Haebangchon Western restaurant with cheese shell pasta: Sugar Hill

Today I'm bringing you a Haebangchon date-restaurant post!! The vibe was great and the food was amazingly delicious, so it's a really good spot for a date too!! Let's get into this post about Sugar Hill in Haebangchon, where the food is out of this world!

Inside and outside Sugar Hill, plus the third-floor private room

Sugar Hill is a Western food and wine bar at 99-15 Sinheung-ro, Haebangchon, Yongsan-gu, Seoul. Inside there are three or four cozy tables, two outdoor tables, free seating up to the second floor, and a private room on the third floor.

First up, the exterior of Sugar Hill! The upscale color combination gave it such a stylish feel!

Inside, there were three or four cozy tables set up!

There were also two outdoor tables ready, and they were so pretty (๑o̴̶̷̥᷅﹏o̴̶̷̥᷅๑)

This photo shows the second and third floors! The second floor is freely usable seating, and the third floor is a room space for parties or rental events! So private, and the space is so pretty — total win. I feel like a birthday party here would be amazing!!

On top of that, the tasteful paintings hanging here and there added to the upscale atmosphere — I loved it so much!

What's on Sugar Hill's menu and in the BTS meal set

The first thing that caught my eye on Sugar Hill's menu was the Sugar Hill BTS meal. It's made up of steak, pasta, a cheese plate, and two drink menu items.

This is the menu we got at our table! Based on the owner's experience collaborating with BTS, they've prepared a BTS set course as a way of showing support! Since it's the signature set, we were curious and ordered the BTS meal!! There were also lots of whiskeys and wines, so we ended up having two more drinks haha,,

Suntory highball, Obok cocktail and the coffee peanuts served free

The first drinks we got at Sugar Hill were the Suntory highball and the Obok cocktail. The basic snack was coffee peanuts, and both drinks were so, so delicious!!

First they brought out a wet towel! The witty phrase on it was so cute I had to take a photo haha — this place is such a lighting hotspot that even the wet towel looked pretty lol. And then the Suntory highball and Obok cocktail arrived!

These days highballs often have barely any whiskey and way too much water, which tastes bad, but this one had a strong, rich aroma, and the cocktail was excellent not just visually but in taste too. The cocktail wasn't watery at all, and the omija and bokbunja (Korean berries) were blended so well — it was so, so delicious. I think it'd be great for treating foreign friends, and I'd also recommend it to people who can't drink much! I got tipsy on its pleasant sweetness and ended up drinking it way too fast haha.

Next came the main dishes! Shell pasta and sous vide steak!

How Sugar Hill's sous vide steak is cooked and how it tastes

Sugar Hill's sous vide steak came out cooked medium-rare to medium. It was a steak where the chopped green onion and savory sauce went really well together!

First up, the sous vide steak! It was such a tender steak, and the chopped green onion and savory sauce complemented it perfectly!

Cooked medium-rare to medium, it was a truly tender steak, full of juices and rich meaty flavor!!!! If you like tender steak, you have to try this one — it melts right in your mouth.

Cheese-packed shell pasta: the best tomato sauce pasta on the table

Sugar Hill's shell pasta looks like inari sushi and is packed full of cheese, served with a tomato sauce on the side. It was easily the best tomato-based pasta I've ever had.

Next up, the shell pasta that genuinely shocked me,, honestly this was my first time trying shell pasta, and is it normally this delicious ˀ̣ˀ̣ˀ̣ˀ̣ It looks like inari sushi but is packed full of cheese inside, paired with tomato sauce — and this one also melted in my mouth, with such a wonderful cheese flavor. I'm guessing they must be using good cheese(ˀ̣) lol.

Even my boyfriend, who's not really into cheese, said this was insane and dug right in — the cheese flavor was amazing but never overwhelming, so I think everyone would enjoy it!! It was so soft, and the tomato sauce was delicious too ㅜ Personally, this is hands-down my number one tomato-based pasta — you absolutely have to try the shell pasta,,

Pairing Sugar Hill's cheese platter with Ebisu beer and white wine

The highlight of the BTS meal is the cheese platter. Sugar Hill's cheese platter comes topped with a purple flower and gummy bears — the purple flower represents the group's official color, and the gummy bears represent BTS, they say.

First, the purple flower represents the official color, and the cute gummy bears underneath represent BTS, apparently!!

The beer and white wine we ordered to go with the cheese platter!!!! I usually enjoy Sapporo, and since they had Ebisu, Sapporo's premium line, my boyfriend picked that, and I ordered one more glass of white wine to pair with the cheese platter!!! The cheese platter itself was all fresh, savory, and full of flavor, so the drinks went down way too easily — pure magic. For a final palate cleanser we ate the gummy bears too, and they surprisingly went well with the wine, which cracked me up haha.

The clean-plate blogger's verdict on Sugar Hill

This was only my second time visiting Haebangchon as a wanttukyeo (someone who always finishes their plate), but I think I can confidently say,.,

The number one Haebangchon date restaurant, hands down, is Sugar Hill!!!!

It really gave me such a perfect meal and memory, and the quality of the pasta and steak was so, so good,, if I come back, I feel like I'd order the BTS meal again haha. Personally I especially loved the cheese shell pasta with the steak, so I'd really recommend trying that, and the vibe was genuinely so good that I hope you come just to enjoy the atmosphere!!! The owner was kind too, and the song choices were great, so I think we genuinely had such a fun time drinking haha. Big recommend on the Obok cocktail too!