Hongdae restaurant in Seoul for spicy seafood oil pasta: Omil Hongdae

After shopping around Hongdae on a weekday evening, my friend and I stopped by Omil Hongdae for dinner! There are so many good restaurants in Hongdae that I kept debating where to go, and ended up finally checking out Omil, a place I'd been curious about for a while~

What we ordered at Omil Hongdae instead of the rubber duck omurice

Omil is especially famous for its rubber duck omurice, so I originally thought I'd try that haha. But once I actually looked at the menu, pasta and gnocchi were calling my name more than omurice that day haha

So after some back and forth, we ended up ordering based on what we actually felt like eating.

What Omil Hongdae is like on an early weekday evening

I visited on a weekday evening, but since it was a bit early, we luckily got seated right away with no waiting!

But as we ate, more and more customers started coming in. It really does get busy during peak hours, so if you want to avoid waiting, visiting a little earlier for dinner seems like a good idea.

I also liked that Omil is close to the Airport Railroad line, which makes it easy to find when you're shopping or meeting friends in Hongdae~!

It also seemed like a solid pick for anyone on a date or shopping trip with friends in Hongdae who's looking for a place to eat!

Water and pickles inside the restaurant were self-serve. Since we both like eating in a relaxed, no-fuss way, this kind of system actually felt nice and easygoing.

One small thing I really liked was that phone charging was available! When you're shopping around Hongdae taking lots of photos and constantly using your phone, the battery runs out fast. Being able to charge while eating was surprisingly convenient :)

How the spicy seafood oil pasta tastes

Now let me properly introduce what we ordered~ First up was the spicy seafood oil pasta. It costs ₩17,900.

As the name suggests, it's an oil-based pasta with seafood, with a slightly spicy kick that cuts through the richness. With oil pasta, there's usually a point midway through where it starts to feel a bit greasy~ but this one had a gentle spiciness that cleanly cleared that heavy feeling, which suited my taste haha

It wasn't intensely spicy — more like a light heat rising through the nutty flavor of the oil! (Though my friend who can't handle spice said it was spicy for her ㅠㅠ)

So if you like oil pasta but don't want something too greasy, this should work well for you. It's also not too heavy to share with a friend, so it's a good one to order and split between two people haha

Gnocchi eaten with the salmon steak

The second dish was the salmon steak gnocchi! It cost ₩19,900. Honestly, this was the dish I enjoyed the most that day.

Instead of eating the salmon steak on its own, I gently broke it apart with a fork and ate it together with the gnocchi. This combination was honestly amazing haha

Eating the soft, flaky salmon together with the chewy gnocchi gave you several textures in a single bite. The chewy bite of the gnocchi paired so well with the tender salmon that I kept going back for more. If you usually like gnocchi, this is worth ordering at least once :)

Drinks ordered alongside: Hoegaarden and Seagram

We also ordered some drinks that day, simply. Hoegaarden was ₩7,900, and Seagram was ₩3,500. After all that shopping and walking, something cold sounded great, and it was perfect alongside the meal.

If you came to Omil Hongdae for the rubber duck omurice

The dish most people come to Omil for is the rubber duck omurice~ Kids at another table were eating it, and they seemed to absolutely love it!!

Given how cute it looks, it seems like a great pick for visiting with kids or for anyone looking for something a bit different!

Verdict on the oil pasta and salmon steak gnocchi at Omil Hongdae

That day we ordered exactly what we were craving — the spicy seafood oil pasta and salmon steak gnocchi — and both were satisfying!! I especially liked how the slight spice in the oil pasta cut through the richness, and the combo of salmon with gnocchi was genuinely delicious :)

Sadly, I didn't get to try the rubber duck omurice this time, so next time I'll head over a bit earlier to finally try that famous dish too haha