Raw salmon chazuke lunch near Hongdae Station: Ochaya Yeonnam

If you're looking for a tidy, filling, healthy meal in Hongdae, Ochaya is the place I want to recommend. Ochaya specializes in ochazuke (tea-poured rice bowls) — a menu that covers taste, nutrition, and health all at once :)

Ochaya Yeonnam's location and hours

The storefront of Ochaya

Ochaya sits on a Yeonnam-dong street near Exit 3 of Hongdae Station. It doesn't even have a break time, so if you're looking for a good Hongdae Station lunch spot you can hit any time of day, I'd recommend this one!!

• Ochaya Yeonnam
• Hours: Daily 11:30–20:30
• Last order: 19:50

What exactly is ochazuke?

This is a place to eat ochazuke, a Japanese home-style dish where rice and toppings are poured over warm broth. You can choose toppings like salmon, buta no kakuni (braised pork belly), eel, kaisen (seafood), or mentaiko (pollack roe). It's delicious eaten plain, and once you're about halfway through, pouring the broth over makes it even easier to eat — two ways to enjoy one dish!

The interior and seating

Ochaya has a cozy atmosphere with wood tones and warm lighting

One side has a full window wall, so you can enjoy a delicious lunch bathed in natural light

The warm wood-tone atmosphere matches the Japanese home-style menu really well, and I felt at ease :)

There are group tables, seats for two, and spots that are good for solo dining too, so it seems great whoever you come with!

Kiosk ordering and the menu

You can conveniently order from the menu via kiosk

Tap order and a variety of ochazuke menu options come up

Side menu

You can also add extra meat :)

Salmon chazuke, ordered raw without abburi

What I ordered was the salmon chazuke!! Sake chazuke. You can choose the abburi (torched) option :) I tend to prefer raw salmon, so I skipped the abburi option

The salmon chazuke arrives beautifully arranged. Rice piled high with salmon topping, loaded with scallions and flying fish roe, and the broth comes separately in a flask. A mountain of salmon!! I could feel how generous they were with the ingredients.

And there's warm broth in a warm tokuri (sake flask) too! The heat was well preserved, so I could pour it warm throughout the meal, which I loved.

Three side dishes

Three side dishes come out: pickled radish and two kinds of kimchi

Seaweed comes out too, and it's so good eaten together with it!!

The sake chazuke looked so pretty, and they also placed a bit of wasabi on the side, so it was easy to add as I ate. The rice wasn't plain white rice either — it was lightly seasoned with various ingredients mixed in, which made it even healthier

Rice on seaweed, piled with salmon, topped with wasabi and pickled radish — so good!!

Not too heavy on flavor, so it's easy to eat without feeling weighed down!! A menu that takes care of both health and taste, so I really recommend Ochaya haha

A dish I'd recommend to anyone looking for good lunch spots near Hongdae Station!!

The portion of ingredients is so generous that you never have to worry about running out of salmon while eating!!

Pouring the broth halfway through

Once you're about halfway done, pour in the broth haha. After pouring the warm broth, mix it in well haha

Even easier and lighter to eat once you've mixed it in. It's a dish that digests well too, so it felt light on the stomach haha

Sometimes if I eat too much I feel heavy or bloated afterward, but with this dish I didn't have to worry about that at all, which I loved

Once you pour it and mix it, the chazuke just slides right in

Adding wasabi makes it even more delicious haha

And since the hot broth is poured in, the outside of the salmon gets lightly cooked — this is so good too!!

It felt like eating two different dishes — two distinct charms in one chazuke

I ate every last bite without leaving anything behind. Cleared the side dishes too~! If you're looking for a light, satisfying lunch spot near Hongdae Station any time of day, I really recommend Ochaya Yeonnam :) A place I want to visit again!!