Seodaemun Korean restaurant for solo butadon: Sunhui Dining

Sunhui Dining (순희다이닝) is a butadon (Japanese pork rice bowl) specialty restaurant between Sinchon Station and Ewha Womans University Station, near Ewha Womans University.

Are there good seats for dining alone?

Near the entrance, the bookshelf-style cubbies gave it a café-like feel. Seats facing the window were set up for solo diners, making it nice to eat slowly in a bright spot.

How do you use the butadon menu and self-service bar?

There were three menu items: 36-hour-aged butadon, 36-hour-aged spicy butadon, and soboro high-piled galbi rice. After ordering at the kiosk, I took as much clear soup, baekgimchi (white kimchi), and salad as I needed, and rice could be refilled if it was not enough.

For the cabbage salad, I could choose black sesame sauce or yuzu dressing, whichever suited my taste. I only took as much food from the self-service bar as I could eat.

What is the difference between the 36-hour-aged butadon and spicy butadon?

With the regular butadon, I broke the egg yolk and mixed it into the rice. The version with extra meat felt like it had more meat than rice.

The spicy butadon came with peppers and scallions. It was not as intensely spicy as I expected; if you can comfortably eat something about as spicy as Shin Ramyun, it should be manageable.

When is it a good time to visit?

It suited times when I wanted a hearty meal near campus, whether eating with a friend or having butadon alone. Being able to use the self-service bar for rice, salad, and more also made it easy to adjust the portion.