Yeonnam-dong Japanese restaurant for sharing: Jongno Donburi Yeonnam

Today, I went on a Yeonnam-dong restaurant tour for the first time in a while. This time, I visited Jongno Donburi Yeonnam, a great Japanese restaurant in Yeonnam-dong that is delicious, spotless, and beautifully atmospheric—perfect for a date, too~

Jongno Donburi Yeonnam: location and hours

It is at B1, 9 Donggyo-ro 46-gil, Mapo-gu, Seoul, South Korea. Weekday hours are 11:30–21:30, with a break from 16:00–17:00; weekend hours are 11:30–21:00, with no weekend break.

Wood-toned interior and varied seating

Jongno Donburi Yeonnam is on the first floor of the building, so you can easily enter through the wooden door~ The whole restaurant has a calm, modern wood-toned interior, so it is clean and lovely—great for a fun meal with friends or a date.

In particular, there is a range of seating, from single-person bar tables that are ideal for dining alone to tables for two to four people that suit couples or friends. You can visit for any kind of meal without worrying about party size.

Two rice bowls chosen from the photo menu

I could quickly look over the available dishes through the menu displayed in front of the restaurant~

Every table has a menu with photos of all the food, which made choosing so easy. Even the feel of the menu paper and the mood of the photos were practically magazine-level, haha, so Jongno Donburi Yeonnam was right up my alley in every way~ Looking through it made my mouth water and I got so hungry that I quickly ordered the Double Katsu Don and Tori Karaage Don.

Tori Karaage Don and Double Katsu Don

The basic soup and side dishes—garlic scapes, pickled radish, and more—arrived first, and since I visited with my child, they kindly brought over a spoon and fork.

A few minutes later, our dishes for the day, Tori Karaage Don (fried chicken rice bowl) and Double Katsu Don (double pork cutlet rice bowl), were ready~ They had just been fried and arrived piping hot, so they looked absolutely delicious!

Tori Karaage Don: I was unsure, then completely won over

First, I tried the Tori Karaage Don~ It is not something I would normally order, but I was somehow enchanted by the photo on that magazine-style menu, so I ordered it with some hesitation. Wow, though—I immediately thought ordering it had been such a good decision. Unlike any karaage I had eaten before, Jongno Donburi’s karaage was fluffy inside yet crisply fried, pleasantly seasoned, warm, and truly a work of art.

There was some kind of powder (?) that I noticed with the karaage. It was a style I had never tried before, and I found that flavor fresh and appealing. The karaage itself was tasty, and the scallions and seaweed flakes sprinkled on top, plus the cabbage served alongside it, all went so well together. The cabbage, onion, and scallions kept what could have felt rich or heavy from becoming that way, and I really enjoyed every bite.

Double Katsu Don, great for sharing with my child

Next was the Double Katsu Don~ It comes with double the pork cutlet! Double the rice! Yet it costs only ₩18,500, which is such a generous deal. We ordered it to share with our four-year-old little one, and it was an excellent choice, as expected. There really was a lot of food~

It was piled high with thick pork cutlet. When I took a bite, the meat was thick but not dry at all—soft and full of juices—so even our four-year-old, who is not good with dry meat, loved it and ate well. There was also plenty of sweet-and-salty egg and onion sauce, so we could finish a delicious bowl of rice without ever feeling it was lacking.

Adding the side dishes here and there makes the meal feel even fresher and tastier. The pickled radish had a fuller flavor than ordinary thin slices, and the garlic scapes were nicely tangy, too.

After finishing our meal and paying, they even stamped our loyalty card, haha. It counts across all branches, which is even better! I was so happy with the meal that I want to come by often, fill up the card, and make Jongno Donburi Yeonnam one of my regular spots.