Jonggak Station Korean lunch: mushroom perilla soup set, Bonghyejane
In short
Bonghyejane Jubang Jongno Tower branch is a Korean restaurant on basement level 2 of Jongno Tower in Jongno, Seoul, connected underground to Jonggak Station. We ordered the mushroom perilla soup set (buseot deulkkaetang jeongsik), thick and nutty with jorangi tteok (hourglass-shaped rice cake), alongside the octopus stir-fry set cooked over an open flame, and each set came with pumpkin porridge and side dishes. For a gentle, non-spicy lunch, the mushroom perilla soup set at Bonghyejane is the pick.
Good to know
- Location
- Basement level 2 of Jongno Tower, connected underground from Jonggak Station toward the bookstore
- Waiting
- Expect a wait after 11:30am
- Seating
- Solo seats, two-tops and larger tables — works for solo dining or group lunches
- Ordering
- Order and pay from the tablet on each table
- Dishes ordered
- Mushroom perilla soup set, octopus stir-fry set
- Signature dishes
- Whole octopus stir-fry, baby octopus stir-fry and Jeju pork stir-fry, all cooked over an open flame, plus Hyeja king pork cutlet, bibim jjolmyeon with flat dumplings and 1988 hamburg steak
as written by the visitor on Sep 21, 2026
I was working near Jonggak from way too early this morning, and something stressful happened, so I screamed (?) for a solid 30 minutes and fled to Jongno Tower... There's a bookstore connected through the subway, so I browsed some books for a bit before heading to lunch at Bonghyejane Jubang!
I love touring around Jongno Tower so I'm back and forth a lot, and I noticed Bonghyejane Jubang had recently opened. I'd been looking for a clean, solid Korean restaurant, and the set meals looked really good, so I visited haha.
Where Bonghyejane Jubang Jongno Tower branch is, and when the wait starts
The restaurant is located here — on basement level 2 of Jongno Tower. It's connected to Jonggak Station underground toward the bookstore, so you can walk straight in!
Once you come in through the subway passage, turn right and the restaurant is right there!
Just a heads up, there's a wait after 11:30am!
Inside Bonghyejane: solo seats and tables for group lunches
Once inside, the place was actually bigger than I expected!
It's a newly opened spot, so it feels clean and comfortable overall, and the seating is varied — solo seats, two-tops, and large tables — so it works whether you're eating alone or bringing a whole office for lunch! It gets busy at lunchtime, but being a Korean restaurant, tables turn over quickly.
What's on the menu at Bonghyejane Jubang
Each table has an ordering tablet so you can order and pay right there!
Bonghyejane Jubang's main lineup is charcoal-seared stir-fries — whole octopus stir-fry, baby octopus stir-fry, Jeju pork stir-fry — and it's a plus that they also have set meals that are good for eating solo.
We went ahead and ordered the octopus stir-fry set and the mushroom perilla soup set!
By the way, besides Korean food they also have an oddly wide range like Hyeja king pork cutlet, bibim jjolmyeon (spicy cold buckwheat noodles) with flat dumplings, and 1988 hamburg steak, so a lot of people were splitting dishes. The table next to us ordered the king pork cutlet and honestly, the size alone was impressive, and it looked so good...
The food came out in under 10 minutes after ordering. I got the mushroom perilla soup set, and my friend got the octopus stir-fry set!
Octopus stir-fry set: open-flame smokiness over rice
Octopus stir-fry set
Starting with the octopus stir-fry — just looking at it, the red sauce looks spicy, with plump chunks of octopus packed in.
What's great about this set is that the octopus stir-fry sits over rice, so you can eat it bibimbap-style, and it also comes with a small bowl of the mushroom perilla soup, so you actually get to try a bunch of different things at once..!!
Side dishes come out with it too, and pumpkin porridge as a starter haha.
It's stir-fried with cabbage and various other vegetables, and the sauce — since it's charcoal-seared, it has a nice smokiness. I expected it to be super spicy, but even a spice wimp like me could handle it!
If you lift up the octopus stir-fry plate, there's rice prepared underneath so you can eat it bibimbap-style. It's topped nicely with vegetables and seaweed flakes to make it easy to eat haha.
Honestly, with octopus stir-fry dishes, it's all pointless if the octopus is chewy and tough... but thankfully, really thankfully, Bonghyejane Jubang's octopus was plump and springy, nice and chewy in a good way!
And there's sesame oil on the table, so make sure to drizzle it on generously... it seriously makes it 30 times better.
Mushroom perilla soup set: nutty broth with jorangi tteok
And now the mushroom perilla soup I had.
If the octopus stir-fry is smoky and spicy, the perilla soup is completely on the savory and mellow side, right? I tend to want something without any spice at all when I'm feeling a bit chilly and off, so I ordered this.
With the perilla in it, the broth is thick and nutty, with no harsh flavors at all — really comfortable to eat. There are a few pieces of sikki (bird-shaped rice cake) inside too, plenty of mushrooms, and sesame oil drizzled in as well, which made it even more fragrant.
And mixing in a bit of rice makes it feel like a truly gentle, easy meal. With the mornings and evenings getting cooler lately, I found myself craving warm dishes like this, and I really enjoyed it!
The owner was really kind, the interior atmosphere was nice and clean, and above all the food was tasty, so overall I'm very satisfied :-)
Where it is
51 Jongno, Jongno-gu, Seoul, South Korea, B206·B207, Basement Level 2서울특별시 종로구 종로 51 지하2층 B206, B207호
