After-work solo yakisoba dinner at Suwon Station food hall: Jojo AK

Today I stopped by Suwon Station to swap some stuff with a friend, and while I was there I finally tried Jojo, a Japanese restaurant I'd been curious about for ages — and ended up going solo for a yakisoba set! Jojo is also famous from Culinary Class Wars (the Netflix chef competition), so here's my honest review after actually trying it.

• ⏰ Hours: 10:30-20:00 (closed Sep 25 for Chuseok)
• 🚗 First 30 min free / ₩500 per 10 min after that

Finding a solo dinner spot in the basement of Suwon Station's AK food hall

After work I stopped by AK Food Hall at Suwon Station for a quick catch-up with a friend I hadn't seen in a while! She'd brought me a little gift, which made me so happy haha. Since it happened to be dinner time, I decided to just eat solo at the food hall while I was there.

While deciding what to eat, I remembered Jojo, a place run by a chef who appeared on Culinary Class Wars 2 — I'd been curious about it forever! It's a Japanese teppanyaki restaurant, and their main menu items are yakisoba and okonomiyaki, both of which I love.

At the counter they had these super tempting food models on display. Both the yakisoba and okonomiyaki looked great, so I had a hard time deciding what to order haha.

Why I went with the yakisoba set

This is the menu board at Jojo, the Japanese restaurant everyone talks about near Suwon Station. After going back and forth between yakisoba and okonomiyaki, I was in the mood for noodles that day, so I decided on the yakisoba set, which comes with savory yakisoba and mentai gyoza (pollack roe dumplings)!

I took a seat at the bar table right in front of the shop, but there's also seating set up nearby if you want to eat there — feel free to use that space too!

While waiting for my sizzling teppan dish to come together, I noticed they were also running a Naver receipt review event. They give you a free soda, which pairs perfectly with Japanese food, so it might be worth joining in too.

The yakisoba set, plated after a 10-15 minute wait

Jojo is apparently so popular at the Suwon AK Food Hall that orders were backed up, so they told me the wait would be about 10-15 minutes. I watched the chef cook right in front of me while waiting, and before long my yakisoba set arrived! It's a hearty solo-dining set with an appetizing plate of yakisoba plus a full 5 mentai gyoza.

I started with the yakisoba, stir-fried hot on the teppan! The sauce soaked perfectly into the noodles — totally my style haha.

The yakisoba was loaded with plenty of toppings too — cabbage, squid, pork belly, and more. Tasting it, it was nicely salty with that smoky teppan flavor — definitely a legit Suwon Station spot haha. Since I've mostly been eating Korean food lately, having Japanese food for a change made it taste even better. I dug in fast!

Mentai gyoza: dip in the sauce, not filled with roe

Next up, the mentai gyoza I'd been so curious about! From the name I assumed the roe would be inside the dumpling filling, but it's actually the opposite — you dip the gyoza into a mentai mayo sauce.

Dipping it generously in the mentai sauce, the saltiness of the roe pairs perfectly with the gyoza ❤️ The filling inside was hearty with meat, and juice ran out with every bite. It reminded me of the izakaya gyoza I had on a trip to Japan! So, so good ❤️

Between bites of yakisoba and gyoza, my plate was empty before I knew it hahaha. I wondered if the portion would be too much, but I finished the whole thing without any trouble haha. Had a really delicious solo Japanese meal near Suwon Station — such an enjoyable solo dining time.

Wrapping up: solo Japanese dining at Suwon Station's Jojo

I enjoyed a solo yakisoba set at Jojo AK Plaza, the Japanese restaurant everyone raves about near Suwon Station! The set comes with a hearty 5 pieces of mentai gyoza, and it's a menu I'd recommend for solo dining whenever you're craving Japanese food haha. If you're looking for good Japanese food near Suwon Station, definitely stop by!