“Omakase†is a Japanese word meaning “to entrustâ€, and it means that if a customer entrusts cooking to a chef without a separate menu, the chef makes the food with the freshest ingredients of the day. Omakase, which was mainly composed of high-end sushi restaurants, expanded into various food fields such as Korean beef, Chinese food, and desserts, and there were more opportunities to experience it. Recently, “imo kase,†a combination of the names “aunt,†and “omakase,†which affectionately refers to long-time hostesses, is gaining popularity.
Immokase originates from 'Nadri Foods' located in Euljiro. Seemingly, they are dressed like old supermarkets, but when a laid-back evening comes, there are plenty of drinks. Through broadcast appearances, the store as well as the imokase set-up became sensationally popular. Imocase is a “entrustment†concept where the owner of the restaurant entrusts all the snacks, and the menu composition changes every day depending on the ingredients that come in that day. The warm hospitality that can only be felt in imocase, such as reasonable prices and thoughtful service, gives you as much satisfaction as a luxury omakase. The menu and prices are not fixed, so reservations are essential. Here are 5 of the best 5 “imo cases†that make your aunt do whatever she wants.
Immokase restaurants include Euljiro Nadri Food, Changdong Happy Sake Shop, Seongsu Country House, Seocho-dong Lucky Restaurant, Hongdae Donggang Seafood Steamed, Jangchung-dong Dongmaemeil, Inhyeon-dong Log House, Yeokchon Masanjip, Jeju Seogwipo Geesejip, Seogwipo Cheongjane Food House, Gangneung Soju Kitchen Complex, and Ulsan Wook Ine Pocha.
1. Changdong's “Fun Sake Festival†filled with all kinds of colors
Image source: Jeparkje's Instagram
Image source: Jeparkje's Instagram
As for the “Fun Sake Shop,†a bar table with a “†character has a large place in the middle of the store. Being able to watch the boss cook food from the table raises my expectations to the fullest before the meal. Before main dishes such as salad, buttercup sauce, fish paste, and wakame soup are served, a full meal is filled with just the basic side dishes. The signature menu is “entry-made dressing,†which presents dishes with fresh ingredients that change day by day, such as bosam, raw oysters, komak, and octopus sashimi. Bossam, which is the most popular course, is cooked thoroughly and stands out for its soft texture. If you put a bunch of bosam and garlic on top of the lettuce and then put the dipped miso on top, you can feel the savory flavor on your stomach. The menu offered by the boss as a service, such as toast and tteokbokki, adds a hearty touch.
[Shikigami Tip]
â–²Location: 341 Nohae-ro, Dobong-gu, Seoul
â–²Opening hours: 17:00 – Deadline changes, closed on Sundays
â–²Price: Consignment dress 50,000 won, Bossam 34,000 won
â–²Testimonial (Rantanguri, the god of food): An unassuming drink stand unfolds in a small shop. There are 10 types of basic side dishes, and the menu that changes every day is all delicious. I ordered it and tasted all of the day's menus. They were eating in full swing, and they gave me a warm toast, and at the end they even gave me a fruit dessert! All of the food you made was delicious~ I really enjoyed it! Please note that reservations are accepted 3 days in advance!
2. 'Lucky House' in Seocho-dong, where you can enjoy the fresh taste of the sea
Image source: syh9775_globalmove's Instagram
Image source: happy___jong's Instagram
The “Blessed House†is an eye-catching “lucky house†with many green plants placed in front of the red brick house. Paper with the names of various menus such as gourd sashimi, barley gulbi, and mackerel soup is attached to the walls and doors of the store, but there is a fixed price and it's not something you can eat every day. The signature menu, “Take-out,†offers dishes made with the most delicious ingredients of the day, starting with side dishes such as kimchi and stir-fried fish paste. The main dish is prepared with a focus on seafood such as sashimi, red fish ribs, cuttlefish, cuttlefish, oyster chijimi, and stew. Different flavors are offered each season, such as mullet, flounder, and croaker, according to the season. Speaking of pocket circumstances, you can also feel the warm feeling of being served with sashimi, stew, stir-fried meat, and white rice according to the price.
[Shikigami Tip]
â–²Location: 15, Nambusunhwan-ro 323-gil, Seocho-gu, Seoul
â–²Business hours: 11:00 – 22:00 every day
â–²Price: 60,000 won for a luggage
â–²Testimonial (Food and Drink Certificate Collector): There's no fixed menu, but once you go there, it's a steamed restaurant that always comes to mind. The name of the sign is Lucky House, so I think they only sell pufferfish, but you can eat a variety of fish dishes and white rice. If you pay 60,000 won per person and order a takeaway, you'll get an unspeakable amount of delicious food. When I went there, they made sashimi and spicy soup using fresh flounder as the main ingredient. Needless to say, the taste was great. I think it would be nice to treat guests.
3. 'Donggang Steamed Seafood' in Hongdae, a feast of seasonal seafood brought from production areas
Image source: qkrthwjddd's Instagram
Image source: qkrthwjddd's Instagram
At “Donggang Seafood Steamed Seafood,†you can enjoy seasonal seafood as the main ingredient. Dishes are prepared with seafood from production areas, such as raw oysters from Tongyeong Mountain, sea bream from Jeju Mountain, and redfish from Heuksando. The signature menu is “Do Your Way,†a seafood course dish that brings out the seasonal seafood purchased from the market the same morning with the owner's hand. In spring, you can enjoy octopus shabu, todari mugwort soup, and cockle shabu in winter, raw oysters, large yellowtail, raw cod soup, and gameki. At the end of the course meal, a seafood soup or spicy soup filled with blue crab, scallops, octopus, and shrimp is a great way to finish off with a cool finish. Please note that you can order for 4 people or more at your own discretion.
[Shikigami Tip]
â–²Location: 15, Wausan-ro 23-gil, Mapo-gu, Seoul
â–²Opening hours: 11:30 – 22:00 every day
â–²Price: 50,000 won, whatever special, 35,000 won
â–²Review (Shikigami Wonkiok): It's full of seasonal seafood, so it's fun to visit every time the season changes. We made a reservation 1 week in advance. No matter how big the boss's hands were, they did whatever they wanted, and grilled shrimp, petrified fish, steamed fish, etc. came out constantly. Among them, the guamegi was really delicious. It had a chewy texture and no characteristic fishy smell, so it was a taste that kept on my hands.
4. A 'country house' in Seongsu-dong where you can make all the menus you want
Image source: pea_wandookong on Instagram
Image source: aaaaa.rim's Instagram
[Shikigami Tip]
â–²Location: 36-9 Seongsu-ro, Seongdong-gu, Seoul
â–²Business hours: 14:00 – 22:00 every day
â–²Price: If the customer says what they want without a fixed menu, they will make it for you
â–²Testimonial (): At first, I was puzzled because there wasn't a menu, but they actually made everything for me because they said what they wanted to eat. I ordered stir-fried pork, mussel soup, and assorted noodles, and they were all delicious! It's also perfect as a snack for drinks. They also ate kishimasu and samgyeopsal in the seat next to them. Not only does it come out just the way you want it, it's also delicious! Wouldn't a place like this really be a steamed restaurant? hehe
5. A rich array of Jeju ceremonial food, Seogwipo's 'Food Dog House Crawl to Seo-jip'
Image source: k_positive_'s Instagram
Image source: gt_9ok's Instagram
You can find traditional festival food from Jeju Island with the meaning of “food dog,†which means a ritual in the Jeju dialect. The signature menu is the “cookware shop set,†which fills the prize with four types of assorted noodles, three-color herbs made of bracken, spinach, and bean sprouts, pork pilaf, and grilled sea bream. The savory flavor of the platter, which is poured in oil at the same time as ordering, consists of skewers, pumpkin paste, dongtaejeon, and dongjeon, which is fun to choose from and eat different flavors. Grilled red snapper with tender flesh and a salty flavor is perfect as a snack. Bibimbap, which is eaten by adding egg rice and cutting herbs into small pieces, adding gochujang and sesame oil, is also a delicacy.
[Shikigami Tip]
â–²Location: 48 Dongmun-ro, Seogwipo-si, Jeju-do
â–²Opening hours: 18:00 – 01:00 every day
â–²Price: Food basket set 35,000 won, seafood pancake 13,000 won
â–²Testimonial (like eating and eating abs): I only eat dog food sets here. It was nice to be able to eat herbs together with rice crackers that require a lot of effort to make one by one. It felt like a really special day. It was the familiar menu I used to eat on the day of the festival, so I drank the makgeolli. The food kennel set can also be wrapped, so next time I think it would be nice to pack it up and eat it at home!
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