Located in Apgujeong, Marrr serves you a great bowl of Malatang with individually packaged ingredients to ensure freshness and assurance to customers.
After an hour-and-half-long journey to Seoul and a walk of “just five minutes” (it was close to 20, a very heartfelt sorry to my friends, you were lied to), we got to Apgujeong, a very trendy and fancy part of Gangnam where Rolls Royces and Porsches rule the roads, and were looking for a place to have a late lunch. Unfortunately, we got there when most of the restaurants were on break, but thankfully, we came across Marrr during our search and were ready to devour our bowl of Malatang (Chinese hot pot, but also not really)!
- Picking Ingredients & Making My Malatang Order:
- The Decor:
- Guo Bao Rou (Sweet & Sour Pork):
- Malatang (Hot Pot but Not Really):
- Ci Ba (Glutinous Rice Cakes With Brown Sugar Syrup):
- The Staff & Customer Experience
- Final Thoughts & LLAMASODA’S FAV:
- Information:
Picking Ingredients & Making My Malatang Order:
As with most Malatang joints (and this one), you begin by grabbing a bowl or a basket with a pair of tongs provided by the restaurant, and usually, it should be right next to an open refrigerator where all the ingredients are. You then put in whatever you want in your Malatang, and it’s always fun to try different ingredients every time!
From what I can recall, I had imitation crab, bok choy, varieties of fishcakes, seaweed, chewy rice noodles, spam, lotus root, and a few more ingredients. Although it sounds like a lot, I still had to restrain myself from getting some more as you get charged extra for each ingredient after you put three in your basket (diners who have been here, please correct me if I’m wrong, but I believe one order of Malatang includes three ingredients for free), which was pretty different from what I’ve been used to, as all the other Malatang places I’ve been charge you by weight as opposed to individual ingredients.
Another thing that is different here I’d like to mention would be that the ingredients were packaged individually, which to me is pretty great as it gives a sense of assurance to the customer that the ingredients are fresh, and also that they haven’t been poked and prodded with by a hundred few customers before them.
After I picked my ingredients, I headed to the counter and was asked for my preferred level of spiciness (I picked Level 1, and Level 3 is the highest), choice of meat (they had two options: beef and lamb, and I chose the former), and noodles (again, two options: rice or corn noodles, and I went for the latter). Faithful readers of the literary miracle that is LLAMASODA know very well that I am a fearless seeker of all things hot and spicy, but when there is lots of walking AND a long ride back home involved, one knows when to make some hard yet wise decisions…
In addition to the Malatang, I also got myself an order of Ci Ba (Glutinous Rice Cakes With Brown Sugar Syrup) and a bottle of lemon tea, which is always welcome on a hot day. Then, I walked over to my seat and attempted to wait for my food patiently.
The Decor:
The restaurant’s decor was simple yet trendy and quite reminiscent of a typical cafe or Western restaurant you’d find in the area. If we hadn’t spotted the open refrigerator housing all the ingredients for the Malatang, we wouldn’t have even gone there! Although the decor wasn’t what one would expect for a Malatang restaurant, I still liked it, as the choice of interiors and the overall aesthetic gave the restaurant a sense of airiness and space.
Guo Bao Rou (Sweet & Sour Pork):
The Guo Bao Rou (₩15,000), a variation of your typical Chinese Sweet & Sour Pork (if the name and information is incorrect, blame Google), was a dish ordered by my friend and the first dish to grace our table. The dish’s appearance was very rice cake-like, so I thought it was the Ci Ba I had ordered. I went straight for it as soon as the bottom of the plate touched the table, only to find out that it was an entirely different item I hadn’t even ordered… Oopsie!
Back to the food, the pork had a naturally sweet flavor to it, which the vinegary and sweet sauce definitely enhanced, and as with the taste, the sauce also had a vinegary aroma to it, which did assault the nostrils a little bit, but if that’s what it takes to eat that delicious pork dish, then so be it!! Overall, I’d say it was a pretty great appetizer!
Malatang (Hot Pot but Not Really):
Next was the main event, the Malatang (I forgot the price…), which came in a pretty bowl filled with all the ingredients I had picked out earlier. Although mild, the broth was flavorful, and as weird as it sounds, it felt pretty soothing to me, and I’m assuming it’s probably from my stomach sending in the dopamine as thanks for not torturing it with ultra-spicy food for once. I liked how the ingredients soaked in the broth’s flavors while maintaining their textures and not being soggy mush, which made every bite delightful and varied. I’d also like to add that the ingredients felt very fresh and of high quality, so kudos to Marrr for that! The savory corn noodles were a treat as well, as they were slippery and had the most optimal texture a noodle can have (al-dente bordering towards slightly soft).
I thoroughly enjoyed my Malatang and I strongly urge you to try it too!
Ci Ba (Glutinous Rice Cakes With Brown Sugar Syrup):
We ended our meal with a plate of Ci Ba (₩7,000) (if the name is incorrect, blame Google again), another Chinese dish with glutinous rice cakes served with brown sugar syrup, and a serving of toasted soybean flour and nuts. It was chewy, sticky, and VERY sweet, so I personally had some trouble eating it, but I still enjoyed the few moments I spent with the dish before the toothache began kicking in. If you are into sticky sweets like toffee, caramel, and whatnot, Ci Ba certainly will be something you’ll enjoy!
The Staff & Customer Experience
Aside from the food and decor, I also talk about my experiences with the staff, but this being South Korea, and a Malatang restaurant on top of that, interactions were minimal. However, all of them were positive as they were friendly, speedy, and efficient with our orders! While it is more on the managerial side of things and not quite related to the staff, I’d still like to thank them again for being one of the very few places in the area to be open when we visited. Thank you, Marrr staff and management!!
Final Thoughts & LLAMASODA’S FAV:
All in all, our meal at Marrr was quite reMARRRkable (badum-tsh), and I will certainly visit again when I’m in the area and the craving for malatang strikes!
☆ LLAMASODA’S FAV: The Fishcake That Had an Image Of, Well, a Fish Obviously, in My Malatang (This is the leaked title for Lana Del Rey’s next album)
(Visited 31/08/2024, Written 08/09/2024, Completed 13/09/2024)
Information:
- 📍 1st floor, 29, Dosandaero 53-gil, Gangnam-gu, Seoul
- 🕘 11AM to 10PM Monday to Friday
- 🕘 11:30AM to 10PM Saturday & Sunday
- ☎️ +82 0260833456
LLAMASODA 
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