Songpa Korean bar for a French guest and fusion dishes: Jojomomo

Maman Roro came from France! We wanted to try a range of Korean food and traditional Korean alcohol together, so I searched for a Korean-style dining bar, and Jojomomo (조조모모) came up first. I thought a completely, truly traditional Korean meal might be difficult with Maman Roro, so I tried hard to find dishes that reinterpreted Korean food instead.

Jojomomo location and hours

It is at 64-5 Bangi-dong, Songpa-gu, Seoul. For parking, use a nearby public parking lot.

Monday through Thursday, it is open from 5 p.m. to 2 a.m., with last orders at 1:30 a.m. Friday is 5 p.m. to 4 a.m.; Saturday is 3 p.m. to 4 a.m.; last orders are at 3:30 a.m. Sunday is 3 p.m. to 2 a.m., with last orders at 1:30 a.m.

A fresh basement space and bar seats

Downstairs, there is an interior like a wine cave. I was a little worried because it was underground, but contrary to my worries, it was an incredibly fresh, dry(?) restaurant haha. They also warmly welcome solo drinkers at the bar, and with a huge speaker behind it, it seems totally possible to have a stylish drink alone.

A Korean dining bar with lots of traditional drinks

I was so happy when I sat down and looked through the menu. I had found this restaurant by searching for a Korean dining bar, and while the food was great, I especially loved that they had so many kinds of traditional Korean alcohol haha.

Gangsoeju and pre-meal biscuits

For the welcome drink, they gave us Jirisan Gangsoeju. I had tried this traditional alcohol with Jojo before and thought, oh, this is good. It is about 13% ABV, and Maman Roro liked it too. The mashed potato served with the biscuit was not too sweet and was perfect for waking up the appetite before the meal. It felt like settling the stomach with potato before spicy food haha.

From seafood kimchi pancake to cream tteokbokki

The octopus seafood kimchi pancake was ₩18,000. It was full of octopus, mussels, and shrimp, so every bite had seafood in it.

The sea snails with thin noodles and flat dumplings were ₩22,000. They were spicier and more tingly than expected, with lots of sea snails. I explained them to Maman Roro as Korean-style escargot haha. Unexpectedly, Maman Roro really liked them.

The cream tteokbokki (spicy rice cakes) and steamed scallops with gamtae (seaweed) were ₩27,000. Kkaekkae and Maman Roro already like gim (seaweed), so I thought they would like gamtae too, but they did not really get much flavor from it. They were, however, very intrigued by the joraengi-tteok rice cakes reinterpreted in a cream tteokbokki.

The tuna aged-kimchi rolls were ₩12,000. I ordered this for Jojo, but Maman Roro liked it, saying it seemed like the gimbap (seaweed rice roll) I had made before, only without the seaweed.

Slightly frozen nurungji dongdongju

And at Kkaekkae’s strong urging, we ordered a 1-liter signature nurungji (scorched rice) dongdongju (unfiltered rice wine) hahaha. The dongdongju was slightly frozen like a slushie, which made it even tastier. But it was too sweet for Maman Roro ㅠㅜ So Jojo and Maman Roro, who were driving, did not drink, and Kkaekkae and I drank it between the two of us, hehe.

Oh, and the cream tteokbokki came with Outback bread, which went so well with the cream. Maman Roro cleaned the bowl with the bread.

Cute details and thoughtful service

The restroom was outside the restaurant, and there was a huge doll attached to the digital key hahaha. Ah, Kkaekkae and I laughed so much when we saw it. I love these cute little details.

The owner and staff were incredibly kind, too. We were talking while eating and had not even noticed that we dropped our chopsticks, but they brought us new ones. While we were in the restroom, they also cleared and reset the table.

Maman Roro was so curious about how they knew to do all this. There is no exact French word for nunchi, though... You could say “bien connaissance,” but it does not quite stick; it feels somehow lacking.... Hmm. Anyway, Maman Roro said she wanted to come here again before going back to France haha.