Dunsan-dong fresh pasta: ₩14,000 meatball bolognese set, Plate

I went to Daejeon yesterday for the first time in a long while. And guess what, I heard there was a fresh pasta place with great food and a nice atmosphere, so I headed to Plate Dunsan Branch in Dunsan-dong.

Plate Dunsan Branch: location, hours and parking

Plate Dunsan Branch is on the 2nd floor of the building at 34 Dunsan-ro 31beon-gil, Seo-gu, Daejeon, and it is open every day from 11:00 to 21:45. The parking lot is in the building's basement; if you tell the staff, you can park for up to 2 hours for about ₩1,000 extra.

It's a lovely restaurant in Dunsan-dong, which I hadn't visited in ages. It had also been a while since I had fresh pasta, so I was looking forward to it.

Dining hall atmosphere and seating at Plate Dunsan Branch

This is the dining hall of Plate Dunsan Branch. You can tell right away how upscale it is, can't you? There's a group room, so it looks good for company dinners, and the window views make for a nice-mood meal. There are also baby chairs, so bringing a baby is fine too 🙆

Menu and what we ordered at Plate Dunsan Branch

We ordered one classic meatball bolognese pasta set, one à la carte bacon truffle cream gnocchi, and a Coke Zero. There were three kinds of pizza and they all looked delicious, and a lobster pizza caught my eye too. But today we came for pasta and gnocchi.

How do you choose your pasta noodles at Plate Dunsan Branch?

Must-read! At Plate Dunsan Branch you can pick your noodles to suit your taste. Nos. 1-6 are fresh noodles, nos. 7-12 are dried noodles, and you can also choose risotto, which is made with a mix of rice and barley. We ordered tagliatelle, which goes well with ragù, and being able to choose the noodle was fun and a nice touch.

The menu can be confusing at first, but the kind owner explains everything in detail.

Discounts and perks at Plate Dunsan Branch

And one more thing! You get ₩1,000 off for cash payments of ₩30,000 or more, and a free ice cream if you write a Naver photo receipt review, so you can have dessert after your meal 👍

These are the side dishes. It looked like homemade pickles, probably made with beet juice.

What comes in the Plate Dunsan Branch pasta set?

The Plate Dunsan Branch pasta set comes with a garden salad, soup and bushman bread alongside the pasta, for about ₩14,000.

This is the garden salad that comes with the pasta set. The dressing was really good too, and it worked well to whet the appetite.

Here comes the soup. You get two cups, and with almonds and other nuts in it, the soup was also a great appetite starter. The nuts gave it a nice crunchy texture 😃

Bushman bread came out, just like at Outback. You all know how good bushman bread is, right? It was nutty and fluffy, so easy to eat. You get two pieces, and it's perfect with the dipping sauce.

That's the full set. At about ₩14,000, I think the value is excellent. It would make a really cheerful lunch.

How is the bacon truffle cream gnocchi? (₩15,900)

The bacon truffle cream gnocchi at Plate Dunsan Branch is ₩15,900, with a chewy, potato-gnocchi texture and generous amounts of bacon and mushrooms.

That's quite a lot of gnocchi, isn't it? I love gnocchi in that shape, so I was happy the moment it arrived, and I liked how the truffle aroma spread subtly. The plating was pretty too.

The texture is like chewy potato gnocchi. It has lots of bacon, and I loved how the truffle aroma wraps around everything. There are plenty of mushrooms too.

Classic meatball bolognese fresh pasta (₩10,900)

The classic meatball bolognese, Plate Dunsan Branch's signature fresh pasta, is ₩10,900. Fresh pasta in this portion at this price is such good value, right?

The meatballs were also different from the usual shape, and I enjoyed the ragù sauce too.

The fresh noodles had a great texture, springier than ordinary dried noodles, and the meatballs had a nice texture too. For ₩10,900, you really can't get this anywhere else, seriously.

Verdict: would I go back to Plate Dunsan Branch?

We had a delicious meal in a really pretty restaurant. I loved the composition of the set so much that I'll come again whenever I'm in Daejeon. Fresh noodles really aren't common, and when you do find them they're expensive, so I was surprised that ₩10,900 was so much cheaper than I expected.

The gnocchi had the texture and sauce I like, too. Almonds in the sauce added a nice nuttiness. The interior is so pretty that my companion and I were both very satisfied. Next time I'll definitely have the pizza!! I recommend Plate Dunsan Branch in Daejeon.