Gangnam Station fusion Korean lunch course with parents: Jusindang

What is Jusindang Gangnam like at lunchtime?

Jusindang Gangnam (주신당) is a dining bar with private rooms near Gangnam Station. It's a bar at night, but I heard it serves fusion Korean course meals at lunch, so I took my parents. When I looked up photos of the interior, it was so unique that I figured it would be a fresh kind of meal out for them 😀 I think it would also be a great spot for an unusual date near Gangnam Station.♡

The exterior decor is so much fun, haha. Some Christians might feel uneasy about it, but don't worry♡♡ haha. It's just the theme that's unusual! At lunch, Jusindang Gangnam serves tasty fusion Korean course meals, and in the evening it's a moody bar with a counter 😀🥰

The exterior is styled in a distinctly Korean, Eastern way, so an English-language banner advertising Korean fusion dining should make foreigners really curious, haha. It's an unusual restaurant near Gangnam Station that's good for visitors from abroad.♡

Even the passage down is out of the ordinary, hahaha.

Oh, and the restrooms at Jusindang Gangnam are by the back exit!! haha

Jusindang Gangnam interior: the twelve zodiac animals and the Cheongsil room

The interior theme at Jusindang Gangnam is the twelve zodiac animals (sipi jisin). Aha, so that's the concept?!! A dragon greets you the moment you walk in, haha. I'm a Dragon-year baby, so I love dragons ♡

Bar seats like these turn into a drinking scene at night!

Walking into such a dimly lit restaurant in the daytime, I couldn't tell whether it was day or night and just wanted a daytime drink, hahaha.

Head downstairs and there are private rooms too, haha. We booked the Cheongsil room. The wall lights with all twelve zodiac animals were so pretty that I stared at them for ages, haha. There's a tiger, a rooster, a dragon, everything, haha.

What's on the Jusindang Gangnam menu?

The menu at Jusindang Gangnam is styled like an old book. Looking through the other items, there are fusion snacks that reinvent Korean food, and cocktails inspired by the zodiac animals. So fun, hahaha.

We ordered three Lunch B sets. Next time I definitely want to come to Jusindang at night with my husband.

What comes in Jusindang's Lunch Course B?

Lunch Course B at Jusindang Gangnam came with cheese tomato cold salad, obang skewers, monkfish aioli, beef belly cheongyang sujebi (hand-torn dough soup), and tempura kimchi fried rice, with red bean pudding and rice-syrup rice gelato for dessert. Pretty small plates and cutlery are set out, and the course starts right away.

Chilled cheese and tomato salad

Cheese tomato cold salad♡ A tomato salad with a distinctive flavor, topped with burrata cheese and jamón. My appetite perked up right from the start.

Obang skewers

The second dish was the obang skewers♡ These were really good too. Grilled shishito peppers with jamón and cheese. From here I started thinking about beer, haha.

Monkfish aioli: my parents' favorite

Monkfish aioli♡ The dish my parents liked best and ate the most of! Something like a cream sauce is blended into spicy braised monkfish, a textbook example of fusion..haha Wow, this one truly deserves applause~👏

Beef brisket cheongyang chili sujebi: my favorite

Beef belly cheongyang sujebi♡ This was my personal favorite.. so good I wanted to try making it at home, haha. It tastes like a sharp, spicy bone broth base crossed with galbitang (beef short rib soup), topped with thin-sliced beef belly. It goes so well with the sujebi, and maybe thanks to the cheongyang chili, it wasn't greasy at all. Really delicious👍

Kimchi fried rice with tempura crunch

Tempura kimchi fried rice♡ My mom loves kimchi fried rice, haha. It was mild and moderately spicy, and tasty. With the crispy tempura too, I felt properly full by this point.🥰

Dessert: red bean pudding and jocheong rice gelato

For dessert, red bean pudding♡ The bouncy texture was so much fun, haha. The red beans sink to the bottom, so when you mix it all up you get a rich red bean aroma.

Rice-syrup (jocheong) rice gelato♡ This one was clearly well researched too. I never expected rice gelato to taste like vanilla ice cream, and I never expected the jocheong to pair so perfectly with it.♡ It's sprinkled with biscuit crumbs, so it's sweet and nutty, a perfect finish😍

Is the Jusindang Gangnam lunch course worth it? Final verdict

In the daytime, Jusindang Gangnam isn't a cocktail bar but an Eastern-style fusion dining space with its own unusual charm ♡ Even at midday, stepping inside gives you that surprising night-time feel, and that's the highlight☺️

1. Reasonable prices and a varied course lineup

The prices are honestly better than I expected. The Lunch Course B I had was ₩23,000 per person. From Courses A and B up to the more substantial C and D, there are options at different price points (roughly ₩20,000–50,000). Compared with omakase or course meals elsewhere in Gangnam, it's very accessible, yet the flow from starter to main to dessert is well put together, which impressed me.♡

2. Fusion Korean food that reinvents traditional ingredients

This was the part my parents found really fun! They said it was amazing to see Korean food reworked this way, and heaped praise on the young chefs, saying kids these days are so smart and work so hard, haha. Jusindang blends its Eastern concept not only into the interior but into the dishes too, and that's so cool!!

3. A neat, unusual dessert finish

The dessert that closes the course has witty looks and is quite polished! Including Jusindang's signature cat cake, the rice-syrup rice gelato and a mulberry leaf ice cream, these are Korean ingredients reinterpreted in an upscale way, a nice way to end the meal ♡

4. A distinctive venue for an unusual date

At night, Jusindang Gangnam is a lively cocktail bar centered on flashy lighting and performances, but at lunchtime you can enjoy a calmer, tidier meal amid the distinctive dragon-palace, Eastern-occult interior. Since there are few places with this atmosphere, it should make a different kind of date spot near Gangnam Station♡