Yeonnam-dong late lunch: sake-don and cold udon, Jongno Donburi

With the weather finally cooling off, I had a date in Yeonnam-dong last weekend. We were trying to decide what to eat for lunch and settled on Japanese food, which I love. My favorite Japanese dish is sake-don, and it turned out Jongno Donburi — which has its flagship store near Jongak — now has a branch in Yeonnam too, haha. It happened to be a late lunch hour, so we got lucky and walked right in with no wait.

Where is Jongno Donburi Yeonnam, and what are its hours?

Jongno Donburi Yeonnam is in a basement space at 9 Donggyo-ro 46-gil, Mapo-gu, Seoul. Hours are Mon–Thu 11:30–21:30 and Fri–Sun 11:30–21:00. Groups, takeout, delivery, and reservations are all available.

Jongno Donburi Yeonnam sits near the Gyeongui Line Forest Trail, surrounded by cute shops, good restaurants, and cafés — it looked like a great spot to visit on a Yeonnam-dong date.

Inside Jongno Donburi Yeonnam: counter seats and tables

These are the counter (dachi) seats inside Jongno Donburi Yeonnam. The interior is spacious and comfortable, with several counter seats set up too, which looked great for solo dining.

There's also plenty of table seating, split between 2-person and 4-person tables. The tables are spaced generously apart too, which made the whole place feel really comfortable.

Jongno Donburi Yeonnam menu and prices

The menu at Jongno Donburi Yeonnam is divided into donburi, nabe, specials, noodles, and sides. My sake-don is under the specials section at ₩18,000, and the bukkake udon (cold udon) is under noodles at ₩13,000.

Donburi rice bowls

• Mix katsudon ₩13,500
• Katsudon ₩11,500
• Double katsudon ₩18,500
• Ebi-don (shrimp) ₩14,000
• Hire katsudon ₩14,500
• Tori karaage-don (fried chicken) ₩13,000
• Tendon (tempura) ₩14,500
• Buta-don (pork) ₩14,500

Nabe hot pots

• Katsuo hire nabe set ₩17,500
• Katsu nabe set ₩16,000
• Ebi nabe set ₩16,500

Chef's specials

• Unagi-don (eel) ₩23,000
• Sake-don (salmon) ₩18,000
• Aburi sake-don (seared salmon) ₩19,000
• Salmon belly rice bowl ₩20,000
• Salmon sashimi ₩16,000
• Tarako-don (cod roe) ₩18,000
• Sake tarako-don ₩24,000
• Salmon belly tarako-don ₩26,000

Noodle dishes

• Gyu udon (beef) ₩13,000
• Ebi tempura udon (shrimp) ₩11,500
• Bukkake udon (cold udon) ₩13,000

Sides to add on

• Natto ₩6,000
• Tarako taster ₩7,000
• Tori karaage ₩7,000
• Bacon cheese rolls ₩7,000
• Homemade potato croquette ₩7,000
• King shrimp tempura ₩7,000

Ordering sake-don, bukkake udon and a Coke

Every table has water, cups, and a menu neatly laid out; you pick your dish, then order through staff. I went with my all-time favorite, sake-don, and my boyfriend picked the refreshing bukkake cold udon! We thought about adding a side dish, but since we had a dinner reservation at 6, we each just stuck to one main.

Our food arrived shortly after. It's always a bit awkward when one dish comes out ahead of the other, but here both arrived together, so we could dig in right away.

Sake-don: seven salmon pieces and no rice left behind

First up is the sake-don. Each dish comes with a bowl of clear soup and basic side dishes — and honestly, the jalapeño side was so good. That spicy, punchy flavor went well with every rice bowl on the menu, and it was also a great kick for the mild-tasting udon!

The sake-don has thick salmon slices over rice seasoned with soy sauce, but they also give you extra soy sauce on the side for dipping the salmon. At a lot of places, sake-don gives you way more rice than salmon, so you end up finishing all the fish and left with a pile of plain rice. But at Jongno Donburi, the salmon came in seven generous pieces, and tearing them in half to pile onto the rice meant almost none of the rice was left over!

How mild is the bukkake cold udon?

The bukkake udon has chewy udon noodles topped with a slushy iced broth, a poached egg, and a piece of fried shrimp. The broth is on the mild side, and as the ice melts, the seasoning gets even weaker — so if you like your food more heavily seasoned, it might feel a little lacking. But pairing it with that jalapeño side dish I mentioned earlier added just the right amount of punch.

We stopped by Jongno Donburi for a late lunch after our date along the Gyeongui Line Forest Trail in Yeonnam, and both the vibe and the food left us really satisfied. I'd recommend Jongno Donburi as a great spot for a Yeonnam-dong date.