QR-order garlic squid oil pasta date in Yeonnam-dong: Hey Joji

When you're on a date in Yeonnam-dong, you naturally end up hunting for a café or restaurant with good atmosphere. This time I went looking for something a bit different from the usual Western food — American home-style cooking. That's Hey Joji, located in Yeonnam-dong. With its exotic interior and a menu ranging from steak to pasta to risotto, it turned out to be a great fit for a Yeonnam-dong date spot.

Hey Joji's location and hours

• Address: 42-24 Donggyo-ro 46-gil, 1st floor, Hey Joji, Mapo-gu, Seoul, South Korea
• Hours: Daily 12:00–21:00
• Last order: 20:00
• Naver Reservation available

I'd recommend checking the address and hours before visiting, since they can change. It's tucked into a back alley in Yeonnam-dong, so there was some fun in exploring the surroundings while finding it. It's also easy to reach from Hongik University Station, so it's a good stop to fold into a Yeonnam-dong date itinerary.

A Yeonnam-dong restaurant with charming exotic vibes

True to its concept as an American home-style restaurant, the moment you step into Hey Joji you feel that exotic atmosphere first. It suits the emotional, laneway feel unique to Yeonnam-dong, and the interior felt a bit different from your typical pasta place, so it was nice to enjoy the mood while eating.

The vibe made it easy to sit comfortably and chat while eating, so it worked well as a date spot too. Yeonnam-dong has so many good restaurants already, but if you want to enjoy the space as much as the food, a place like this tends to stick in your memory more.

Ordering made simple with a table QR code

Once we sat down, we could check the menu and order using the QR code on the table. It was convenient to browse the menu at our own pace and pick exactly what we wanted. That day we ordered garlic squid oil pasta and jambalaya risotto. Getting one pasta and one risotto to share meant we could compare the two different flavors, making it a solid combo for two people to order.

Tasting the garlic squid oil pasta

The first dish we tried was the garlic squid oil pasta. As the name suggests, it's an oil pasta with a subtle garlic aroma, and the squid adds a chewy texture to the otherwise light pasta. The clean taste typical of oil pasta combined with the garlic fragrance kept us wanting more.

Twirling the noodles and eating them with the squid gave a combined burst of chewy squid texture and garlic aroma.

It's not a heavy, cream-sauce style dish, so it also worked well paired with another item. I think anyone who likes oil pasta would enjoy this one in particular.

So how does the jambalaya risotto taste?

The dish that felt a bit more unusual during this meal was the jambalaya risotto.

It's a risotto made with sausage, shrimp, and squid, along with chipotle, jambalaya sauce (a Cajun-style seasoned sauce), rice, and barley. Having both seafood and sausage in one dish already made it look quite hearty.

The exotic flavor characteristic of jambalaya, combined with the chipotle sauce, gave it a subtly spicy, savory style. In particular, the mix of rice and barley meant that among the soft risotto you could also feel the popping texture of barley. The shrimp and squid were chewy while the sausage added a salty note, so each bite had a slightly different flavor, which was fun.

Recommended as a Yeonnam-dong date restaurant

If you're choosing where to eat in Yeonnam-dong and want to consider both atmosphere and taste, I'd fully recommend Hey Joji. The American home-style concept is a bit different, and the menu ranges from pasta to risotto to steak, so you can pick based on your preference.

Above all, Yeonnam-dong is a great area for exploring cafés and small shops down the alleys after a meal, so it's easy to combine a meal and a walk into a Yeonnam-dong date course. If you're looking for something a bit different from an ordinary pasta place, or for a Yeonnam-dong date spot with exotic atmosphere, I recommend Hey Joji.