Hongdae restaurant with sous vide short rib risotto: Rangteu Yeonnam

On a weekday lunch, my sister and I went to Rangteu Yeonnam, a Hongdae-area restaurant tucked in Yeonnam-dong. They have a pretty wide range of fusion Western dishes — risotto, pasta, gnocchi — and the one I ended up loving most was the gochujang cream gnocchi. At first the portion looked small enough that I was thinking about ordering more, so I'll tell you below how that actually went!

Rangteu Yeonnam: location, hours and what we ordered

• 📍 Address: 22-30 Yanghwa-ro 19-gil, Mapo-gu, Seoul, South Korea, 1.5F
• ⏰ Hours: Daily 11:30–21:30 (last order 20:30)
• 📅 Reservations: Naver Reservation
• 📱 Ordering: Table tablet
• 🚗 Parking: Nearby paid parking lots
• 🍽️ Order — Monterey gochujang cream gnocchi ₩18,900 / Sous vide short rib risotto ₩18,900 / Blue citron ade ₩4,800

* Please double-check the hours and reservation policy before you visit!

A short walk from Hongik Univ. Station, with no weekday lunch wait

Rangteu Yeonnam sits on a residential lane close to Hongik Univ. Station, making it an easy stop after hanging out in Hongdae, or a good starting point before wandering the Yeonnam-dong alleys or Gyeongui Line Forest Trail. We went on a weekday lunch without a reservation and got seated with no wait at all. I haven't been on a weekend, so if that's when you're planning to go, check Naver Reservation first.

Inside Rangteu Yeonnam: roomier than the storefront suggests

The exterior looks like a converted house, so it really carries that Yeonnam-dong neighborhood vibe. From outside it seemed narrow, but once we walked in there was a separate seating area further back, and more tables than I expected — a nice surprise. You order through the tablet on the table.

Why we picked one gnocchi and one risotto

The Rangteu Yeonnam menu had a lot of range — risotto, pasta, gnocchi, steak. A lot of it mixes familiar Western dishes with Korean ingredients, so I was curious how each one would taste. After some back and forth, we picked the gnocchi for the sauce that caught our eye, and the risotto because, well, Koreans need their rice fix. Haha.

Monterey gochujang cream gnocchi: the sour cream was no problem at all

The Monterey gochujang cream gnocchi (spicy soybean paste cream) is ₩18,900. I ordered it drawn in by the gochujang cream sauce, but I was a little worried it might taste sour since it has sour cream in it. Turns out that worry was for nothing — haha. The gnocchi was chewy, and thanks to the cheese and gochujang cream sauce it landed spicy but soft rather than sharp. The best part was that the heat didn't linger in your mouth. Scooping it up with a spoon along with the sauce made for a clean bite, so it might even work as a first-date dish. Hahaha.

Sous vide short rib risotto: the beef is what stayed with me

The sous vide short rib risotto is also ₩18,900. With a cream base plus short rib on top, I thought it might turn out greasy. But the balance between the chadol (thin-sliced) short rib and the cream risotto was better than I expected. The meat especially was so tender it stuck in my memory, and switching back and forth with the spicy gnocchi made for a good combo. Comparing the two, the gnocchi's strength was the sauce, and the risotto's was how tender the meat was. If I had to pick just one, I'd vote for the gnocchi, haha.

Blue yuja ade between rich bites, plus pickles we kept reaching for

The blue citron ade is ₩4,800. Eating two cream-based dishes back to back, the blue citron ade kept refreshing my palate in between. The pickles were surprisingly good too — I didn't get to ask if they make them in-house, but they tasted a little different from store-bought, so I kept reaching for more. Haha.

Is gnocchi plus risotto enough food for two at Rangteu Yeonnam?

When the food first arrived, the portions didn't look big, so I figured I'd order more if we were still hungry. But once we finished, both of us were so full we had to force ourselves to walk it off on the Gyeongui Line Forest Trail. Hahaha. If you're going as a pair, I'd start with two mains and add on later if you're still hungry — there's no rush.

Final thoughts on Rangteu Yeonnam

My sister seemed to like it too — she said she wants to come back with her boyfriend sometime. We didn't get to try the pasta or steak this time, so I'm planning to order those on the next visit. If you're looking for a Hongdae restaurant or a Yeonnam-dong date spot, this one is worth putting on the list.

Today's find: Rangteu Yeonnam, the place I'll remember for its gochujang cream gnocchi.