Suwon course dinner: chuck flap steak add-on vs chicken breast, Hado

I made a reservation in advance to try course dining in Suwon, and headed to Hado (하도).

What we chose that day was the ₩45,000 per person Hado basic course. When booking, you can pick one pasta and one steak per person, so we each chose differently — vongole and squid ink oil for the pastas, and chicken breast steak and sirloin steak for the mains.

If you're visiting as a pair, picking different items instead of ordering the same thing and splitting them turned out to be a pretty good approach.

Where is Hado? 928m from Maegyo Station, near Haenggung-dong in Suwon

Hado is located on the 1st floor at 138 Hyanggyo-ro, Paldal-gu, Suwon-si, Gyeonggi-do. It's about 928m from Exit 6 of Maegyo Station on the Suin-Bundang Line, and there's a public parking lot right next to the restaurant you can use.

Reservations are available too, so we booked ahead before visiting.

It's not far from Haenggung-dong, so it's also a good spot to head to for dinner after a date around Haenggung-dong or Suwon Hwaseong Fortress.

What comes with the 45,000-won Hado basic course

Right now Hado's signature courses are the ₩45,000 basic course and the ₩69,000 summer course, and choosing the sirloin steak adds ₩21,000.

The menu items we chose that day were vongole and squid ink oil pasta, plus chicken breast steak and sirloin steak.

The course went in order from starters to pasta, steak, and finally dessert.

Two small starters that open the Hado course

The very first thing to arrive was two small tarts.

One was a tart topped with finely diced apple, and the other used green peas and greens — the two sat side by side on a small wooden plate, and even the first course had lovely plating.

The portions weren't large, just one or two bites each, which was a nice light way to start before getting into the pasta properly. The colors of the two starters were clearly different too, so it felt like a course meal from the very beginning.

Vongole pasta loaded with clams

We ordered two different pastas between us.

The vongole came with noodles twirled up in the center of the plate, surrounded generously with clams.

I picked this because I prefer oil-based pastas over the heavier feel of cream pastas — and thinking about the steak to come later in the course, this style of pasta in the middle worked out well.

There was also the fun of picking out the clam meat one piece at a time to eat with the noodles.

Squid ink oil pasta: a complete contrast to the vongole

Second up was the squid ink oil pasta.

The black ink noodles were twirled up high with a small squid placed in front — the contrast between the black noodles and the white squid was striking, and it photographed really well.

If you're visiting as a pair, I think it's better to each choose a different pasta like this rather than ordering the same one.

Taking a bite of the vongole and then a bite of the ink pasta, I noticed that even though they're both in the oil family, the overall feel of each dish was quite different — ordering both together was a good call.

Chicken breast steak, the no-extra-charge main

After the pastas, the main steak arrived.

The option you can choose in the basic course without any extra charge is the chicken breast steak.

As you can see in the photo, the chicken breast comes as a fairly thick piece, with carrot purée spread wide underneath.

Grains and herbs were plated on top, which gave it a look quite different from the usual idea of a chicken breast dish.

The plating was clearly given as much attention as you'd expect from the main of a course meal, so even without paying extra for the upgrade, choosing the default option didn't feel like a letdown at all.

Chuck flap steak (salchisal) for 21,000 won extra

The other person switched to the sirloin steak. Based on the current reservation, the add-on charge is ₩21,000.

It came on a large black plate with two pieces of sirloin and mashed potatoes served separately.

Cutting into the meat revealed a pink cross-section inside — visually, it was clearly a different experience from the chicken breast.

Rather than picking just one of the two, ordering one of each like we did and sharing them is a good approach too.

It was also nice being able to compare the paid-upgrade sirloin against the default chicken breast side by side in one sitting.

Ice cream to finish the Hado course

It was a simple dessert — ice cream placed in the center of a wide white plate, topped with sauce and a dark garnish.

Most of the course had used black plates up to that point, but the final dessert arrived on a white plate, which naturally shifted the mood.

Since the food didn't all come out at once but rather one dish at a time, we ended up eating more slowly than we usually would for a meal — that pacing was part of the fun of course dining.

Dining as a pair? Order different pasta and steak at Hado

One of the things I liked most about booking the Hado basic course was that each person can choose their own pasta and steak.

At ₩45,000 per person, it's not an especially cheap meal, but considering it's a full course from starters through pasta, steak, and dessert, it felt like a reasonable price for a special-occasion meal.