Mother-daughter pasta dinner near Seongsu Station: Seongsu Darak

Seongsu Darak (성수다락), a pasta restaurant in Seongsu-dong — a mother-daughter dinner before heading to NewNew Seongsu.

Seongsu Station Exit 3: an entrance that's easy to miss

I planned a Seongsu date with Rai, and we decided to eat dinner first before going to NewNew Seongsu. Rai said she wanted pasta, so I looked up pasta places in Seongsu-dong, and since she seemed to like the menu at Seongsu Darak, we decided to try it this time! It's within walking distance from Seongsu Station Exit 3, but it's tucked inside an alley, so the entrance was a little confusing to find at first. The wooden door isn't actually the door — the little side door next to it is haha.

The building entrance is built like a picture frame rather than a typical restaurant door, so even walking past it I wondered if this was really the place — but somehow foreign visitors seemed to find their way in without trouble.

If you show a verified Naver or Google Maps review, they give you a drink each!

What we ordered

The signature dish on the menu seems to be the Darak omelet rice! But this visit was all about Rai's picks haha.

This time we ordered chadolbaegi (thinly sliced beef brisket) perilla oil pasta and flat carbonara.

A 2nd-floor space that feels like an attic loft

Once inside, the space really does have that cozy attic-loft feeling the name suggests.

Substantial cutlery gets set on the table,

and apparently there's currently a set menu tied to The Boyz & Deobi! Fans might come just for that haha.

Unlike the busy, hip vibe typical of Seongsu-dong, the atmosphere here is warm and relaxed, so it seems like a good spot for a date or a family meal too.

Rai's Sprite order!

Onion cream fries

Rai used to not be able to eat onions at all, but starting with salmon sushi she's gradually started eating them — and now she's ordering onion cream like this. She's really grown up haha.

Flat carbonara — the noodles are really thick

And here's the flat carbonara that finally grants the wish of Rai, who's been singing the cream pasta song. Mixing the egg yolk into the sauce like this, nice and well blended, yum yum.

After one bite she said this was exactly the flavor she wanted haha. I explained that the noodles are the thick kind, and she said she didn't realize they'd be this thick haha.

There's real bite to it, you know!? Meanwhile, my pasta arrives!

What does the chadolbaegi perilla oil pasta taste like?

I'd never tried this combination before — I ordered an oil pasta because I wanted something light. Adding perilla seed to oil pasta gives it a nutty flavor that's different from a typical oil pasta, and with the perilla leaf aroma added on top, the combination works surprisingly well.

Tasting it, the chadolbaegi (thinly sliced beef brisket) and perilla leaf aroma pair really nicely, and it somehow tastes a bit like eating bulgogi haha. It's a distinctly Korean-style pasta! With the beef mixed in, there's the fun of eating meat and noodles together, and if you like the nutty flavor of perilla, this dish will really suit your taste. It was delicious!

A Seongsu outing route that leads into NewNew Seongsu

As we ate, the sky turned pink, and it felt like time to roam Seongsu's night streets with Rai haha. We planned to head straight to NewNew after eating, but Seongsu Darak has plenty of other menu options besides pasta — omelet rice, risotto, and more — so it also seems like a good spot to split dishes if you're visiting with a group. Searching for good pasta restaurants in Seongsu-dong, Seongsu Darak comes up with both pasta and omelet rice options, plus katsu sando if you want something more like a rice meal!

Seongsu Darak looks even more atmospheric at night! We were following Naver Maps and were sure we'd arrived but couldn't find it — turns out it was right behind us haha. It's not closed, you just need to come in through the middle side door!

For this Seongsu date, we planned the route to start with pasta with Rai and then move on to NewNew Girls — and it turned out to be in a great spot for heading to the next stop after dinner! If a mother and daughter are doing a Seongsu-dong outing, this seems like a solid day-trip route: good food plus wandering the Seongsu alleys.

Hours and parking

• Weekdays 11:30 a.m. – 9:15 p.m.
• Weekends 11:00 a.m. – 9:15 p.m.
• Park at Seongsu Art Hall and walk over