Hongdae pasta restaurant with spicy cream risotto: Hey Joji

Today I want to introduce a pasta restaurant in Yeonnam-dong that I found while out with a friend — "Hey Joji"!!

When I meet a friend in Yeonnam-dong, isn't it basically mandatory to hit a café, do some window shopping, and eat something good?! haha While looking around for where to go, we got a craving for pasta and risotto, and that's how I found Hey Joji, a Yeonnam-dong pasta spot!! Everything was so good overall that I'd return 100%!! Especially since my friend tried it and said, "I feel like I'll be craving this again later," and immediately saved it on Naver Place lol. That's basically an official stamp of approval, right...?! Okay, let's get right into the Hey Joji review!!

Hey Joji location, hours and parking

• 🚩 Location: 42-24 Donggyo-ro 46-gil, 1st floor, Mapo-gu, Seoul, South Korea
• 🕛 Hours: Daily 12:00–21:00 (last order 20:00)
• 🚗 Parking: Not available
• 📌 Reservations: Available

What the Hey Joji dining room feels like with a friend

It was a restaurant with a great atmosphere for a Yeonnam-dong outing with a friend.

Rather than a heavy, formal atmosphere, it felt comfortable and easy to eat in, so it's good for going with friends, and I thought it'd also be fine for a date next time!! It's the kind of place to stop by when you're hanging out in Hongdae or Yeonnam-dong and want pasta or risotto, haha.

What we ordered and how QR ordering works at Hey Joji

I agonized over the menu for a while... I wanted pasta, I wanted risotto, but I only have one stomach so ordering everything felt too sad,,, ㅠㅠ

In the end we ordered two things!! Garlic squid oil pasta at ₩16,000 and duck steak cream risotto at ₩17,000.

You order via QR code, and it was so convenient!!

Once the food came out, what I noticed was that the ingredients were really not held back. These days you sometimes see menu photos that look nothing like the actual dish, like "wait...? what did I even order?" lol, but here the food looked pretty appetizing from the start.

Duck steak cream risotto, 17,000 won

The dish I especially enjoyed was the duck steak cream risotto!! Honestly, when ordering I didn't expect much duck meat, but wow... it had way more duck than I expected!!

Plus the meat pieces were pretty big, so I could eat duck the whole way through the risotto. The duck itself was tasty, but what I liked most was the cream sauce. Cream risotto can easily get greasy the more you eat, right??

But this one had just the right amount of spiciness in the cream sauce, which cut right through the richness!! So I could eat it from start to finish without getting sick of it. And something I think matters a lot in risotto is the texture of the rice grains. They weren't mushy and overcooked like porridge — they had a nice, springy bite, which I liked.

The sauce is smooth and savory, the rice is springy, and eating duck in between makes every bite feel packed with flavor and texture!! Personally, I was really satisfied with this dish 👍👍

Garlic squid oil pasta, 16,000 won

And then there was the garlic squid oil pasta my friend ordered!! I personally lean toward cream or tomato pasta since oil pasta can sometimes feel too greasy.

But I tried my friend's oil pasta that day and oh... it was way better than I expected?! Above all, I loved how much squid was in it. Sometimes with pasta the ingredients are so scarce you just end up twirling plain noodles,,, lol

But Hey Joji's garlic squid oil pasta had plenty of squid, so it was fun eating it together with the noodles. And the oil wasn't overly greasy either — it had a clean taste, which I liked. After eating it, my friend said, "This is genuinely so good," and even saved it on Naver Place as a place to come back to when the craving hits!!

This is genuinely so good.

How both Hey Joji dishes tasted

Trying both dishes, what stood out was how generous they were with ingredients. The duck meat was more plentiful than expected, and the squid was generous too, so there was no disappointment about skimpy portions. Both dishes also had rich flavor with an overall upscale taste, which was satisfying. If you and a friend are wandering around Hongdae wondering "what should we eat?", and you like pasta or risotto, this place is worth a visit, haha.

This is the jambalaya rosé risotto that passed by our table briefly — it also looked really generous in portion and tasty.... Looks appetizing at a glance, right??? Next time I'm definitely ordering this!!

Who Hey Joji in Yeonnam-dong is best for ✔

• ✔ Anyone looking for a good pasta restaurant in Yeonnam-dong
• ✔ Anyone looking for a place to eat while hanging out with friends in Hongdae
• ✔ Anyone looking for a date restaurant in Yeonnam-dong
• ✔ Anyone looking for a restaurant in Yeonnam-dong with both good vibes and good food

I tried two dishes this visit, but next time I definitely want to try other menu items!! Especially the jambalaya rosé risotto and the house steak, haha. Yeonnam-dong has so many good restaurants that plenty are one-and-done visits, but Hey Joji, this Yeonnam-dong pasta restaurant, is personally one I thought "I need to come back here again!" It's great for hanging out with a friend in Hongdae or Yeonnam-dong, and would also work well for a date next time, so I'm 100% planning to return 😍😍 If you're looking for a pasta or risotto spot around Hongdae, I highly recommend giving Yeonnam-dong's Hey Joji a try! (100% genuine recommendation!!)