Weekend donburi date in Yeonnam-dong: sake-don & tori karaage, Jongno

I finally had a Yeonnam-dong date with my boyfriend Na again over the weekend ! ! ! I was craving donburi (Japanese rice bowl) so hard, so we went to Jongno Donburi Yeonnam, and it turned out to be great for a clean, satisfying meal. The sake-don (salmon rice bowl) was so good I had to write this post right away to recommend it to you all ><

Where is Jongno Donburi Yeonnam, and when is it open?

• 9 Donggyo-ro 46-gil, Mapo-gu, Seoul, South Korea, B1
• Weekdays 11:30 - 21:30 (break time 16:00 - 17:00)
• Weekends 11:30 - 21:00 (no break time)
• No parking available

Jongno Donburi in Yeonnam-dong started out in Jongno first and later opened this second branch here. We walked along the Gyeongui Line Forest Trail and reached it pretty quickly. Since there's no break time on weekends, it was great to visit whenever we wanted!

Inside Jongno Donburi Yeonnam — is solo dining okay?

I thought it'd be a tiny restaurant, but the interior was actually pretty spacious with tables that weren't cramped. There were lots of bar table seats, and I saw quite a few people eating solo there too. The clean interior really gave off Japan vibes ! For a moment I felt like I was Japanese ~~~

Jongno Donburi menu and prices

From the menu, we ordered tendon (tempura rice bowl) for 14,500 won, sake-don (salmon rice bowl) for 18,000 won, tori karaage (fried chicken) for 7,000 won, two onsen tamago (hot spring egg) at 1,500 won each, and a Zero Pepsi for 2,500 won. Na and I really loaded up. We were past lunchtime and both starving...

First came the pickled side dishes and soup, served as standard. Be careful, the soup is super hot.

Tori karaage, ₩7,000

Na said he could definitely finish it, so we ordered the tori karaage. The fried coating came out really thin, and the cabbage salad served alongside was a great combo.

The karaage came with mayo for dipping too. Crispy on the outside, plump chicken inside — it would've been a shame not to order this.

Sake-don, ₩18,000 — how was the salmon?

Then the main dishes arrived, and this was the tastiest thing that day: the sake-don. The staff told us the salmon was especially good today, so I ordered it right away, and honestly the salmon was so fresh and delicious. Soft, chewy, with a subtle sweetness. Absolutely no fishy smell ! ! !

Definitely add the onsen tamago

We mixed in the onsen tamago (hot spring egg) we'd ordered and ate it together with the salmon — this combo was insane ~~~ Skipping the onsen tamago should honestly be a crime, so make sure to add it on !

Underneath the salmon sashimi was rice with salty seaweed, and that salty seaweed was so good it was addictive ><. It went perfectly with the salmon !

Tendon, ₩14,500 — two shrimp tempura pieces

Last was the tendon, and it came with two whole pieces of shrimp tempura? As a shrimp lover, I was thrilled... Na cut the tempura into bite-sized pieces for us to share, which I really appreciated ><

An entirely Na's-eye-view tendon. There was a nice variety of tempura too — shrimp, eggplant, sweet pumpkin, cheongyang pepper, king oyster mushroom, enoki mushroom, and more.

For me, the sweet pumpkin tempura and the shrimp were the best of the bunch. The inside of the shrimp was completely moist and tender.

Menu combo tips for two people

This one's a giant enoki mushroom haha. A pro tip: if two of you are visiting, ordering two tendon bowls might feel a bit heavy/greasy, so I'd recommend ordering one of each different dish and sharing. Since it was hot summer, I was also curious about the bukkake udon (cold udon), so I'll have to come back and try it next time haha.

The restroom was clean and inside the restaurant, which was convenient. When we paid and left, they gave us a side coupon that's usable at the Jongno branch too. Makes me want to come back, doesn't it?

Jongno Donburi is a great donburi spot for a date in Yeonnam-dong — clean atmosphere, and the food was delicious too.