Yeonnam-dong Japanese restaurant lunch with a niece: Jongno Donburi

Where is Jongno Donburi Yeonnam

• Jongno Donburi Yeonnam
• ⏱️ Mon–Fri 11:30–21:30 / Sat 11:30–21:00
• 📍 9 Donggyo-ro 46-gil, Mapo-gu, Seoul, South Korea, B1

Picking a Japanese restaurant in Hongdae, landing on Jongno Donburi

Since my sister, my niece, and I were already around Hongdae, we stopped by Jongno Donburi, a Yeonnam-dong favorite, for lunch. There are plenty of good Japanese restaurants near Hongdae, but here's why I picked this one — the place looked clean and had a nice atmosphere, and the food looked appetizing and neatly plated. It's not every day I get a Hongdae outing with my sister and niece, so I didn't want to just pick any Japanese place at random — after much deliberation, I chose Jongno Donburi, a Yeonnam-dong favorite.

The exterior looked exactly as pretty as the photos I'd seen beforehand, so I went in with high expectations — and the interior lived up to it, just as pretty and clean. Since I don't get to eat out in Hongdae that often, I didn't want to just eat anywhere, so this was perfect!

Interior atmosphere and cleanliness

The interior was clean, so I was satisfied on the hygiene side too! Japanese restaurants serving donburi tend to be more of a quick one-meal-type spot, and a lot of them fall short on cleanliness, but this place had a pretty, tidy interior. It felt like a proper trip to a good restaurant, which put me in a good mood haha.

How to choose from the menu

The menu board as seen from outside! Once you sit down, they give you a separate menu with pictures too, so it was easy to pick. There's donburi, nabe (hot pot), udon, and a variety of side dishes, so it seemed easy to choose according to your taste! My sister said she wanted sake-don, and I loved that the salmon menu was split into several options by cut. I also love nabe and bukkake udon, but today we ordered sake-don and mix katsudon first, plus natto, which I'd been curious about.

Broth soup and 3 side dishes

The broth soup and side dishes came out first — the soup was tasty, and all three side dishes were good too. Garlic stem pickle, chili pickle, and pickled radish — I'd buy them as a set of three if they sold them packaged haha.

Sake-don: the salmon was thick

The sake-don (salmon rice bowl) came out first! I thought the salmon portion might be small, but it was so thick and large that it actually felt generous for the price. Big enough to be satisfying even cut in half!

The rice was already seasoned, so there was no need to dip it in soy sauce — just piling rice, salmon, and wasabi together made the seasoning perfectly balanced, and the salmon was so good!!!! No fishy taste at all, and the texture was great too. My elementary-school niece ate it up happily haha.

Mix katsudon: both the shrimp and the cutlet were huge

After a spoonful of sake-don, the mix katsudon and natto arrived — honestly, so many places serve katsudon that looks thrown together these days, but this one looked properly made from the start. It just looked so good~ I'd been craving a thick, hearty Japanese-style pork cutlet, and the visual hit exactly the spot.

It comes with fried shrimp and a pork cutlet, and both the shrimp and the cutlet were huge... The cutlet had a high meat ratio but wasn't dry at all — it was tender. The shrimp meat was nice and plump too, very satisfying~ The seasoned onions on top of the rice were pickled just the right amount. The portion was surprisingly big, so eventually everyone was full and kept offering the katsudon to each other haha. But it tasted too good to leave behind, so we forced ourselves to finish it even though we were stuffed. This is exactly how you gain weight~

The natto I ordered out of curiosity — my niece finished it completely

The natto I ordered because I was curious... my niece ate the whole thing!! Haha I still don't really get why natto is supposed to be good, but my niece mixed it into her rice and cleaned the bowl, saying it was too spicy without even adding wasabi — what is she even tasting that's so good,,? Haha I guess people who don't gain weight easily eat differently too.

Good for solo dining or a date too?

Jongno Donburi, a Yeonnam-dong favorite with great food and an even better atmosphere, also seems good for solo dining, and the atmosphere makes it well suited for a date too! It's a Japanese restaurant worth recommending near Yeonnam and Hongdae, and with a variety of donburi, nabe, udon and more on the menu, it's a good spot to come back to whenever you're craving different kinds of Japanese food. Next time I'll have to come back for a solo meal.