Weekday Italian bar-seat lunch in Mangwon: bisque cittara pasta, Noju

What is Noju's seasonal lunch course in Mangwon?

Noju (NOJU) is an Italian dining spot in Mangwon where you can enjoy a course meal, and its seasonal lunch course, built around seasonal ingredients, costs ₩38,000 per person. On a weekday when I wanted a special lunch, I headed to Noju, a Mangwon favorite for good-value fine dining!

From the bread and welcome bites to pasta, the main and dessert, everything came out one after another, so even a short lunch break felt pretty special. Let me share how my weekday lunch turned into a lovely dinner-style meal in no time!

Noju location, hours and reservations

• Address: 56 Donggyo-ro 9-gil, Mapo-gu, Seoul, South Korea (2nd floor)
• Hours: daily 11:30–23:00
• Break time: 15:00–17:00
• Last order: 21:30
• Reservations: Naver, Catch Table
• No-kids zone

Noju's interior and open-kitchen bar seats

Noju is an Italian restaurant lined with wine and an open kitchen, and this time I was shown to the bar seats in front of the open kitchen. The mood is different from an ordinary casual restaurant, so I was already excited before the meal even started!

Noju carries around 100 kinds of wine, so it's also worth a look if you're searching for a wine spot in Mangwon!

At lunch you can eat mainly from the course menu, and it's also a nice place to spend a relaxed evening with wine on special days. When you book through Catch Table or Naver there's even a flower bouquet pre-order option, which makes it handy for anniversaries too! Best of all, on my weekday lunch visit I could slip away from busy Yeouido for a while and eat slowly.

Is Noju's ₩38,000 seasonal lunch course good value?

My lunch pick was Noju's seasonal lunch course at ₩38,000. Fine dining can feel intimidating price-wise, but Noju's appeal is that you can experience a course meal at a fairly reasonable price.

The seasonal lunch course is built around seasonal ingredients, and tasting the dishes one by one, enjoying how the ingredients combine and the flavors shift, made it a special lunch. It's the kind of menu I'd choose when I want a special mood at lunchtime, or a lovely meal with a little less pressure during a date in Mangwon.

Focaccia with house-made yuzu ricotta

The seasonal lunch course at Noju starts with focaccia and house-made yuzu ricotta. The zesty yuzu ricotta goes beautifully with the crisp focaccia, a flavor that wakes up your appetite before the meal!

Seasonal bites: beet tart and endive

Next came a bite made with seasonal ingredients: a bright red beet tart and endive. The texture and flavor were really great, fresh yet crunchy, a feast of many different ingredients.

Cittara pasta in bisque sauce

After the bite, the first meal dish was the bisque pasta. Cittara noodles (square-cut spaghetti-style pasta) in bisque sauce, topped with breadcrumbs for texture. It was rich and thick without being heavy, so good!!

Main course: gabrisal pork steak with jalapeño

The main was a gabrisal (pork shoulder tip) steak, with carrot purée, grilled endive and spicy jalapeño playing nicely together. You could taste the quality of the gabrisal in this dish.

Dessert: red bean ice cream

The meal ended with red bean ice cream, a clean finish that reset the flavors in my mouth~ It was nutty and not too sweet, a dessert that made me appreciate the nuttiness of red bean ice cream all over again.

Noju's weekday lunch course in Mangwon: final verdict

Fine dining at Noju in Mangwon was satisfying because you can make a weekday lunch special without setting aside a lot of time. The seasonal lunch course ran from bread and welcome bites through a starter using seasonal ingredients, pasta, the main and dessert, a special meal all the way through!

Thanks to the course arriving one plate at a time, I could really focus on eating, and next time I'm looking forward to a day when I can enjoy Noju slowly with wine!!