Wood-fired pizza restaurant in Gwangju: galbi bolognese, Camel Orzo

This time I visited Camel Orzo, an Italian dining restaurant in the Sangmu district with everything from wood-fired pizza to pasta and risotto, using seasonal ingredients and fresh seafood to bring out the natural flavors of the ingredients🍕

[Hours] Daily 11:00–23:00 / [Break time] Weekdays 15:30–17:00, Weekends 16:00–17:00 / [Last order] 21:00 / [Closed] None

Where Camel Orzo is, and what the building looks like

Camel Orzo is located on the 1st floor, unit 102, of Urban Peak Sangmu on Uncheon-ro in Seo-gu, Gwangju. There are several restaurants gathered in Urban Peak in Sangmu, and this one caught my eye from the outside first👀

There's a terrace space running along the front of the building, and the whole place is decorated with such an exotic feel that I wondered for a second if I'd been teleported to Italy ✨

How does waiting and parking work at Camel Orzo?

For waiting, Camel Orzo uses the Table-ing app, so ✔️both remote queuing and in-person waiting are possible. I visited on a Monday evening and there was no wait, but the dining room was still fairly full.

Parking is free at three different spots total. The mall's own Xi parking lot has both above- and below-ground levels, so it's fairly large, but since so many restaurants are packed into the building, it can fill up.

There's also Nice Park parking lot a 3-minute walk away, and Peace Park's underground parking a bit further off — good to keep in mind 🚗

Inside Camel Orzo: seating and atmosphere

The interior overall has a calm, sophisticated mood, with soft lighting that's not too bright — it has the weight of a proper restaurant while still feeling comfortable to sit in 🌸

There's a variety of seating too, from 2-person to 4-person tables, so it looked good for anything from a couple's date to a meal with friends or a family dinner out, depending on the group size.

From the moment I walked in, the staff seated me right away and quickly set out tableware for the right number of people.

Restroom cleanliness rating ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

[Restroom cleanliness] ☑️Separate for men and women 👌🏻 ☑️Toilet paper stocked 👌🏻 ☑️Clean 👌🏻 ☑️Hand sanitizer available 👌🏻 ☑️No odor👌🏻

What's on the menu at Camel Orzo

Camel Orzo's menu centers on pasta, risotto, and wood-fired pizza, but also has soups, bread, and dishes using seafood and meat, so it looked great for a group to order a bunch of things and share. The wood-fired pizzas especially had a wide range, and the pasta options ranged from familiar dishes to combinations I'd never seen before, which was great👍🏻

There are lunch sets and dinner courses timed for different parts of the day too, and since the kitchen is serious about ingredients, every menu description is written out carefully🍃

If it's your first visit, I'd suggest starting with one pizza plus one pasta as a base, then adding a soup or side dish.

Galbi & cheongyang pepper bolognese: mafaldine noodles and smoky short rib

With so many pasta options I agonized for a while before picking the galbi & cheongyang pepper bolognese🍝 — the one with the most Korean-sounding name out of the bunch. It's bolognese made Korean-style, with seasoned galbi (short rib) sautéed like seokgalbi, then finished with tomato sauce, fresh cheese, and spicy cheongyang chili peppers.

The base is tomato sauce, but the sharp heat of the cheongyang peppers cut through any heaviness that could linger in the mouth. There was plenty of galbi in it, and thanks to being charred, it had a subtle smoky flavor and was very tender 🍖 The noodles were mafaldine, a type I wasn't familiar with — the ridged shape held the sauce well and had a really nice texture!! (Can be swapped for linguine)

Camel Margherita, the wood-fired pizza

Since Camel Orzo is also known for its wood-fired pizza, I ordered the most classic option, the Camel Margherita.

Margherita is the signature Neapolitan pizza combination built around dough, tomato sauce, fresh mozzarella, and basil, and each element — the sauce, the cheese, the dough — came through clearly. The cherry tomatoes on top were especially big, and they burst with juice in your mouth for a really refreshing pop🍅

Baked in the wood-fired oven, the crust had a springy bounce as soon as you picked it up, and chewing into it, the inside was moist yet chewy.

Truffle mushroom soup, and why it was added mid-meal

At first I only ordered the pizza and pasta, but partway through the meal I suddenly added the truffle mushroom soup! After a while of eating pizza and pasta back to back, I felt like something soup-like would round things out, so I added it — and the combination turned out great.

It's a cream soup blending truffle with two kinds of mushrooms to boost the mushroom flavor🍄🍄🟫, and it wasn't too thick, so it was the perfect consistency for dipping bread.

Dipping the leftover crust from the pizza into this soup is especially perfect. Since it's wood-fired, the dough is nice and airy, so paired with the soup it's truly the best combination✨

Naver reservation perks and takeout drinks at Camel Orzo

If you book through Naver, they'll give you today's dessert, and if it's your birthday month you can also get a special soda🎂

There was a wide range of drinks too, and beyond drinking in-store, you can also get 20% off if you take drinks to go. It seems like a nice option to skip a separate café stop and just grab a coffee or drink to take with you after the meal🥤

If heavy Western food usually puts you off, I'd still recommend giving Camel Orzo a try. Because they focus on bringing out the natural flavor of the ingredients, the meal doesn't feel heavy afterward and stays clean right to the end. If you're looking for Italian dining in Sangmu that nails both atmosphere and food, give Camel Orzo a visit🍕🍝