Gwangju Western restaurant for kids: red shrimp at Suwanjigu Form

Why we returned to Suwanjigu Form

I really love Western food and I'm a pasta person through and through. My son loves Western dishes with seafood like shrimp and clams :) I had such a great memory from my first visit that I was excited to come back. Last time it was just my husband and me, but this time our little kid joined us too, haha.

Where Suwanjigu Form is and why a small car helps with parking

Suwanjigu Form sits in the alley where all the restaurants in Suwan district cluster together. If you see a spot in the nearby alley, just park there. We got lucky and parked in the building's own lot, but I come around here often and there's usually at least one spot free in the alley when I circle around. Since it is an alley, though, I'd recommend coming in a small car.

Inside Suwanjigu Form: the mood and the open kitchen

When you arrive at Form, you're greeted by this gorgeous display of blue and red ribbons—proof of a great restaurant. I'm a big fan of Blue Ribbon spots, especially since there aren't that many in Gwangju.

Once inside, they show you to your seat. I love that it has such a clean open kitchen. My son really loves restaurants where he can watch all the cooking happen, haha.

The interior is full of atmosphere. Past the two-seater tables, there's a lovely window by the four-seater section. With the soft lighting, the mood is really nice. Probably because the food is good and the vibe is romantic, there were a lot of couples on dates, haha.

There's even a restroom tucked inside this stylish interior! The green door on the left is the restroom door—at first I almost didn't realize what it was.

Suwanjigu Form menu and summer seasonal dishes

After sitting down for a bit, they bring the menu. The summer seasonal menu was still running. All three dishes looked amazing. We ended up ordering the cuttlefish dish from this lineup. I'm curious what the fall seasonal menu will look like!

Unrolling the atmospheric leather menu reveals a list that feels like it carries years of history :) The ingredients are listed in detail, which made choosing much easier. They also mentioned that if we needed to, we could search the menu photos on Naver. I'm a bit of an analog person though, so I picked based on the ingredients alone. I had such a vivid memory of everything being delicious last time, haha.

The menu notes that they use good seasonal ingredients. I guess the foundation of great food really is the ingredients :)

And true to its status as a stylish Western restaurant landmark in Suwan district, the wine list was quite extensive.

On a special day or an anniversary, a glass of wine is a must. We browsed happily, looking forward to our next anniversary here, haha.

Wild red shrimp, the dish to order with a child

The dish we'd been waiting for arrived. Wild red shrimp with arugula, lemon, four kinds of herbs, and orange cognac sauce! It looked absolutely delicious. The alcohol from the cognac cooks off, so kids can eat it too ;)

You could taste the tomato-based sauce in this dish. The seasoning wasn't heavy at all, yet somehow it was so delicious..! The herb aroma was subtle, so the kid had no trouble eating it. It really felt like eating a proper 'dish', not just a plate of food.

Every bite of the plump, juicy, springy red shrimp made me happy!

Yum... shrimp and tomato is always a good combo and can sometimes feel a bit predictable, but this was fresh and not boring at all.

Here's our kid looking very pleased with how good it tasted, haha. He loves shrimp, so if your child loves shrimp like mine does, this is a great restaurant to come to together.

Gorgonzola cream pasta (the vongole was sold out)

I originally wanted the vongole pasta, but it was sold out that day! Since we also love cream pasta, we ordered this instead. It looks delicious just by looking at it, haha.

It's a rich, thick, savory pasta made with gorgonzola and several other cheeses. Whether you love gorgonzola will decide how much you like this, but my husband called it 'overwhelmingly delicious.'

For us, a couple who loves rich food and craves it sometimes, this was perfect. Our kid ate it well too. We didn't even ask them to adjust the seasoning, and overall nothing was over-seasoned—every dish that came out was delicious.

They also serve this refreshing, tangy kimchi, so even when the pasta feels rich, one bite of this and you can keep enjoying the richness without getting overwhelmed, haha.

Seasonal cuttlefish dish and melon sherbet

This is the seasonal cuttlefish dish, with tomato sauce, water dropwort, and anchovy breadcrumbs. A whole plump cuttlefish sits right on top.

It cut so smoothly and gently. The plump cuttlefish flesh looked really delicious.

It went so well with the sauce, and while it felt similar to the shrimp dish, it was also different in its own way! Bouncy and really tasty. Honestly, two of our dishes ended up being seafood, and they're somehow low-carb too, haha. I told myself it counted as a diet meal :) But either way, we ate really well.

Right around the time we were finishing up, they brought out dessert—melon sherbet. Sweet, melt-in-your-mouth, and such a nice way to end the meal. It was such a happy time. This is genuinely the kind of wonderful restaurant that makes you want to come back for an anniversary.

Suwanjigu Form reservations, hours and closing days

On the way out, there's this cute Form sign :_) Suwanjigu Form, the Western restaurant in Suwan, has me curious about the dishes I haven't tried yet and how the seasonal menu will change each season. I really recommend it for a special occasion or any day you want to treat yourself to a lovely meal. PS: advance reservations are recommended!

• Hours 12:00 - 22:00
• Break time 15:00 - 17:30
• Last order 14:00, 21:00
• Closed Sundays and 2nd/4th Mondays