Daehangno Indian restaurant for butter chicken and lassi before a play: Meono Kkameona

What should you eat before a play so people say you ate well.. I'd been craving naan from an Indian curry place for ages, which is how I ended up at this restaurant near Hyehwa Station.

Meono Kkameona Daehangno Branch

Meono Kkameona (머노까머나) apparently means "hope" in Nepali. Here's my review of curry cooked by an Indian-Nepali chef with over 10 years of experience 🧚🏻♂️

It's open daily 11:00–22:30 and is located on the 2nd floor of the Ewha Building, 236 Changgyeonggung-ro, Jongno-gu, Seoul (서울 종로구 창경궁로 236 이화빌딩 2층). It's about a 5-minute walk from Hyehwa Station Exit 4.

You can take either the stairs or the elevator. If you use Asia Parking Lot, the first hour is free and it's ₩2,000 per 30 minutes after that. Takeout is available too.

Indian-style interior and seating

The restaurant is decorated in an Indian style. There are tables for 2, 3 and 4, plus group seating, so larger parties can come too.

How many kinds of curry and naan are there?

Menu

There are recommended dishes and set menus, and from all the different curries to the tandoori chicken and so on, there were so many things that looked delicious.

Okay, first of all, the menu is seriously huge,, I had no idea there were this many kinds of curry. Just picking which curry took forever.

I really love eating Indian curry with naan, and there were so many kinds of naan that choosing took ages too. There were just too many things I wanted to try, so even after narrowing it down, the two of us ordered no fewer than 5 items haha

What the two of us ordered

• Butter chicken curry ₩12,000
• Chicken Masala (spicy chicken curry) ₩12,000
• Butter naan ₩3,000
• Garlic naan ₩3,000
• Tandoori chicken half ₩10,000
• Mango lassi ₩4,500
• Strawberry lassi ₩4,500

Can two people really finish all of this,,

Butter naan and garlic naan, bigger portions than expected

The garlic naan, butter naan, two chicken curries and two lassis came out, and I was thrown by how much naan there was.... I'd been about to order a bowl of rice too because I thought the naan wouldn't be enough — good job holding back, me.... The garlic naan is the size of two palms, and the butter naan comes as four whole pieces.

I thought the garlic naan was a stingray. What is that size? The butter naan is glossy, I guess because it's brushed with butter, and the garlic naan has little garlic bits on top. Not raw garlic.

The curry on top is the Chicken Masala and the one at the bottom is the butter chicken curry. They may look small but the portions are absolutely not small... One would have been plenty for two people, but we wanted to try different flavors so we ordered both.

How the butter chicken curry and chicken masala taste

Since I loooove butter naan, I go straight in scooping butter chicken curry onto a piece of butter naan for a bite. Wow,, the buttery flavor of the butter naan is no joke. I figured the butter chicken curry wouldn't be my style since it isn't spicy, but it's a fancy, buttery curry and so delicious. How did I forget this taste for so long... One bite in and I decided this is my Indian curry spot in Daehangno.

The butter chicken curry is creamy and buttery with a lighter spice aroma, so beginners can eat it without any trouble, whereas the spicy chicken curry was a different kind of spicy from what we're used to in Korea. The spices were a bit stronger than the butter chicken curry and it was more Indian-curry-like. I love butter so the butter chicken curry was my pick, and Imo said the chicken masala was theirs.

The stingray-sized garlic naan can't be eaten unless you cut it up.

We basically ate it like pizza haha. Unlike the butter naan, the garlic naan isn't brushed with butter so it doesn't feel coated, and it tastes exactly like the garlic flavor you'd imagine. I love garlic, so the garlic naan was also so good with the curry.

Curry with lassi and tandoori chicken

And the lassi (yogurt drink), which I always order with curry!!!!!! If you've never had a lassi, you absolutely must try try‼️‼️‼️‼️ It's a yogurt-flavored drink that cuts through the richness of the curry and, above all, it's just so good.......

While eating the curry it felt like a shame not to order tandoori chicken, so we got a half, and of course the portion was big...🫢

Dip it in the hot sauce in the middle and it's spicy and delicious. You get a hint of spices in the hot sauce too.

Wrapping the sliced chicken in naan is delicious too.

Why it made a great pre-theater meal

Where did all that naan go? It's located near the Daehangno theaters and the food comes out fast, so it seems like a great place to eat before heading to a play. I loved that the Indian-Nepali chef cooks everything himself, so you get all kinds of Indian curry and naan with the authentic local taste.

The butter naan * butter chicken curry * lassi combo in particular was my perfect match

The portions are really generous for the price so we ate until we were reeeally full, and I recommend Meono Kkameona Daehangno Branch as a great restaurant in Daehangno.