Gangnam Western restaurant, rainy-night hidden door: Eulji Darak

Where is Eulji Darak Gangnam Station, and is there parking?

Eulji Darak Gangnam Station is at 22 Gangnam-daero 96-gil, 2F, Gangnam-gu, Seoul. It is open daily 11:30–21:15, last order is 20:30, and there is no break time. There is no parking at the restaurant itself.

It's a great spot with easy access, just a 2-minute walk from Gangnam Station!

You can see the big glass windows from far away,, and seeing how nice the mood is from outside made me even more excited, hehe

They don't offer parking, but there's a public lot nearby, so just so you know: you can park (for a fee) at Yeoksam Cultural Park Public Parking Lot No. 1 - ! I heard the spaces there are wide, so it's easy to park.

How do you find the hidden entrance to Eulji Darak Gangnam Station?

Eulji Darak Gangnam Station is on the 2nd floor, so you have to climb stairs, and the thing that looks like a door isn't the real entrance. You have to find a hidden door. When you search Eulji Darak, there's a line telling you to enjoy the fun of finding the entrance, and this was exactly what it meant.

Eulji Darak is on the 2nd floor, so you come up these stairs, and

the moment I got up there I saw this and thought the writing on top was fake, like, if that's not a door then what is it~ and tried to open it, but there was no handle or gap at all?

Turns out the real door was here;;

Wow, this opens! No wonder the search results said to enjoy finding the entrance. I had no idea what that meant at first lol so amazing

Is the Eulji Darak Gangnam Station interior good for a date?

The inside of Eulji Darak Gangnam Station is spacious and tidy, with a "princess party venue" feel, sofas, marble tables and soft indirect lighting, so it suits a date. There's also a big table that can seat a group.

As soon as I walked in it was full of people, so I figured this was a real hit spot, and the interior was like, a really big princess-party-style vibe. The mood fits a Western restaurant perfectly, and it was roomy and clean, which put me in a good mood.

From the plush sofas to the fancy marble tables and the soft glow of the indirect lighting, it'd be perfect for a date.

It was rainy and gloomy outside, but the air felt totally different once I came in. There was also a big, wide table that can seat a group!

Restroom and self-service station at Eulji Darak

Eulji Darak Gangnam Station has a restroom inside the restaurant, and the self-service zone next to the dish return has napkins, wet wipes and drinking water.

Yes, that one is the restroom. I've decided not to doubt the signs anymore. A restaurant with a restroom inside is on another level of convenience -

This is the dish return,

and next to it is the self-service area!

There are napkins, wet wipes and drinking water, and the water dispenser was kept clean and cold, which deeply moved me, since I drink water like a hippo.

The spoons had cute little drawings on them, so I took a photo to show you all 💖

What we ordered at Eulji Darak Gangnam Station, and prices

At Eulji Darak Gangnam Station I ordered corn gnocchi (₩19,000), spicy brisket perilla oil pasta (₩19,000) and a katsu sando (₩12,000). I picked this place for dinner purely from the menu photos.

I'm attaching the official menu too - ! But here.. the photos are the real deal. I literally chose this place for dinner because of these photos, honestly,, they shot the menu pictures incredibly well 👍

• Corn gnocchi ₩19,000
• (Spicy) brisket perilla oil pasta ₩19,000
• Katsu sando (fried cutlet sandwich) ₩12,000

The gnocchi was my top pick, so it's no exaggeration to say I came for the gnocchi, but the more I looked, the more I wanted to eat, so I ordered a ton, hehe. Quite a spread, right!!!!

Is the spicy brisket perilla oil pasta really spicy?

The spicy brisket perilla oil pasta at Eulji Darak is properly spicy, living up to its name. It has plenty of brisket, and the nuttiness of the perilla seeds goes well with the aroma of perilla leaves.

The brisket perilla oil pasta hit us with a rich perilla smell the moment it arrived and stirred up my appetite so much,,

It had brisket in it with no stinginess, and the nuttiness of the perilla and the distinctive aroma of perilla leaves went together really well, so it was delicious! Being a spicy pasta, it was actually pretty hot, and I loved that. These days menus say "spicy" but it's mostly so mild you wonder if you really ordered the spicy one, and this one definitely lives up to its name - !! Even I, who can't handle spice well, found it deliciously hot, savory and moderately spicy 👍

Is the Eulji Darak katsu sando good for first-timers?

The katsu sando at Eulji Darak (₩12,000) has cutlet meat on par with a katsu specialty shop and soft bread, so even someone trying a katsu sando for the first time was satisfied. It's also good dipped in the coleslaw served alongside or in the pasta sauce.

Wow, and the katsu sando looked fierce from the first glance,, this was my first katsu sando ever, and every time I ran into one at a Western restaurant I thought I'd have to try it someday - ! But is katsu sando really this high-quality a dish??

The meat looked really premium, the kind of quality you'd see at a katsu specialty place, so I thought, this has to be good, and sure enough it was,, the bread wasn't dry but soft, so the textures worked together, and the katsu, what can I even say ㅠㅠ It was good dipped in the coleslaw or the pasta sauce too ✨

Why the corn gnocchi is the top pick at Eulji Darak

The corn gnocchi at Eulji Darak (₩19,000) is baked from dough and then pan-crisped once more, so it's crispy outside and chewy inside, and with the thick creamy sauce it was the top pick of the day. If you visit Eulji Darak Gangnam Station, I recommend ordering the gnocchi first.

Ahh, this one,,, I don't usually eat corn much, but I tend to fall for desserts and dishes that come out with a charred cross-section of corn like that at first sight. I order them like I'm hypnotized, lol, and this one made my heart race the moment it came out.

The gnocchi was baked after kneading, and then the outside was crisped once more. Crispy outside, chewy inside was no joke,, honestly texture matters so much in gnocchi, and crispy-outside-chewy-inside is a can't-go-wrong texture, right?

This thick creamy sauce is the kind you could dip a tire leather in and it'd still taste good, and combined with gnocchi that's already good on its own, it was my top pick,, ❤

I'd been craving gnocchi lately, and I feel like I walked out of Eulji Darak having fallen for gnocchi all over again ㅠㅠ The pasta and katsu sando were both so good, but if you visit, please order the gnocchi first,,,