A Super Popular Korean Restaurant: Enjoy Cheese-Topped Budae Jjigae and Korokke All in One Go!

Text & Photos byPaine (a.k.a. Little Paine)

My second visit was in 2016, and my first was way back in 2011. When I came here in 2011, the place had just opened. I came because it was owned by Hwangbo JJ, and there weren’t any new dishes at that time.

The restaurant was super crowded, so I didn’t take many extra photos. It felt like the business was even better than when I came before.

They served three side dishes to start, and the kimchi was really tasty!

Here’s the menu. Now, the main dish has become the one on the right — or rather, it’s a combination of previously available dishes that have now been put together into this popular set meal. The cheapest option starts at 19,500 KRW for two people. One person can also eat it, but it’ll still cost 19,500 KRW!

Note: This combo set is only available at the Hongdae branch, according to netizens. The Myeongdong branch doesn’t offer it, so you might have to choose either the stir-fried budae jjigae or the Simpson Soup.

Also, Uncle Won said this butter-soy sauce mixed rice is something many Koreans used to eat in their childhood and still miss. You should definitely give it a try.

We ordered the four-person portion. In the middle is the Simpson Soup (also known as budae jjigae), with cheese, korokke, and the so-called stir-fried budae jjigae on the side.

The cheese on the side needs to melt a bit and coat the korokke to be really delicious.

Like before, the table came with garlic that you can add into the Simpson Soup. It tastes a bit like budae jjigae, but I thought it was much better than the first budae jjigae I tried. After being scared off by the smell the first time, I didn’t want to try budae jjigae again. It has ham, kimchi, and other ingredients.

The korokke is delicious — the mashed potato has a slightly salty flavor with a bit of minced meat.

It goes really well with kimchi. Koreans also enjoy boiled potatoes with kimchi, and this feels quite similar.

A nostalgic butter-soy sauce mixed rice!

Give it a stir, and the taste is actually pretty good. It’s somewhat similar to Taiwan’s lard rice, except the aroma of lard is replaced with that of butter. Highly recommend coming with friends — you’ve got to try it, it’s really delicious!

Recorded in 2011. Continue the K-star food adventure in Seoul~

I introduced this before:Kim Hyun-joong’s Spear Fried Chicken shop,and next, I’ll introduce another cafeteria invested in by Hwangbo Hyun-jung — Ma Lou Xing. “Ma Lou” means Simpson in Korean (as in the cartoon), and some people romanize it as “Sin-sen.” So Ma Lou Xing can be translated as Simpson Soup (Hall) or Sin-sen Hall (Soup). ~~~~ If you’ve watched “We Got Married” and remember the Lettuce Couple, you probably won’t be unfamiliar with the nickname “JJ” for Hwangbo. Both Mainland China and Taiwan tend to call her that. From online info, I found out that the shop opened by Sister Hwangbo is near Hongdae, a about a ten-minute walk from [Hapjeong] Station — not far at all. The walk there is quite nice, good for strolling around. (You can also go from Hongdae Entrance Station — see the map at the end.)

Not far from exiting Hapjeong Subway Station — the building looks really nice from the outside!!!

Passed by a cool-feeling café — this is a fork in the road, please take the left-side alley!!

Still don’t know what kind of flower this is — but it’s really pretty anyway.

The clothing store I passed by also seemed to have a lot of style!

Found it!!!

During my time in Seoul, I ate at many places — but Ma Lou Xing gave me the most comfortable and least noisy experience.

The decor of Ma Lou Xing is simple but has a lot of cute design details in the small things — the little embedded dolls on the walls are really eye-catching.

The ceiling, plus the relaxing music playing in the shop, made for a really comfortable dining experience!

There’s an interview with Hwangbo on the wall!!!

Each item on the menu is 6,000 won, but the lunch set that you have to order is for two or more people~ So I couldn’t order it!

Since I was ordering just for myself, I inevitably faced some restrictions~ The staff were very polite—wonder if JJ trained them specially?! The service was also very friendly, even though I took forever looking at the menu, hahaha!!!!

The side dishes on the table

The garlic and the garlic press on the table

Please look at the next table!! But this seems to be an addition to other dishes~

In the end, I ordered a single portion of chumoongung? Uhh??

The side dishes were delicious~ and you can order more!

The portion size is about one person’s worth~ The pork slices were really big too. The taste of the kimchi was definitely distinct~ it’s a kimchi hot pot, after all~ I thought it was pretty good~~~~

I saw the pan-fried dumplings in the photo and they looked so good, so I ordered another serving~

But I think Korean pan-fried dumplings aren’t as good as the ones in Taiwan~ the filling inside is loose and has a gingery taste, while the Taiwanese ones are better~~

When paying the bill, I saw JJ’s signature on the counter~^^2015 new dish, photo provided by the official Facebook page

The soup in the middle is budae jjigae (army stew), with fried items, cheese, and stir-fried budae (?) etc. on the side.

Ma Lou Xing Simpson Soup
Address: ?聘 谷屿? 滞酋杠5湃? 16 (Naver/Daum Map)
Phone: 02-323-8310
Business Hours: 11:30 ~ 23:00
Coordinates: 37.553836, 126.921746
Map Source:Hancom Chinese Edition Korea Map(Authorized use)

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