Booking Peking duck ahead at Panda Dim Sum in Yeonnam-dong, Seoul

Panda Dim Sum 22 Dongyo-ro 38beon-an-gil, Mapo-gu, Seoul 12:00 ~ 21:00

A Chinese food spot in Hongdae and Yeonnam-dong, Panda Dim Sum! Let's start with the intro video I watched before heading over.

Hi, this is Chugu, traveling on the run. Walking through Hongdae and Yeonnam-dong, you come across all kinds of restaurants. This time, I stepped away from my usual go-to dishes because I was craving proper Chinese food, so I visited Panda Dim Sum.

Where is Panda Dim Sum, and what is the restaurant like?

Panda Dim Sum is a Chinese restaurant in Yeonnam-dong where you can enjoy dim sum and Peking duck together, located about 8 minutes on foot from Hongik University Station.

The store has panda-themed touches everywhere, and instead of feeling like a heavy, formal Chinese restaurant, the vibe was comfortable and casual.

Panda Dim Sum menu and what we ordered

Here's the menu lineup at Panda Dim Sum, a Chinese food spot in Hongdae and Yeonnam-dong.

We ordered half a Peking duck along with flying fish roe shumai and black pepper beef rice bowl.

Half Peking duck ₩39,000 Flying fish roe shumai ₩8,500 Black pepper beef rice bowl ₩15,000

Why you should book the Peking duck in advance

We visited with a reservation made in advance. Peking duck takes some time to cook, so I'd recommend booking ahead before you go.

Flying fish roe shumai, 8,500 won

Since we came to a dim sum place, we had to try at least one dim sum dish. The shumai came out in bite-sized pieces, and with the flying fish roe added, it had a slightly different texture from regular shumai.

Black pepper beef rice bowl, 15,000 won

This is stir-fried beef in black pepper sauce served with rice. The beef, layered with the distinct aroma and savoriness of black pepper, went really well with the rice.

Eating the soft, moist filling and then having the flying fish roe pop in your mouth was a fun contrast. If you're visiting with several people, it'd be fun to order a variety of dim sum dishes and share one of each.

Half Peking duck, 39,000 won, wrapped in thin wheat pancakes

When the Peking duck arrived, the visuals grabbed my attention first. The glossy duck meat comes with wheat pancakes, vegetables, and sauce to pair with it.

You place the duck meat on a thin wheat pancake, add vegetables and sauce to your taste, roll it up, and eat.

Eating the duck meat on its own felt different from wrapping it in a pancake, so I tried it a few different ways.

My personal favorite part of Peking duck is the skin. You get to enjoy the crispy texture of well-roasted skin along with the flavor of the duck meat.

At first I tasted the duck on its own, then later put duck meat and vegetables on a wheat pancake and added sauce. Building each wrap yourself makes the meal a bit more fun.

My personal favorite order is starting with the duck skin to whet your appetite, then moving on to the wheat pancakes for the main event.

The Peking duck was light and tasty when eaten with the vegetables and special sauce.

A Yeonnam-dong day out with Gyeongui Line Forest Park

Panda Dim Sum sits in the alley leading from Hongik University Station into Yeonnam-dong, so rather than visiting just for the meal, it works well combined with a Yeonnam-dong date or a day out in Seoul. A course of slowly walking the Gyeongui Line Forest Park, having lunch or dinner at Panda Dim Sum, then heading to a café in the Yeonnam-dong alleys is a solid plan. Yeonnam-dong especially has cafés, small shops, and good restaurants packed close together, so you can build a full day-date course without traveling far.

I got to enjoy three dishes across the board: Peking duck with crispy skin and tender meat wrapped in wheat pancakes, flying fish roe shumai with its fun popping texture, and the black pepper beef rice bowl that made for a filling finish.

I liked that this isn't a place that only specializes in dim sum — you can enjoy everything from Peking duck to dim sum, rice bowls, and noodle dishes. If you're looking to step outside your usual Chinese food routine, it seems like a good idea to build a meal around the Peking duck and pick a dim sum and a main dish to go with it.