Isigny butter rice set at a Gwanghwamun Korean restaurant: Modam

This review includes items I paid for myself.

A get-together day with friends 💛 While deciding where to go, we wanted a Korean restaurant with a nice atmosphere for our meetup, so we picked this famous Gwanghwamun hanjeongsik (Korean set-meal) spot for gatherings — Modam Dining Gwanghwamun!

Modam Dining Gwanghwamun: location, parking and hours

Modam Dining Gwanghwamun is at 10 Saemunan-ro 2-gil, Deoksugung D Palace B1, B102 & B103, Jongno-gu, Seoul. Park in the building's B3 level and get 2 hours free.

• 🖤10 Saemunan-ro 2-gil, Deoksugung D Palace B1, B102 & B103, Jongno-gu, Seoul
• 🖤2 hours free parking when parking in D Palace building B3
• 🖤Hours Mon–Fri 11:00–22:00 / break 15:00–17:00 / last order 20:10
• 🖤Sat, Sun 11:00–22:00 / last order 20:10

Modam Dining Gwanghwamun sits roughly between Seodaemun and Gwanghwamun stations on Line 5. There's a bus stop nearby too, so taking the bus is a good option if you're using public transit :)

The building's exterior was already so clean and modern and pretty, but the inside was even prettier at Modam Dining Gwanghwamun. Right from the entrance, that neat, modern feel was on full display...✨ Excited for the food, we headed straight in

Free corkage and private rooms: the mood for wedding-invitation and meet-the-parents dinners

You could check the menu right at the entrance, and a free corkage sign caught my eye!! Free corkage is love.

There wasn't a counter right as you walked in — you had to go a bit further inside, which gave it a more private, formal feel. The reason it's known for meet-the-parents dinners, family gatherings, and wedding-invitation meetups in Gwanghwamun was obvious just from the interior.

Plenty of tables, and the hall was spotless. Of course there were private rooms too, so you could use an individual room, and the lighting was set just slightly low overall for a calm mood.

Three set meals ordered at Modam Dining, from 32,000 to 40,000 won

Modam Dining Gwanghwamun has course meals as well as set-meal (jeongsik) menus, and we ordered three sets.

• Charcoal-grilled deodeok pork set ₩32,000
• Jindo scallion crispy bulgogi set ₩34,000
• Abalone shrimp jang & butter rice set ₩40,000

When you order a set at Modam Dining, appetizers come along with it — and this appetizer spread was very generous and tasty too.

What comes as appetizers: mung bean porridge to fried shiitake

The first thing to arrive was the appetizer, mung bean porridge (nokdujuk). The porridge changes with the season, and this time it was mung bean. Savory and light — hit the spot perfectly.

The perilla oil cappellini had a pretty generous portion, and the nutty perilla oil aroma spread right out and got my appetite going. I use cappellini at home a lot too — it's perfect for cold noodle dishes haha

Mix it all up and it disappears in a flash lol

The pine-nut sauce mustard-greens salad had a really delicious sauce. Not just nutty — deeeeply nutty. Cucumber, tomato, broccoli, lotus root, and various other fresh vegetables came together, and with the nuttiness of the nuts and pine-nut sauce added, I scraped the sauce clean.

I love nutty flavors, so this salad was the kind I still thought about after getting home haha

A seasonal salad with yuzu dressing, and a seasonal raw fish and pickle ceviche. The yuzu-dressed salad and the ceviche were fresh with a slight tanginess, perfect for waking up the appetite before the main meal. The ceviche disappears in one bite haha, but you could save some of the salad to eat alongside the main dish to cleanse the palate throughout the meal!

This cheongyang chili water kimchi was also refreshingly spicy-cool, with really tasty broth — grab a piece and your mouth feels clean, the kind of thing you could just keep eating.

Fried shiitake mushroom! It was so good I honestly wanted to eat all three myself, but we shared them nicely one each. Good-quality shiitake, deep fried — the frying itself was delicious and the crispy-outside-tender-inside texture was exactly my type!

The sauce was slightly spicy and a bit sweet — the sauce itself was amazing too~

Even just the appetizers had so many dishes and tasted so good that I already felt like I'd had a full meal before the main course — and the main was still to come><

Just as we were finishing the appetizers, the main dishes arrived. The staff timed it perfectly to bring the mains out, and I really loved that attention to detail.

Visuals: good

Charcoal-grilled deodeok pork set, 32,000 won

The charcoal-grilled deodeok pork set comes with stir-fried pork (jeyuk-bokkeum) and deodeok (mountain bellflower root). I love deodeok but hadn't had it in ages, so it was such a welcome sight — the deodeok's aroma was excellent and paired really well with the pork.

The pork was a bit spicy with that grilled, smoky char, and tasted great whether wrapped in a lettuce leaf or eaten plain. Definitely recommend eating it together with the deodeok!! They go together perfectly 🩷

Jindo scallion crispy bulgogi set, 34,000 won

The Jindo scallion crispy bulgogi set pairs crispy grilled bulgogi with shredded scallion — the bulgogi, grilled with a smoky char, was delicious, and it paired well with the shredded scallion.

But these mushrooms were so easy to pick up and so moist that I wanted more mushrooms haha,,, so good,,,,,,,,,,

Abalone shrimp jang with butter rice set, 40,000 won: the Isigny butter is the highlight

Highly recommend the abalone shrimp jang and butter rice set. They give you my favorite butter, Isigny butter.

Mix butter and soy sauce into the rice, then top it with the seafood jang (marinated seafood)? Pure bliss lol

Is this crazy or what? Insanely good;; Garlic scapes are the kicker too, so make sure to add those on top.

The soup and side dishes were all delicious too, so many places for my chopsticks to go...✨ When we visited, they served beef radish soup, and the broth was deep and rich — so good!! The soup seems to change every time!

That giant shrimp — insane visual, insane taste,,, look at that size, so good. I eat the shell, tail, and head of shrimp, so this giant shrimp head was my personal pick.

Mix the innards into the rice and top with egg jang — just insane!!!!!!!!!!! Once the innards are gone, crunch on the head — nutty and delicious.

We wrapped up with a refreshing, sweet plum tea for dessert 🩷

Is Modam Dining Gwanghwamun a good spot for a group dinner?

When we came out after the meal, the lights had come on outside and made the atmosphere even nicer! This place felt perfect not just as a general gathering spot but also for more formal occasions like meet-the-parents dinners, both in mood and taste. 200% would revisit — Modam Dining, a Gwanghwamun hanjeongsik favorite!

The hot pot looked delicious too, so we decided to try other menu items next time><!! It'd also be great to bring my parents here, so I'll definitely be visiting again :)