Chungmuro rice bowl restaurant for group lunch: Haekbap Dongguk

Today my coworkers and I decided to do a lunch get-together near the office, so I went looking for a good spot and ended up at Haekbap Dongguk, a Chungmuro Station restaurant with all kinds of fusion dishes! Let me share how the visit went and how satisfying the food was. Let's gooo~~~~

Where is Haekbap Dongguk and what are its hours?

Haekbap Dongguk is on the 2nd floor of a building at 11 Seoae-ro 1-gil, Jung-gu, Seoul, not far from Chungmuro Station. It's open 11:00–21:00, with a break time from 15:00–16:30 and last order at 20:30. Naver rating is 4.81/5.0, and group seating and parking are both available.

Off we went, following Naver Maps!! I visited Haekbap Dongguk, a well-known spot near Chungmuro Station. It's close enough to the station that we all searched it up and headed over together at lunchtime.

On the left side of the building, you'll find a staircase — follow it up and you'll reach Haekbap Dongguk! I knew it was on the 2nd floor, but it was nice to be able to find it so easily.

Inside Haekbap Dongguk: seating and the lunchtime wait

The inside of Haekbap Dongguk has plenty of varied seating spread out, so it was great for a group. At the start of lunch it was about 30% full, but by the time we left it was nearly 90% full.

It was really hot out that day, but the inside was so cool that walking in felt like arriving in heaven, haha. Since it was lunchtime, it started off around 30% full but filled up to almost 90% as time went on!

The seating was varied and spacious, so it was comfortable to use, and it looked like a lot of office workers like me were coming in for lunch too.

The place had a clean, bright atmosphere, and true to being a fusion restaurant, all kinds of delicious smells hit you the moment you walk in. Haekbap Dongguk serves everything from donburi to ramen, so I felt it was even better with a group, haha.

Turns out the name Haekbap comes from the idea of a restaurant that sticks to the 'core' (haek) of rice (bap)?! I had no idea, but reading these fun little bits of trivia around the store was its own kind of fun, haha!!

What four of us ordered at Haekbap Dongguk and what it cost

Every table at Haekbap Dongguk has its own tablet, so ordering was quick and easy. The four of us ordered pork jowl donburi (₩11,900), mazesoba (₩10,900), cold soba (₩9,900), and cheddar cheese katsu — four dishes in total.

• Pork jowl donburi - ₩11,900
• Mazesoba - ₩10,900
• Cold soba - ₩9,900
• Cheddar cheese katsu

For self-serve side dishes, we scooped out some diced radish kimchi and pickled radish! Classic basic sides that go perfectly with a Western-style set menu or ramen.

Cold soba, 9,900 won: the summer lunch pick

First up, cold soba! Of course soba is the summer move.. We just wanted noodles that day so we all ordered this one together, and it was seriously, seriously good. The seasoning was just right, cold and refreshing, and it went down in slurps.. There were plenty of vegetables in it too, so the texture and flavor were both great.

The four of us ordered four dishes to share, but the cold soba was so good we polished it off right away. The broth was genuinely refreshing — I really think soba is the summer menu item!

Pork jowl donburi, 11,900 won: the signature dish

The signature dish here: pork jowl donburi. We all agreed we had to order at least one meat dish! At ₩11,900 for a single order, isn't the portion incredibly generous?! It comes with grilled rice cake, salad, and even soup, so you can eat until you're full. The meat was really substantial too, and it had a slight kick of spice that cut right through any greasiness. This is the kind of dish nobody could dislike.

The pork jowl donburi is a dish I'd call nearly impossible to mess up, and everyone was satisfied — the spiciness gave it that feel of Korean food fused with Japanese food. Hearty, tasty, and clean-flavored, we cleared this one out too in no time!!

Cheddar cheese katsu: tablet-only, not on the printed menu

Since we'd ordered meat and noodles, we figured we should get some fried food too, so we ordered the cheddar cheese katsu! It's not on the printed menu, but it was on the tablet, so we ordered it. It's stuffed with a whole block of cheddar cheese and it was genuinely delicious. The one downside was the portion size was really small........... Splitting two pieces between four people made it feel a bit skimpy, but the flavor was so, so good.

The fun twist was that it was cheddar cheese instead of mozzarella, which gave it a new kind of flavor that made it even more enjoyable. It all disappeared the moment it landed on the table since we dug in together at once, haha.

Mazesoba, 10,900 won: peanut-based sauce

Last up, mazesoba!!! One of my coworkers loves mazesoba so we ordered it too. The noodles felt thick, almost like udon, and the egg yolk with the nutty peanut-based sauce really lived up to expectations.

The sauce unique to mazesoba gave it a distinct texture and flavor that I was a big fan of! For anyone who likes mazesoba, this version wasn't overly intense but had a clean flavor that I really enjoyed.

Is Haekbap Dongguk a good spot for a group lunch?

We polished off all four lunch dishes within an hour, eating happily the whole way through. Nothing here was polarizing — everyone enjoyed it without complaint! Personally, the soba and the pork jowl donburi were my favorites. Not overly heavy, but filling enough — perfect for a lunch menu.

Haekbap Dongguk near Chungmuro Station has fair prices and such a varied menu that I think I'll be back here often! I'd especially recommend it as a spot for a lunch get-together.