Mapo Naru — Restaurant in Seoul

I lived in Seoul from 1995 to 1997, and I lived in Mapo for half of that time. I was an English teacher, and many other English lived in a nearby building called Sam Chang Plaza that's still there. They introduced me to Mapo Naru, and it quickly became my favorite restaurant. They had the best kimchi in Seoul if you like "Seng" Kimchi, meaning fairly new, crispy, and not that fermented. My favorite dish was Dakdoritang, which I equated with a western dish called chicken cacciatore. A third culinary memory I had of the place was "dong dong ju", which is a rice wine, similar to Makkoli, except Mapo Naru's Dong Dong Ju was way better (smoother, a bit sweeter) than any makkoli I had. I also remember the restaurant served Dong Dong Ju in wooden bowls, or gourds, with little slivers of garlic floating in it. Finally, I remember the pajeon (green onion pancake). All the teachers, and all my friends and dates that I took to the restaurant liked it but I was the only one who always raved about it. It was a nice place, not fancy, and there were always people there, but it was never packed; you never had to worry about getting a table. I left South Korea in 1997 and have lived in the US since then. I recently returned to Seoul for the first time since '97, and I am amazed at how the country has changed, but that's another story. With all those changes, I never thought a non-descript place like Mapo Naru would still exist, but thank god it does. It still looks basically the same and the dishes I loved are still on the menu are just as good as I remember! Except for some reason they changed the names. Dakdoritang is now called something like "DakJim" (steamed chicken) and the Dong Dong Ju is not "Naru Ju" (port wine). I swear, this is one of the world's best restaurants. The only criticism I have is that the atmosphere, while still nice, is not as homey as before. Covid had something to do with that, as some of the tables now have plexiglass between them. Also, you have to order with touch screen IPads now, which may have made sense during the pandemic, but is unnecessarily cold now. Maybe it's more efficient, but not as cozy. The food is still great, and the place has been successful; I believe they opened a couple nearby branches. Definitely go here - if you...

The restaurant has a convenient electronic ordering system (I think Korean only).

We ordered dolsot vegetable bibimbap, octopus bibimbap and a seafood pancake, which was plenty of food for the 2 of us (especially with the complimentary banchan).

Card payments (Mastercard) accepted. The prices were reasonable, but it's not the cheapest option...

When I try to find a nice restaurant, the first thing I see is how many menus are there. But even this place has many menus, the food was fantastic, especially the chicken stew. I didn’t expect the taste, but I was really satisfied...