Pangyo Japanese omakase for a first date: house wine pairing, Kkweda

When I want to eat somewhere with good atmosphere in Pangyo, the food matters, but I also look for a place with seasonal dishes I can't get any other time. This time I went to Kkweda, located in Pangyo Avenue France.

Kkweda feels a bit different from a typical Japanese omakase — it's built around charcoal-grilled dishes and courses combining varied ingredients. What I especially liked was that the course lineup changes with the seasons!

Kkweda Pangyo Avenue France Branch: location, hours and parking

Kkweda Pangyo Avenue France Branch is at 143, 1F, Pangyo Hoban Summit Place, 25 Dongpangyo-ro 177beon-gil, Bundang-gu, Seongnam-si, Gyeonggi-do, South Korea. Lunch runs 12:00-14:30, and dinner has two seatings: 17:00-18:45 and 19:00-21:00.

• ⏱️ Hours — Lunch 12:00-14:30 / Dinner 1st seating 17:00-18:45 / Dinner 2nd seating 19:00-21:00
• 🅿️ Parking 1) Avenue France underground lot — 3 hours free
• 2) Hanshin Church outdoor lot (opposite Avenue France) — free exit
• 3) Avenue France 2nd lot — 3 hours free * 31 Daewanpangyo-ro 606beon-gil, Bundang-gu, Seongnam-si, Gyeonggi-do

A Pangyo omakase whose course changes with the season

Looking at recent reviews, Kkweda is known for changing its course by season. So even if you visit the same place again, you get a different menu depending on the timing — I found that really appealing. ✨

When I visited, the course was built around summer ingredients like watermelon, Korean melon, super sweet corn, sea bass, and neungi mushrooms.

Inside Kkweda: bar seats and a weekend evening in Pangyo

Kkweda has a clean, modern space with an open kitchen, so you can watch the food being prepared.

Besides the bar-style seats, there are also tables and private rooms, so it looked great for dates as well as family meals, gatherings, or business dinners. If you're looking for an anniversary or important meal in Pangyo where the atmosphere also delivers, it fits right in as a Pangyo anniversary restaurant!

I sat at the bar seats on a weekend evening, and both tables next to me happened to be on blind dates :) Since it's a course meal, it's easy to eat slowly while chatting, and the clean atmosphere makes it a good pick for a blind date or date spot in Pangyo!

What is on the Kkweda omakase course menu?

Here's this season's menu. The course changes with the seasons, so keep that in mind when you visit :)

• Watermelon Gazpacho
• Grilled Vegetable Salad
• Super Sweet Corn Custard
• Charcoal Iberico
• Sea Bass Karaage
• Unagi Donburi +truffle 10.0
• Neungi Mushroom & Duck Soup
• Yogurt sherbet
• • Extra single dish — Hanwoo Uni Maki 10.0

Kkweda drinks menu

They had everything from traditional Korean liquor to a wide range of drinks that pair well with the food. It seemed like a good spot to pick a drink that matches the menu and enjoy it together 🍸

Non-alcoholic kombucha highball and house white wine at Kkweda

✔️ Since dinner requires a drink order, we ordered a non-alcoholic kombucha highball cocktail and a glass of house white wine.

Kkweda's summer dinner course, dish by dish

Let me walk you through each dish I had during my visit.

Watermelon gazpacho

The first dish was watermelon gazpacho, made with watermelon, squid, oxalis (sarangcho), and Korean melon together. Using watermelon — the first thing that comes to mind with summer — made the opening dish feel really fresh.

The combination of sweet watermelon and squid was surprising, and the oxalis and Korean melon opened up the palate with a refreshing tang! Since the course didn't start heavy, I found myself looking forward to what came next.

Grilled vegetable salad

Second was the grilled vegetable salad, served with almonds, zucchini, and prosciutto.

The soft texture of grilled zucchini paired with the nutty crunch of almonds, and the prosciutto's saltiness balanced it out, making it much more layered than a simple vegetable salad.

Super sweet corn custard

Personally my favorite dish of the meal — the super sweet corn custard 🌽 Made with super sweet corn and scallops, the corn's sweetness matched beautifully with the scallop's clean, soft flavor.

Turning summer's seasonal ingredients into something this unexpected felt like Kkweda's real charm.

Charcoal-grilled Iberico pork

Next up was the charcoal-grilled Iberico, with Iberico pork shoulder served alongside chimichurri and potatoes. Grilled over charcoal, it had a subtle smoky flavor, and the shoulder's juiciness and texture were great.

Adding the chimichurri sauce lightened up the meat's heavier flavor a bit! While the earlier dishes were relatively light and fresh, this was where the charcoal cooking really made its presence felt.

Sea bass karaage

Sea bass fried until crispy, served with yuzu ponzu and radish. Crispy outside, tender inside, and with the bright yuzu ponzu added in, it didn't feel heavy despite being fried. The yuzu ponzu especially cleaned up the palate, making it a good transition into the next dish.

Unagi donburi (grilled eel rice bowl)

The eel donburi (grilled eel rice bowl) came as the meal course! With eel, Korean melon, and burdock root together, it was a bit different from a typical eel rice bowl. The sweet eel combined with the crisp, refreshing melon and burdock root textures came together better than I expected.

Adding truffle to the eel's rich flavor made the aroma noticeably fuller, so if you like truffle, it's worth adding.

Neungi mushroom and duck soup

Toward the end of the course came the neungi mushroom and duck soup — a warm broth dish made with neungi mushrooms and duck :)

After eating a variety of dishes, having a warm broth felt settling on the stomach. The duck's deep flavor combined with the neungi mushroom's distinct aroma gave it a summer-tonic-soup kind of feel. I liked that instead of just serving rice at the end, they included a warm soup dish like this 👍

Yogurt sherbet

The final dessert was yogurt sherbet, served with berry jam. It was tangy, sweet, and cool, making for a clean finish. After all the meat, eel, and duck, having a refreshing sherbet at the end was just right.

Is Kkweda worth it if you want an omakase in Pangyo?

Kkweda's biggest strength is building its course around seasonal ingredients. I got to taste everything from watermelon, Korean melon, and super sweet corn to sea bass, eel, and neungi mushrooms, and unlike a sushi-focused omakase, the course was made up of charcoal grilling, frying, soup, and rice bowls, which made for a distinctive experience :)

I'd recommend it to anyone looking for a spot in Pangyo for a date, an anniversary, a business meeting, or a family gathering. And since the course apparently changes every season, I found myself wanting to visit again in a different season — this was Kkweda, a Pangyo restaurant worth returning to :)