Gangnam Station restaurant with a fake-door entrance: Eulji Darak
In short
Eulji Darak Gangnam Station is a Western restaurant on the 2nd floor of a building about a 5-minute walk from exit 12 of Gangnam Station in Seoul. On a return visit after a year, the order was brisket perilla oil pasta and omelet rice, and the pipe mural with its fake-door entrance still made an impression. Both dishes are best eaten while hot, and water comes from the self-serve bar, so you have to fetch it yourself.
Good to know
- Location
- Within a 5-minute walk from exit 12 of Gangnam Station, 2nd floor of the building
- Entrance
- Take the stairs to the 2nd floor to find a pipe mural and a fake door; press the button beside it to enter through the real door
- Restroom
- Inside the restaurant, to the right of the entrance
- Self-serve bar
- Chargers, water, wet wipes and tissues are self-serve (you have to fetch your own water)
- Seating
- White tables, wooden chairs, tables for four and more
- Waiting
- On this visit, two reserved parties went in first and then seating was immediate, with no wait
- Ordered
- Brisket perilla oil pasta, omelet rice
as written by the visitor on Sep 18, 2026
Back at Eulji Darak Gangnam Station one year later
It's been almost a year? since I last visited Eulji Darak. It's less than 5 minutes? from exit 12 of Gangnam Station. Climb the stairs to the 2nd floor and there's that familiar mural haha, and then a fake door instead of the real one.
It's been 3 years, maybe 4? since Eulji Darak opened, but the shock of seeing that pipe mural and fake door is still vivid. Good impact.
How to find the entrance: the real door that looks fake
Go through the door that looks like a fake door and Eulji Darak appears. I remember the fake door looking like an elevator. You have to press the button next to it for the door to open. This whole setup feels like some kind of art installation, and it's fun every time I come. Why do I still like this stuff...? Anyway.
Where are the restroom and the self-serve bar?
Eulji Darak Gangnam Station has a restroom right to the right. It's nice that the restroom is inside the shop, not outside haha. Feels like it's better maintained and cleaner somehow. I didn't actually use the restroom this visit so I couldn't check its condition, but yeah — there's a restroom inside the shop.
There's a self-serve bar stocked with chargers, water, wet wipes, and tissues. You have to grab your own tissues, which probably makes you use fewer of them? Having to go fetch water yourself is so annoying though... I go get water at least twice every visit haha, always too caught up chatting to go get it, so I end up holding off and drinking less water than I should (good for my digestion I guess...?). I keep wishing they'd just hand out water bottles like other places do... every single visit... (I'm basically a hippo who drinks a ton of water haha)
Waiting time, seating and the interior at Eulji Darak
Right as you walk in you see a big window wall, white tables, wooden chairs, tables for four maybe. Two? reserved parties were there so they went in first. At first I saw people lined up and got worried there'd be a long wait, but I was relieved to find there was plenty of seating. I used to have to wait to get in, but now I could walk right in without waiting, which is actually great.
Go further inside and there's a chandelier!! Still pretty every time haha. A friendly staff member handed us the menu and explained how everything works.
What is on the menu at Eulji Darak Gangnam Station?
I forgot to photograph the menu so I screenshotted it instead. I only captured the mains and sides, so check Naver Place for the drink menu.
How does the brisket perilla oil pasta taste?
I love oil pasta so I ordered Eulji Darak's brisket perilla oil pasta, and it was just as good as I remembered. Pop the egg yolk and it's oh my god so good. The perilla leaves and perilla oil really work well together.
I want to eat it again right now. Just one bite. But it tastes better if you eat it fast before it cools. We got caught up chatting and it went cold and honestly wasn't as good then. It's way better hot. Slurp it down before it cools — save the chatting for later haha.
(I hadn't seen this friend in forever so talking took priority over eating haha)
Omelet rice with a tableside cutting service
Coming to Eulji Darak, you have to get the omelet rice. Great choice today, zero regrets. The staff member brought the omelet rice over and said "I'll cut it for you," then cut it open with a flourish. It was cut so nicely, split perfectly in half haha. The egg was so soft the rice tasted great too — I wanted to just slurp up the egg blanket by itself.
It's fine while hot, but once it cools the salty umami gets stronger, so I'd recommend eating this one hot too haha. Lately I haven't had much of an appetite so I think I'm eating less. Maybe I'll lose more weight...? Even better haha.
But that round spoon, while pretty, is uncomfortable to use every time haha. Putting it in and out of my mouth is really awkward. People with big mouths probably don't find it uncomfortable, but for someone like me? The spoon feels inconvenient. I notice it every visit but well... nothing to be done about it.
And that's it for this thoroughly personal review.
Where it is
22 Gangnam-daero 96-gil, Gangnam-gu, Seoul, South Korea, 2nd floor서울특별시 강남구 강남대로96길 22 2층
