Dunsan-dong anniversary dinner, 320g ribeye set, lobster pasta: Plate

For our anniversary, my boyfriend and I went looking for a good-atmosphere pasta restaurant in Daejeon and ended up at Plate in Dunsan-dong ꯁ They had all kinds of pasta, pizza, steak — plenty of options for setting the mood, so we picked it.

More than anything, I wanted to feel fancy eating lobster, and here's a pasta topped with lobster for under ₩20,000!! Even the lobster pizza was under ₩30,000. These days most western restaurants charge about this much without any lobster at all.

On an anniversary it's awkward to just eat anything, but going too pricey feels like a burden too, honestly. This place is tasty and has great atmosphere but is also good value, so there's no need to worry about mood or budget on your anniversary. Let me introduce it!🤗

📍 34 Dunsan-ro 31beon-gil, Seo-gu, Daejeon, South Korea, 2nd floor 🕖 11:00–23:00 🅿️ Free for 2 hours in building basement lot • Baby chairs available • Group seating available • Naver reservations accepted

Parking at Plate Dunsan Branch: 2 hours free near Galleria

For Plate Dunsan Branch, look for the Cyan Studio sign in the same building and pull into the basement parking lot. Just mention parking registration when you pay and you get up to 2 hours free!

The lot goes down to B2 and is spacious, so parking was easy. Around Galleria in Dunsan-dong, Daejeon, parking can be a real headache. Being able to eat here without worrying about parking is a huge plus!

Is Plate Dunsan Branch a good date spot in Dunsan-dong?

Take the elevator to the 2nd floor and Plate Dunsan Branch is right there. Even the entrance felt clean and stylish.

The lighting and interior are modern and clean — totally my style. Tables are spaced generously and the whole place feels comfortable, so it'd be great for a date or blind date too!

I booked a 6pm slot on Naver and arrived around 5:50, when there were no other guests yet, but by the time we left it was completely full. Evening hours can get busy, so I'd recommend booking ahead on Naver.

We were seated by the window! The view is of the building across the street, but with all the green trees it still had a nice atmosphere 🌿

There are also 2 baby chairs available. Parents with little ones don't have to worry about seating.

The order sheet: picking from 12 fresh noodle types

Once seated, they give you a paper to check off your order along with a pencil and eraser haha... kind of cute.

Check this photo for the detailed menu and prices!

True to being a well-known pasta spot in Daejeon, you can choose from 12 kinds of noodles. It's amazing that a fresh-pasta specialty western restaurant offering this much noodle variety and choice exists in Daejeon! Even if you don't know much about fresh noodles, each menu item has a recommended noodle number listed next to it, so it's much easier to order.

If you flip these papers over, there are pizza photos and a wine list. The pizza visuals here are insane... the lobster shrimp pizza especially is wild — I've never seen a lobster pizza this good-looking in Daejeon! Next time I go back, I'm definitely ordering pizza 🍕

• ₩1,000 off for cash/bank transfer payments over ₩30,000
• Ice cream for participating in a Naver photo receipt review

Just noting the promotions above~~!!

80,800 won for two: the full anniversary order

At Plate Dunsan Branch we came to ₩80,800 total: flower sirloin steak set ₩52,900 (with the set's pasta swapped to cheongyang vongole cream gnocchi for +₩5,000), lobster pasta ₩19,900, and a Coca-Cola for ₩3,000!

Even though we ordered almost all premium items, the price was reasonable. We're a couple that eats a lot so we ordered 3 mains, but people with more average appetites could probably manage with just 2!

Steak set starters: corn soup, salad and bushman bread

The pre-meal appetizers included with the steak set arrived! Homemade corn soup, a mini salad, and bushman bread. I really love a salty umami flavor, and the corn soup and salad dressing suited my taste perfectly!

Bushman bread — everyone knows this from Outback. Unlike Outback where it comes with butter, here it came with whipped cream, which paired so smoothly with the bread! This bread is always delicious and always nostalgic, no matter when I eat it.

Cheongyang vongole cream gnocchi cuts the richness

The cheongyang vongole (Korean chili) cream gnocchi came out first! I ordered it as a side without much expectation, but the spicy aroma of cheongyang chili made it really satisfying.

It played a great middle-ground role in cutting through the richness of the western dishes, and paired well with everything else 👍 If you feel like 2 mains would be too little but 3 would be too much, I highly recommend this cheongyang vongole cream gnocchi.

The gnocchi was chewy and dense inside!! I think gnocchi tastes best when it minimizes that dry, mealy-potato feel and instead has a chewy, dense texture. This was exactly the gnocchi I want. If you love gnocchi, you have to try this🤤

The 19,900 won lobster pasta with squid ink fresh noodles

Next up, the star of the show — lobster pasta!! 🦞 The claw sticking out beyond the plate has serious presence. Visually, this is exactly what you'd expect from a well-known Daejeon pasta spot.

For the fresh noodle, I chose the recommended squid ink noodle, and it was springy, chewy, and soaked up the sauce well — there was a reason it was the recommended pairing!

The claw was sticking straight out so I even shook hands with it once. Compared to a human hand, can you tell how huge it is?👋

Flip the lobster over and you see the body meat, which comes off the shell easily with a fork. The meat was springy and soft, coming off in one clean piece! Lobster really is on a different level of texture from regular snow crab... the chewiness is worlds apart. I was hooked immediately.

They give you scissors and vinyl gloves for cracking the claw. I actually thought the body was all there was to eat, but it turns out the claw is the main event. Crack it open and you get an egg-sized chunk of claw meat, packed solid — I wanted to pop that whole thing in my mouth at once🤤 Since lobsters move their claws so much, the meat was extra chewy!

320g ribeye steak with mashed potato and grilled baby cabbage

Finally, the flower sirloin steak arrived 🥩 320g of flower sirloin for ₩40,000 is quite good value. I've usually seen western restaurants serve around 200-something grams, so getting to eat this much delicious flower sirloin — we ordered it right away!

We ordered great meat but the portion wasn't so big that we had to fight over it haha. The mashed potato garnish wasn't dry — it was soft and slightly chewy, and well-seasoned, nicely salty. The grilled napa cabbage was also seasoned and delicious! It ate a bit like kimchi without the chili powder.

They don't take a separate order for how well-done you want the steak, but it came out moderately juicy inside, cooked just right.

They told us to drizzle the accompanying steak sauce all over, so we did! Personally, I like pouring the sauce on and letting it sit for a bit — the meat soaking up the sauce gets even more tender and delicious.

Why Plate Dunsan Branch works for an anniversary dinner in Daejeon

Two big eaters, and we ate well and got full! Honestly, we left a little at the end because we were too stuffed... such a waste🥲 It had been a while since we had a meal at a nice-atmosphere restaurant, and it really felt like a proper date.

If you're looking for a quiet, sophisticated spot among Daejeon's pasta restaurants, or somewhere with a varied menu and good value, I'd recommend visiting Plate Dunsan Branch 👍