Hongdae pasta restaurant: sous vide pork gochujang butter pasta, Omil

What kind of restaurant is Omil Hongdae?

Omil Hongdae is a pasta date spot in Hongdae, on the 2nd floor at 178-8 Yanghwa-ro, Mapo-gu, Seoul, right in front of Hongik Univ. Station. It's hugely popular for its cute duck-shaped omurice (rice omelet) and good-value brunch dishes! It's great for lunch, and just as good for dinner.

• Address: 178-8 Yanghwa-ro, Mapo-gu, Seoul, 2nd floor
• Hours: Mon–Sun 11:00–21:15 (last order 20:30)
• Groups welcome, Naver reservations available

You can see it almost the moment you step out of Hongik Univ. Station, so it's super easy to get to! Besides foreigners, I saw lots of students stopping by for a quick meal, people on group outings, and couples out on dates, haha. Oh! Meal~

How does the wait work at Omil Hongdae?

When there's a wait, you register on the Catch Table machine. Go up the stairs and you'll find the waiting seats, and a little further up is the Catch Table machine.

Please also stick to the proper waiting spot. The entrance is close, so standing in the wrong place gets in the way of people leaving :(

Inside Omil Hongdae: the dining room

This is the inside of Omil Hongdae. It feels super clean. It didn't look pretty with too many people, so I deliberately took these after everyone had left, haha. The interior is seriously cute! A perfect Hongdae date restaurant.

Omil Hongdae review event: a free drink

Omil Hongdae runs a Naver receipt review event and a Google Maps review event! They give you 1 free drink, so join in if you like, haha.

Omil Hongdae set for two: what's included and the price

The set for two at Omil Hongdae is ₩48,700, and I went with the set, haha. This is the menu of the great-value brunch spot Omil Hongdae.

• 🎃🐤 Halloween! Rubber Duck Omurice (+₩1,000)
• 🌶️ Gochujang butter pasta (+₩3,000)
• 🌽 Whole fried corn
• 🍹 2 drinks at ₩3,500 each

There was a bell on the table and I wondered what it was for, and it turns out you ring it to order? Hahaha. It reminded me of the old days, and it's cute, haha.

Self-serve bar: water and house-made pickles

At Omil Hongdae, you help yourself to water and pickles at the self-serve bar. The pickles seem to be made in-house.

First look at the set: a Halloween pumpkin and a rubber duck

Ta-da! My order has arrived!! Isn't the look just adorable? With Halloween coming up, they even gave me a pumpkin, haha. There's a duck inside the pumpkin >_<

The table is small and there were so many dishes that we ran out of space. The prices are on the cheap side and the portions are huge, haha.

A staff member explained a simple way to eat it! I'll go through it in detail below, haha.

The plate is cute, the plating is cute,,, and that Halloween pumpkin is cute too :( Okay, let's really dig in now!

How does the Halloween Rubber Duck Omurice (₩16,900) taste?

Omil Hongdae's Halloween! Rubber Duck Omurice is ₩16,900: salmon fried rice wrapped in a fluffy swirled omelet. It comes with a rubber duck enjoying Halloween.

The duck's eyes and mouth are made from boiled quail eggs, black sesame and corn, and they're seriously cute, hahaha. Total Halloween vibes. The duck is sitting inside the pumpkin, hahaha.

The omurice looked moist just from looking at it. How do they make an omelet so well? I wanted to scoop the omelet up nicely but the duck fell off :( With the fluffy swirled omurice plus quail eggs, you can load up on protein, haha.

The omurice sauce seems house-made too! It has a slight fruit and vegetable flavor, a bit like tonkatsu sauce mixed with tomato sauce. It isn't strong at all, which I liked. The rice is salmon fried rice with a smoky wok flavor and it's totally nutty and delicious.

Gochujang butter pasta (₩18,900): sous vide pork neck is the star

Omil Hongdae's gochujang butter pasta (K-Butter Pasta) is ₩18,900: a thick, addictive pasta that combines the savory depth of gochujang (Korean chili paste), rich butter flavor and sous vide pork.

If you visit Omil, the Hongdae pasta spot, definitely order this gochujang butter pasta!!!

Should you mix in the gochujang butter or eat it on the side?

That round thing is the gochujang butter, haha. You can mix it into the rich, creamy sauce, or scoop it up separately and put it on top!! Personally I liked mixing it into the sauce better. The flavor of the gochujang butter is no joke?! This taste is really addictive....

The sous vide pork is insanely tender... I thought that pork was seriously good, hahaha. It went really well with the spicy, savory gochujang butter pasta sauce too!! There's a decent amount of noodles, and it's not as heavy as you'd expect.

The meat was delicious too, so I was very satisfied, haha. It feels like a gochujang rosé pasta!!

Whole fried corn (₩11,900): eat it while it's hot

Omil Hongdae's whole fried corn is ₩11,900: crunchy whole corn generously topped with seasoning and Grana Padano cheese. The menu describes it as an addictive taste you keep thinking about.

Corn ribs are best picked up in your hands and torn off with your teeth, haha. The sauce looks like tartar sauce(?). I'll put on my finger covers and try it, haha.

The corn is fried crispy outside and juicy inside, sprinkled with chili powder, cheese and various seasonings, and it was seriously punchy and delicious, haha. I ate it last, so it had cooled down a bit, but if you order it, please eat it while it's hot.

*burp*,,,,

Hand cream at the Omil Hongdae counter and mouthwash in the restroom

On your way out of Omil Hongdae, there's hand cream at the counter, and there's mouthwash inside the restroom. The staff were all kind and nice too.

Since there's mouthwash in the restroom, anyone on a Hongdae date should definitely stop by and gargle before leaving, haha.