Haebangchon pasta restaurant for a 6pm date night: Sugar Hill

Walking through Haebangchon, you spot stylish little shops popping up between the old alleys one by one. Sinheung Market (신흥시장) in particular has these trendy spots blending oddly well with the neighborhood vibe, so just wandering through the market is fun on its own.

A while back I walked through Sinheung Market with Gogwi and the atmosphere was so good that I thought, next time we should come back for a drink on a Haebangchon date. So this time we visited Sugar Hill, a Haebangchon date-night restaurant.

Where Sugar Hill is and when it opens

Sugar Hill / 99-15 Sinheung-ro, Yongsan-gu, Seoul / Hours 18:00–23:00, weekends 16:00–23:00 / Closed Mondays and Tuesdays

Sugar Hill sits near the back entrance of Sinheung Market, so it wasn't hard to find at all.

Above all, the exterior catches your eye right away, so we ended up spotting it naturally while just walking through the Sinheung Market alley.

6pm in the Sinheung Market alley, as the string lights come on

We arrived around 6pm, which turned out to be a great time to feel Haebangchon's atmosphere. It wasn't fully dark yet, but the string lights hanging throughout the market started switching on.

During the day the market feels lively and cozy, but as the sun set and the lights came on, the alley took on a much warmer feeling. If you're looking for a Haebangchon date restaurant, I think it's worth choosing somewhere like Sugar Hill in Sinheung Market where you can enjoy the surrounding atmosphere, not just the meal.

What the ground floor of Sugar Hill feels like

Sugar Hill has three floors total, and we sat on the ground floor.

I didn't look around every single seat, but the space itself has such a distinctive vibe that I think you'd have a pretty good date wherever you sat.

The somewhat free and individual feel of the Haebangchon neighborhood matches Sugar Hill's space really well. As a Sinheung Market restaurant, the atmosphere alone pulls you in. It seems good for a drink, and also fine for just hanging out with a friend, date or not.

Personally it really felt like I was in Haebangchon, and I'd like to recommend it as a Haebangchon date restaurant to anyone who likes this kind of vibe.

What we ordered at Sugar Hill and what it cost

• Obok Cocktail ₩16,000
• Afterglow Highball ₩15,000
• Bodeumi Shell Pasta ₩23,000
• Cream Pillow Chicken Pasta ₩25,000

Obok Cocktail vs Afterglow Highball: how do they differ?

The drinks came out first. The colors were so pretty, and there's a big block of ice sitting in the center of each glass. Actually, Sugar Hill is famous as a Haebangchon wine bar, but Gogwi and I went with a cocktail and a highball this time.

The Obok Cocktail wasn't the type with a strong alcohol taste. So if you're like me and prefer drinking cocktails lightly rather than tasting a strong liquor kick, this one works fine.

The Afterglow Highball, on the other hand, had a noticeably clearer whiskey aroma. So if you like drinks that let you actually taste the alcohol, the Afterglow Highball would suit you better than the Obok Cocktail.

While we sipped the cocktail and highball and picked at a peanut or two from the complimentary snack, the warm pasta arrived soon after.

Cream Pillow Chicken Pasta vs Bodeumi Shell Pasta

Both pastas had great umami and paired well with a drink. Funnily enough, both were good, but our tastes split slightly.

The one I liked more was the Cream Pillow Chicken Pasta — the cream sauce's smooth flavor had a salty richness layered into it,

and the mushroom flavor that came through here and there was great too. I personally felt this kind of salty umami went really well with the cocktail or highball, so it was my favorite dish to eat alongside a drink.

Gogwi, on the other hand, says the Bodeumi Shell Pasta was more her style. It's shell-shaped pasta packed with cheese inside, mixed with a tomato-based sauce.

The slightly seared texture of the pasta combined with the cheese inside really well — even I could tell it had its own distinct charm eating it.

If you're visiting as a pair, it's fun to each order a different dish and compare small preferences with each other — I liked that part.

Why Sugar Hill works for a Haebangchon date

At Sugar Hill, our Haebangchon date restaurant, we ended up chatting about upcoming trips and old travel memories over the food and a drink — ahh, don't dates like this feel necessary sometimes? Sugar Hill is perfect for enjoying good food with a light drink on the side!

Above all, from this visit, while I do like comfortable, familiar dates too, out of the many Sinheung Market restaurants, Sugar Hill — good for setting the mood with a drink — is the one that stuck with me.

Walking through the market alley as the string lights switched on one by one, then settling into a great-atmosphere space to enjoy pasta and drinks — you don't need to travel far to have a special evening at a Seoul Sinheung Market restaurant. It was a chance to properly enjoy an evening in Haebangchon, somewhere I'd wanted to come back to for a while, and next time I'm in Haebangchon, I'd love to have a glass of wine at Sugar Hill.