Euljiro anniversary lunch with yuzu chicken thigh: Pyu Euljiro

For our wedding anniversary this year, my husband and I both took a day off and went on a rare weekday daytime date. Haha.

Pyu Euljiro near Euljiro3(sam)-ga Station — what about parking?

While looking around for where to go on our anniversary, one place immediately caught my eye: Pyu Euljiro, near Euljiro3(sam)-ga Station. I'd been selected for a campaign to visit again, and it worked out perfectly for a quiet, special lunch with my husband on our anniversary. 🙌

We booked ahead. The restaurant is inside Tower107, so it was easy to find, and parking was free for the first hour, which made driving there convenient. Parking around Euljiro is usually a bit of a headache, so this was a nice plus.

A welcome message with my name on the table

When we arrived and gave our reservation name, we were shown to our table — and right away my mood lifted, because ta-da, there was a welcome message with my name on it, right there on the table. 😂

It seems like such a small thing, but receiving it in person felt genuinely thoughtful. Especially for an occasion like ours, a little detail like this really sticks with you. Haha.

The menu lineup and the two-person share set

Once seated, we looked over the menu, and there was more variety than I expected — pasta, risotto, steak, and grilled dishes.

There was also a share set for two, letting you try several dishes together. We briefly considered it, but my husband can't eat seafood, so we passed!

So instead we ordered two dishes: garden tomato risotto and grilled yuzu chicken thigh. For drinks, we got apple carrot juice and grapefruit juice.

The dining room mood and table spacing

While waiting on our order, we looked around, and the atmosphere was really nice — better than I expected. Overall it's done in a light beige tone, clean but softened by wood accents and green plants here and there, which gave it a calming feel. When you think of Euljiro, you usually picture busy, hip alleyways, but this place had a completely different vibe.

The space itself is spacious and the tables are well spaced out, so we could talk without worrying about our neighbors. Maybe that's why, but looking around during lunch, everyone else seemed to be eating at their own relaxed pace too. Haha.

Apple carrot juice and grapefruit juice

While chatting and looking around the space, our drinks arrived first. They were much tastier than I expected! It really tasted like fresh-pressed fruit, with that distinct fresh fruit flavor coming through clearly.

My husband took one sip of his grapefruit juice and said, 'It's like a whole grapefruit went into this.' Haha. I had the apple carrot juice, and just from the color I expected the carrot flavor to be pretty strong.

But actually the apple's sweetness came through much more, making it sweet and tangy overall. Rather than that heavy, distinct carrot taste, it was more of a refreshing juice that's easy to drink.

We sipped our drinks and waited a little, and then finally the food arrived. Haha.

Garden tomato risotto with a barley-rice texture

The first dish to arrive was the garden tomato risotto. Right from the look of it, it's a bit different from a typical risotto, isn't it? Roasted vegetables sit on top of a tomato-based risotto, and it's made with barley rice, so the texture is different from a regular rice risotto too.

I took a bite, and the tomato's tanginess came through clearly, with the barley rice giving a fun, crunchy bite. Eating it together with the roasted vegetables, it felt to me like a risotto version of ratatouille for a moment. Haha.

There was also a subtle herb aroma — I personally picked up something like rosemary — which made the whole dish feel a bit more upscale. I'd expected a tomato risotto to be just smooth and richly tomato-flavored, but with the vegetables and barley rice texture mixed in, it turned out to be a much more interesting dish than I imagined.

Grilled yuzu chicken thigh, with charcoal aroma and yuzu sauce

The second dish to arrive was the one that impressed me most that day: the grilled yuzu chicken thigh!

It's a dish with fragrant yuzu sauce laid underneath, topped with grilled chicken thigh and vegetables. I tried the chicken thigh alone first, and there was a fairly strong, smoky charcoal aroma. The skin was chewy yet crisp, and the meat itself, being thigh meat, had a nice firm texture.

But the real highlight of this dish was the yuzu sauce underneath. Eating the chicken thigh plain, the charcoal aroma was quite strong, but once dipped in the yuzu sauce, that smokiness was surprisingly tempered, and it tasted like a completely different dish. The tangy fragrance of yuzu layered over the charcoal aroma made it less rich and much more refreshing to eat.

So I alternated that day — one bite dipped in sauce, one bite without. Haha. Personally, I really liked this dish. Same chicken thigh, but the sauce alone shifted the direction of the flavor, so it never got tiring right up to the last bite.

How was it as a place for anniversaries or blind dates?

Chatting slowly with my husband over lunch like this, I felt glad we'd come here for our anniversary. Haha. Honestly, places that feel too heavy or overly formal for an anniversary can be a bit burdensome, but Pyu Euljiro was clean and stylish without feeling stiff.

It seemed like a good spot for a couple celebrating an anniversary like us, but I also noticed a family with a baby at lunch, so it seems fine for a family meal too. And with a fairly wide wine selection, it also looked like a good option for an evening visit with a glass of wine to mark a special occasion.

Especially if you're looking for somewhere with a bit of atmosphere for a blind date, a date, or an anniversary around Euljiro3-ga, this is worth putting on your list.

More than anything, I loved that my husband and I could take a weekday off and have a relaxed lunch while catching up on all kinds of things. Good food, a great atmosphere, and small but thoughtful touches of service made for a really lovely way to close out our anniversary. 💕 If you're looking for somewhere special to go in Euljiro3-ga, I recommend Pyu Euljiro!

Pyu Euljiro visit info

• Address: 1st floor, unit 102, Tower107, 27 Mareunnae-ro, Jung-gu, Seoul, South Korea
• Hours: Daily 11:00–21:00 / last order 20:20
• Parking available / first hour free