Korean restaurants are everywhere in Shin-Okubo, but Mamonaku Busan Eki (that’s Japanese for ‘next stop, Busan Station’) still manages to stand out.
The restaurant is beside the JR railway tracks and is designed to look like a Korean train, so you can sit in a booth, look out the window and feel like you’re on a train bound for Busan. As you might expect, most of the dishes on offer are from Busan, and every main comes with access to the all-you-can-eat buffet counter.
One of the restaurant’s main dishes is naccopse, a shrimp and octopus hotpot popular in Busan. The crispy ingredients with sweet and spicy seasoning are delicious, and it’s served with a cute twist: little bird-shaped egg cakes sit on top of a large fluffy cloud of cotton candy. Don’t worry about the sweetness – this hotpot normally has plain sugar added to it, so the sweetness cuts through the spice.
Other main dishes include samgyeopsal (pork belly), Korean barbecue, budae jjigae (spicy sausage stew), and cheese dakgalbi (spicy stir-fried chicken).
The all-you-can-eat buffet counter features classics like kimbap (Korean sushi rolls), chijimi (Korean-style crepes), tteokbokki (spicy rice cakes), and four types of Korean fried chicken. There is also a drink bar where you can pick alcoholic and non-alcoholic refreshments to accompany your meal, like Korean pear juice or corn silk tea.
A 90-minute sitting costs ¥2,178 at lunchtime and ¥2,728 at dinner. The price includes one main dish of your choosing, the buffet and the drink bar. The restaurant is popular, so make sure to book your table in advance.