Songpa Korean bar for braised pork and warm light: Jojomomo

While looking for somewhere to have dinner in Jamsil, I visited Jojomomo.

Jojomomo’s distinctive atmosphere starts at the entrance

Right from the start, I loved that it felt less like a restaurant and more like an old neighborhood bar that had been beautifully done up. Even the entrance has a slightly distinctive feel.

You have to go down the stairs to enter, and the walls are covered with posters and artwork, so the mood is already quite nice on the way down. Once inside, there were more guests than I expected.

There are tables as well as bar seats, so it looked like a nice place for two people to come for a drink. Above all, the lighting was not too bright and the whole place felt warm, which made the evening atmosphere even better.

What Korean bar food is on the menu?

Looking over the menu, it was a little different from the usual bar menu.

• Signature pork rib suyuk (boiled pork)
• Spicy Galbibi soup
• Kimchi spicy pork with fried tofu
• Pollock roe cheese potato pancake
• Octopus seafood kimchi pancake
• Chive and perilla pancake
• Meatballs

There was more variety on the menu than I expected.

Tender, clean-tasting boiled pork

Our food arrived too, and even the presentation looked perfect for drinks.

The boiled pork in particular was tender and clean-tasting, and it went so well with the chives. It was not overly rich, so I kept reaching for it as a drinking snack. And another quietly fun thing about a place like this was choosing your cup.

A basket held all sorts of little cups, and everyone picks the one they like to drink from. I thought those little details suited Jojomomo’s atmosphere so well.

There were regional traditional liquors too, but that day we kept it light and focused on enjoying the food.

Personally, Jojomomo did not feel like an ultra-glamorous or fancy place. It felt much more like somewhere to sit with close friends, order delicious food, talk, and have a drink.

Tuna-aged-kimchi rolls and pineapple sherbet

The tuna-mukeunji mari, or tuna rolls wrapped in aged kimchi, were better than expected. The tuna worked nicely with the aged kimchi’s characteristic tangy, slightly salty flavor while keeping things light! If the aged kimchi is too strong, it can hide the tuna, but the balance was good when eaten together. They were bite-sized, making them great with drinks, and they also felt like a little palate reset now and then. Especially if you order a rich meat dish, I think adding something like this would work really well. It is not a flashy dish, but it was the sort of flavor I kept reaching for.

The pineapple sherbet was a dish I was really glad we ordered at the end of the meal. Its cool, bright pineapple flavor spread through my mouth and neatly cleared away the richness of everything we had eaten before. It was especially well matched after heavier dishes like meat or suyuk. It was not just a sweet dessert—the tangy flavor really came through—so it was also nice as something light in the middle of drinks or at the end. The cold, smooth texture meant it disappeared quickly spoonful by spoonful, which was a shame. Personally, I would recommend it as a finishing dish after your meal.

For dinner and drinks in Jamsil

Especially if you are looking for somewhere in Jamsil with a slightly different mood from the usual chain bars, this seems worth a visit. The food is seasoned suitably for drinking, and there are plenty of options, so I think it would be easy for a group to choose from too. That said, the prices feel more suited to having a proper dinner-and-drinks gathering than just stopping by for a light first round. I like this kind of atmosphere, so personally I thought it was quite nice.