Songdo Italian lunch after Jazz Festival: mushroom risotto, Cenacolo

Incheon Songdo Central Park restaurant recommendation: pasta and gnocchi at Cenacolo Artfore

Hi, I'm a travel blogger :) I stayed at Dalbit Festival Park to catch the Songdo Jazz Festival, and the next day for lunch I went for a food-coma-worthy meal at Cenacolo Artfore in Artfore — the gnocchi spot everyone recommended as the best Songdo Central Park restaurant, haha.

Covered in Blue Ribbon awards, and plenty of foreign visitors came in for lunch too — you could really feel the warm atmosphere of a trattoria! More friendly and cozy than a fancy restaurant — a genuine Songdo Central Park pasta and gnocchi restaurant.

If you book through Catch Table, you can enjoy the atmosphere at a window seat with no wait even during peak hours, so reserve ahead of time!

Why I chose Cenacolo as my Songdo Central Park restaurant

Cenacolo, where you can taste delicious Italian dishes like pyogo mushroom risotto and potato gnocchi. The reason it's so popular among Artfore brunch cafés is that it recreates authentic Italian flavors at a high quality :)

The atmosphere at Cenacolo Artfore

If you're planning a Songdo date course, I'd strongly recommend Cenacolo, an Artfore restaurant that passes on interior, atmosphere, and taste all at once. So many foreigners come here it feels like you're traveling abroad, and the pasta tastes just like what I had in Italy — truly a recognized Incheon Central Park restaurant, haha.

I sat at a neatly set table and read the menu carefully first.

Cenacolo's menu lineup and the receipt review ade event

Worth noting: with the receipt review event, you can get up to 4 free ades per table :) The menu has five main categories — appetizer, soup, pasta, risotto, and steak — but no pizza. Among them, I ordered the three dishes that came up most often as recommendations :)

• Calamari pasta (paccheri) ₩24,000
• Mushroom cream gnocchi ₩24,000
• Pyogo mushroom cream risotto ₩23,000

What does the mushroom cream gnocchi taste like?

I've been hunting for gnocchi spots lately, and I'd heard this was a famous potato gnocchi place so I came with high expectations! It was more soft than chewy, with the nutty flavor of roasted potato coming through.

Eating it together with the deeply flavored mushroom cream sauce underneath brought out even more umami — I couldn't stop eating, haha. Tasting it, I really felt why it's Cenacolo's signature dish.

Why the pyogo mushroom cream risotto came out on top

And the dish that won first place among everything we ordered — the pyogo mushroom cream risotto, full of mushroom aroma, nutty, and seasoned just right. Made with clean pyogo mushrooms from Naju in Jeollanam-do and a rich mushroom cream with a subtle hint of truffle oil, it was Cenacolo's #1 risotto! I ate it so eagerly I forgot to take a spoon shot — such a shame, haha.

What is the calamari pasta (paccheri)?

The unfamiliar name calamari pasta stirred up my sense of adventure — calamari means squid in Italian! Using paccheri, a large tube-shaped pasta, it was a spicy pasta flavored with domestic squid, tomato, capers, olives, and a basil stock.

What would I order if I came back?

Personally, if I come back, I think I'll order the pyogo mushroom cream risotto and the potato gnocchi again and eat them with my mom!

On a day that's perfect for a stroll through Songdo Central Park, come over to Artfore and enjoy a fun meal of delicious pasta, risotto, and gnocchi at the great-atmosphere Cenacolo :)