Home-style Thai restaurant in Euljiro 3-ga: som tam & moo yang, Kkai 9

What are Kkai 9's hours, and how do you book?

Kkai 9 is at 6 Chungmuro 5-gil, Jung-gu, Seoul, and is open daily from 11:00 to 21:30. Break time is 15:00–17:00, last order is 14:30 for lunch and 21:00 for dinner, and you can reserve through Naver Reservation or Catch Table.

What kind of place is Kkai 9, on the second floor of the Euljiro 3-ga printing alley?

Kkai 9 is a Thai restaurant in the Euljiro 3-ga printing alley, run by a Thai wife and her Korean husband, and it really nails the local atmosphere and flavors. It's on the second floor, so I worried it would be hard to find, but I could see lots of customers heading into Kkai 9 from far away. It's already a word-of-mouth favorite among people hunting for hidden gems in Euljiro.

Before visiting, I read the restaurant's introduction. You could feel how sincere they are about the place, and how differently they treat guests, even in the small details. The food isn't Thai cooking learned in Korea: it's Thai food learned directly from the owner's Thai mother-in-law, and they serve it to guests with love for her and for their family.

What are Kkai 9's atmosphere and seating like?

The restaurant is small enough to take in at a glance, with about 8 tables set close together, which definitely gave it a Thai night market feel. I went in the evening and it was packed, so I could really feel how popular this Euljiro 3-ga favorite is.

The decor matches that local vibe too. Thai snacks, drinks, posters, even the lighting: if you love Thai food, you might genuinely lose track of whether you're in Thailand or Korea. It's packed with local feel.

Kkai 9 menu and how to order

You can check the menu through the QR code on the table and share it with your group to order. There are classic Thai dishes like leng saep (Thai-style pork spine stew), Kkai 9's signature dish prepared in limited quantities, plus poo pad pong curry (stir-fried crab curry) and kung pad pong curry (stir-fried shrimp curry).

Here's what I ordered this day.

• Som tam Thai ₩13,000
• Pad thai kung ₩13,000
• Spicy beef rib pho ₩14,000
• Moo yang ₩20,000

Pad thai kung (₩13,000)

Kkai 9's pad thai kung is the classic Thai stir-fried rice noodle dish with shrimp, with a lovely sweet pad thai sauce. It's stir-fried with bean sprouts, and crunchy raw bean sprouts come on the side too, so I tucked them into the pad thai to soften them and ate them together.

"Kung" means shrimp, so shrimp is the main topping here, and adding lemon juice and ground peanuts doubled both the savory depth and the nuttiness. It was so tasty and the portion so big that I already want to come back just for the pad thai.

Spicy beef rib pho (₩14,000): is it very spicy?

Kkai 9's spicy beef rib pho is as spicy as its name suggests, so if you don't handle heat well, order the regular beef rib pho instead. A rich broth is packed with rice noodles and bean sprouts, and the rib meat comes sliced into easy bites, with plenty of it.

The meat comes with a Thai-style dipping sauce, built on fish sauce flavor, spicy and salty, and it did its job as a dipping sauce nicely.

Som tam Thai (₩13,000)

Kkai 9's som tam is a sweet, sour and spicy green papaya salad, and it was exactly the basic style I wanted! I'm always disappointed that hardly anywhere does som tam properly, so this was a welcome surprise. You get the tang of lemon and lime, the nuttiness of peanuts, and the fresh, crunchy texture of green papaya. The chilies are crushed in, so you can subtly feel the heat of the seeds too.

Moo yang (₩20,000): how long is the wait?

Kkai 9's moo yang is grilled pork jowl marinated in Thai seasoning, cooked to order, so it takes about 10–15 minutes. Because it's pork jowl, the fat and meat balance well, with a chewy texture too. Dipped in the special sauce, it turns saltier and sweeter.

Kkai 9 in one line

Kkai 9 in Euljiro 3-ga, full of the mother-in-law's home cooking, felt like being invited to a Thai home and treated to a full table.