Gung-dong Italian restaurant in Daejeon: half-and-half pizza at Ciment

Getting to Ciment in Gung-dong and parking

Parking is always difficult in Gung-dong, so it is best to walk over or use a nearby public parking lot. It is a university area, so I think most people come on foot anyway.

There are entrances at both the front and back, and out front there is this retro standing sign and a cute little tin. From the entrance alone, you can tell right away: yep, that is Ciment.

A hip, cute restaurant atmosphere

The interior is pretty hip and cute too. We arrived about 30 minutes after opening, and around three tables were already eating. Everyone was so punctual~ Since it is an Italian restaurant, there was definitely a higher proportion of women diners, or couples!!

The restaurant has tables for two and four, plus an eight-person table for groups. It would be quite good for a department get-together too. Ordering at the table was convenient.

Ordering pasta, risotto, and half-and-half pizza

Here is the menu at Ciment, a popular Italian restaurant in Gung-dong. There were lots of choices including pasta, risotto, and pizza, but we wanted to try a bit of everything, so we ordered bacon cream pasta, spicy seafood tomato risotto, and a half-and-half pizza with potato and chipotle.

Isn't half-and-half pizza the best? If you want to try several things, absolutely order it. Plus, every menu item is such great value that you can order everything you want 🥹 There are so many expensive Italian restaurants these days... university neighborhoods are the besttt.

A self-service bar for pickles and sauces

After ordering, we headed to the cute self-service bar in one corner of the restaurant. There were pickles, Tabasco, peperoncino, and Parmesan cheese, so we brought Parmesan, Tabasco, peperoncino, and pickles to have with the pizza. Water is self-service too~!

The letters of Ciment were written differently on each dish. Such a thoughtful touch, and sooo cute ❤️ The younger sister I went with said, “Oh? It is perfect for you, unni, because you are T...” Oh really?!

A mountain of bacon cream pasta

The bacon cream pasta came out first. Honestly, because it was so affordable, I expected a small portion—but it arrived like a mountain 🫢 There was loads of bacon on top, plenty of cheese sprinkled over it, and the pasta was cooked well. It was so rich and savory with just the right seasoning. A flavor that people with kid-like tastes would absolutely love.

Spicy seafood tomato risotto packed with seafood

To keep things from getting too rich, we added something a little spicy! The spicy seafood tomato risotto was not actually hot; it was just enough to cut through the richness. I liked that the rice was not overcooked, and there were lots of huge pieces of squid and shrimp in the risotto, so every bite filled my mouth 😋 The tomato pieces that popped up here and there were delicious too.

Half potato, half chipotle pizza

Last came the pizzza! All the sauces for the pizza, ready! Cola over ice, ready! After eating two dishes, we thought, “Oh, this might be a lot...?” But it came on a thin crust, so we finished it without feeling overly full.

The potato side was piled with stretchy cheese and toppings, plus plump shrimp. The chipotle shrimp pizza had just a tiny bit of heat, while the potato side came with sweetened condensed milk for that sweet-and-salty appeal. Sweet, salty, and spicy all together made for such varied, abundant flavors 👍🏻👍🏻

And if you want to add a new flavor while eating, add hot sauce, sprinkle Parmesan, and top it with peperoncino. In the end, we scraped up every last bit of all three dishes. I really, really love pasta. I love great-value restaurants like this even more~~ If you are looking for an affordable restaurant or date course in Yuseong, I recommend Ciment, a great Italian spot in Gung-dong.