Hongdae ochazuke restaurant with braised pork and cod roe: Ochaya

I've been eating a lot of heavy, spicy food lately so my stomach hasn't been feeling great haha :( While looking for something tasty but gentle on the stomach, I discovered ochazuke!! I happened to be craving Japanese food too, so I searched for Japanese restaurants near Sangsu Station and found Ochaya.

I'd actually never tried ochazuke before, and I was a little worried it might taste "too healthy" and bland — but I found a genuinely satisfying ochazuke restaurant near Hongdae Sangsu Station that I want to introduce! Ochazuke is a traditional Japanese dish where you pour tea or broth over rice :)

Where is Ochaya, and what are its hours and menu prices?

• Hours ⏰ Daily 11:30–20:30 (last order 19:50)
• Location: 49 Wausan-ro 13-gil, Mapo-gu, Seoul, South Korea, 2nd floor (3-min walk from Sangsu Station Exit 1, 10-min walk from Hapjeong Station Exit 6)
• Myeongnan (cod roe) ochazuke ₩10,000
• Kaisen chazuke ₩14,500
• Butano-kakuni (braised pork) chazuke ₩14,000
• Sake chazuke ₩15,000
• Unagi chazuke ₩16,000
• Matoudai chazuke ₩15,000
• Info ℹ️ Pet-friendly / No parking / Group bookings possible / Reservations available

The restaurant is on the 2nd floor, and you can see the entrance right as you come up the stairs.

Inside Ochaya: interior and solo-dining bar seats

Maybe because of the wood tones, Ochaya's interior felt so relaxing ⸜( *ˊᵕˋ* )⸝ And the most important thing — hygiene!!! The whole place was really clean haha. Especially the tables — nothing worse than a sticky table, right :( — but there wasn't a single spot like that here. So clean!

There are plenty of 2- and 4-person tables, so it's good for casual get-togethers, but I also thought the bar table made it great for solo dining. The solo seats even have phone stands. You can really feel the owner's thoughtful touch in details like this — it kind of moved me haha.

What comes with an Ochaya ochazuke set, and what can you refill?

🤤🤤🤤 When you order, everything comes out neatly arranged as a set, which makes it feel even more substantial — and since the side dishes are all chosen to pair with ochazuke, I could enjoy every bite all the way to the end.

There were instructions on how to eat ochazuke, so even as a first-timer I could enjoy it properly — but what really surprised me was that the nutrient rice, seaweed, side dishes, and broth are all refillable!!! I'm someone who thinks a place isn't truly great unless even the side dishes are delicious, and every single one here was good — if I hadn't been so full I would've asked for a rice refill... A real value-for-money spot where even big eaters can eat their fill!!!?

How did Ochaya's nutrient rice and broth taste?

I tried the nutrient rice first — strong mushroom flavor, and healthy-tasting, but!? It was delicious 🤤 Not at all the kind of "healthy but flavorless" thing only older folks like. There's a slightly savory-salty edge to it that makes it genuinely tasty. I don't know how else to put it... it's just good.

The broth tasted like green tea mixed with soy sauce — well-seasoned with real depth! I usually feel like a meal doesn't feel like a meal if the green tea flavor is too dominant, but Ochaya's broth was totally my type.

Butano-kakuni ochazuke: how tender is the braised pork?

What I ordered was the butano-kakuni ochazuke! Butano-kakuni is braised pork.

Can you see how tender this is??!?!?!! Please, just look. I really hope this tenderness comes through in the photo. It genuinely wasn't salty, tasted exactly like a perfectly executed braise, and there wasn't a single tough part — I could eat every bit of the meat worry-free. There's nothing worse than biting into tough meat while eating, right :( Please try this dish 🙏 I took this photo after wolfing down the first bite in a rush, but I'm not exaggerating — it genuinely falls apart without chewing.

Myeongnan ochazuke: is the cod roe flavor too strong?

Myeongnan ochazuke... can you see how much cod roe is piled on?!!!! I was genuinely shocked at how strong the cod roe flavor was. After her first bite, my friend said, "This is the first ochazuke I've had where the cod roe flavor is this intense" 🤯🤯

If you like cod roe, please try this. I don't even like cod roe normally, but it was balanced so well that it tasted great, and now I'm thinking of eating cod roe more often haha.

And they had pretty much all the essentials gathered together on the table, which made eating really convenient 🤭 I love this kind of stuff haha. The owner is so thoughtful~~

Totally recommend this ochazuke spot near Hongdae Sangsu!! Next time I'm bringing my parents 🧚‍♀️🧚‍♀️