). These bapjips are a permanent feature in Korean salarymen's life.

Unfortunately, finding a decent bap-jip is hard to gety by. Banchan, no matter how simple they seem, is hard to master. That is why I was glad to discover Ohnmaeul in my neighbouring Samcheong-dong, an area that is becoming more trendy every day. The resturant was very satisfactory that I kept wondering why I did not come here any sooner.

*bap-jip : literaly translated, rice house.Usually serves rice, soup and various banchan.

**banchan: side dishes, commonly put in the middle of table to be shared. Kimchi is a type of banchan.

Ohnmaeul specialises in tofu dishes and they even make their own tofu on premise. Tofu is made of 100% Korean soybeans that they source specially from a certain farm. As you can see on the rice spatual-turned-menu (if you can read Korean, that is) the prices are set at a very reasonable range. Soondoobu jjigae, dooboo jeotgook (dooboo soup seasoned with shrimp sauce), begee jjigae (ground soybean stew) are all 6000KRW, all served with a bowl of rice, and assroted banchans. Other stews (jeongol) that you cook on the miniature stove(as you can see in the picture below )cost 8000-9000KRW. (￡4-￡4.5)

We ordered a haemul pajeon (seafood spring onion pancake). Spring onions were sweet despite not being in season, squid and shrimps were scattered around the top. The batter was very crispy like any nice pajeon should be. It was served with sweet and sour soy sauce. It was nice but wished it was slightly heavier on seafood.

I was told that jaeyook bokkeum (stir fried sliced pork in sweet and spicy sauce) id also good.

This is their selection of banchan. Clockwise from left, kimchi, myulchi bokkeum, moosanegchae, sesame leaf namul, kong-namul.

Baechu kimchi was not a mature variety. It was good. Very good in fact, given that a lot of restaurants serve industrially manufactured ones to cut cost. My colleague raved about how cripsy myulchi bokkeum (dried anchovies fried and then candied) was but on the day I visited, it was not crispy. I blame the hot and humid summer in Korea. But it tasted good nonetheless.

Moo saenchae (ribbon cut radishes semi-pickled in sweet, sour, spicy seasoning) was OK,

sesame leaves namul (seasoned cooked sesame leaves) was good. Kong-namul (seasoned soy bean sporut) I did not touch because I am not a fan of the vegetable.

Rice was served in traditional brass bowl. Not only was it beautiful but also kept the rice warm longer. One more thing I liked about Ohnmaeul is that they don't use plastic plates. They are all earthware. I really hate it when restaurants use plastic plates. I understand that they are cheaper and lighter, but the sight of some people putting hot food on plastic dish horrifies me. I have come to terms with these places, but still I get annoyed.

I ordered Kimchi and dooboo stew. Kimchi and dooboo are sitting in a spicy soup with Korean leeks, sliced chili, spicy paste, mushrooms and a bit of pork. You let it boil for a while until it is bubbling away. You take a ladle out of the pot to your individual plate and you eat it. The restaurant claims not to use any MSG in the food, but in the soup, I tasted a little bit of it. Still, it is a lot les than some restaurants I have been too.

I am very happy with this restaurant. I will keep coming back.

Dooboo kimchi jeongol : 8000KRW/person (￡4.0)

FYI, more menus.

haemul pajeon (seafood spring onion pancake) : 10000KRW (￡5.0)

jaeyook bokkeum (stir fried sliced pork in sweet and spicy sauce) : 10000KRW (￡5.0)

Dooboo busut jeongol (Tofu and mushroom stew) : 9000KRW/person (￡4.5)

Saengdooboo (sliced plane tofu served with sauce) : 7000KRW (￡3.5)

Seoreetae dooboo (tofu made of black bean) : 9000KRW (￡4.5)

온마을

서울시 종로구 삼청동 123번지

02)738-4231

Ohnmaeul

Jongrogu Samcheongdong 123

02)738-4231