Spanish restaurant in Yangjae: pulpo topped with brandada, Comedor16

Ever since my trip to Spain, I sometimes find myself craving the octopus dishes I ate there. Pulpo, the Spanish-style octopus served with olive oil, is something I still hunt down in Korea from time to time.

This time I was looking for a good Spanish place near Yangjae and found Comedor16. One look at the 8-hour confit pulpo on the menu and I thought, I have to go here, haha. I went for the pulpo, but ended up loving the brandada I ordered for the first time too, so let me walk you through it one dish at a time.

Where is Comedor16, and what are its hours?

Comedor16 (꼬메도르16) is a Spanish restaurant at 40-10 Dongsan-ro 19-gil, Seocho-gu, Seoul (Unit 101), near Yangjaecheon stream. It is open 11:30–21:00 on weekdays and 17:00–21:00 on Saturdays, and closed on Sundays.

• Address: 40-10 Dongsan-ro 19-gil, Seocho-gu, Seoul (Unit 101)
• Hours: Mon–Fri 11:30–21:00, Sat 17:00–21:00
• Break time: weekdays 14:00–18:00
• Last order: weekdays 13:30 and 20:30 / Saturday 20:30
• Closed: every Sunday
• Parking and reservations available

On weekdays Comedor16 splits into lunch and dinner service, and on Saturdays dinner starts at 5 p.m. The weekday break time runs from 2 p.m. to 6 p.m., so it's worth checking the hours before you go.

What is the atmosphere inside Comedor16?

Inside, Comedor16 is a calm space with warm-toned walls, wooden tables and black pendant lights. The warm walls and wooden tables were the first things I noticed when I walked in.

Black pendant lights hang from the ceiling, and the chairs are in brown and gray.

The light falls softly over the tables, which made it a relaxing place to eat. It felt cozy overall, good for sitting across from someone and talking over a meal. It's the kind of atmosphere I'd think of near Yangjaecheon when looking for a year-end gathering, a blind date or a date spot.

It suits a day when you want to eat and chat quietly rather than in a noisy place.

What did we order at Comedor16?

At Comedor16 I ordered the 8-hour confit pulpo steak (₩42,000) and the brandada X hogaza (₩23,000). I was torn between that and paella, and went with the brandada since I'd never seen it before.

Here's the Comedor16 menu. Since it's a Spanish restaurant, I first thought about getting paella too.

But while reading the menu, a dish I'd never seen caught my eye: brandada X hogaza. The description said salt cod and potato mashed with olive oil and baked in the oven. I have so many good memories of fish dishes from my trip to Spain that I was curious about this one too. Cod, potato and olive oil? The ingredient combination alone was my kind of thing.

In the end I put the paella off until next time and ordered one pulpo and one brandada. That was the 8-hour confit pulpo steak at ₩42,000 and the brandada X hogaza at ₩23,000.

With the fierce menu deliberation (?) over, I used some hand sanitizer and waited calmly for the food, haha.

What does the 8-hour confit pulpo steak at Comedor16 taste like?

The 8-hour confit pulpo steak at Comedor16 is a long-cooked octopus leg served whole on a blue plate with grilled potatoes. It was so well cooked that the knife went in without any pressure.

This pulpo was the biggest reason I visited Comedor16. Every time I remembered the octopus I ate in Spain I wanted it again, and here it was in Yangjae. The dish is called the 8-hour confit pulpo steak: slow-cooked octopus on a blue plate, served with potatoes.

The octopus leg came out whole, so the size alone caught my eye. The red surface was sprinkled with herbs, with golden grilled potatoes beside it.

What I remember most is putting the knife in. I didn't have to press hard at all, and it slid right through. You can tell the result of 8 hours of patient confit from the very first cut.

Cut into bite-size pieces, it had the springiness octopus is known for but almost none of the toughness. The outside was coated with olive oil and seasoning, and the inside was moist and tender. I ordered it thinking of the octopus I had in Spain, and it was exactly the soft texture I wanted.

The potatoes and olive oil served with the pulpo

And you can't skip the potatoes. Spain has a lot of potato dishes, and eating the well-cooked potato together with the octopus added a fluffy texture to the octopus's savory depth. I was told they use high-quality olive oil, and the plate had plenty of it. I liked dipping the octopus and potato generously in the oil and eating them together. One piece of octopus with one potato is mild yet filling, a combination you could keep eating endlessly.

What is brandada X hogaza?

Brandada is a Spanish dish of salt cod and potato mashed with olive oil. At Comedor16 it comes oven-baked with bread for ₩23,000.

I came for the pulpo, but I was really glad I ordered the brandada too.

The brandada came in a red oven dish with a golden-baked top. Capers were scattered over the surface, and some edges were browned. When I scooped inside with a spoon, softly mashed cod and potato came up from beneath the baked top.

The first thing I tasted was the saltiness of the salt cod, followed by the soft texture of potato blended with olive oil. The cod's saltiness anchored the whole flavor, so even though the texture was creamy, it never felt heavy.

I usually love fish dishes and ate them often in Spain, and this one was a huge success too.

It was my first time trying it, and after one spoonful I was so moved that I went back and read the menu description again, haha.

How do you eat brandada with bread and pulpo?

The brandada at Comedor16 comes with thickly cut, golden-grilled bread, so you can put it on top. Partway through I also tried putting brandada on the pulpo, and that was delicious too.

The brandada came with grilled bread. The bread was golden on the outside and cut thick, perfect for piling the brandada on.

With a generous scoop of brandada on the bread, the crispy bread and soft cod went well together. The bread also supports the salty brandada, which makes it easy to eat bite by bite. But as I ate, I got curious about another combination: brandada on the pulpo!

Soft octopus with salty cod and potato added on top was delicious too. You get octopus and cod in one bite, and since both are tender they go well together. With olive oil alongside, I kept reaching for the bread as well. Brandada is good on its own, but ordering it with the pulpo made eating it more fun. A salty, soft fish dish like this would probably go well with wine too.

Wrapping up the meal at Comedor16

At Comedor16, a Spanish restaurant in Yangjae, I liked both the 8-hour confit pulpo and the brandada I tried for the first time. The combination of brandada on top of the pulpo is what I remember most.

This time I missed the octopus I ate in Spain and came to Comedor16. The pulpo I was most looking forward to was cooked so tender that the knife slid right in, and I liked eating it with potatoes and olive oil. The brandada I ordered for the first time was another win of this meal. There was fun in eating it piece by piece, with the saltiness of the salt cod, the soft potato and the golden-grilled bread. The brandada-on-pulpo combination especially stays with me.

It's a calm, cozy space, so I'd think of it when looking for a blind date, date or year-end gathering spot near Yangjaecheon. If I visit again, I'd like to order the paella I wavered over and didn't get this time.