Apgujeong pasta & omurice spot a certified cook loved: Eulji Darak

I visited Eulji Darak Dosan Park, counted among the best pasta spots in Apgujeong. It's also well known as a brunch place, and the pasta and omurice (Japanese-style rice omelet) are good too. I'll share parking info as well!

What are the recommended dishes and prices at Eulji Darak Dosan?

The recommended dishes at Eulji Darak Apgujeong Dosan are the Darak omurice for ₩16,000, the spicy cream pasta for ₩18,000 and the flat carbonara for ₩18,000. You can add 3 pieces of bread for ₩2,000.

What are the hours and parking at Eulji Darak Apgujeong?

Eulji Darak Dosan is at 25 Eonju-ro 168-gil, 2F, Gangnam-gu, Seoul, and it's open 11:30–21:15. On weekdays there's a break time from 15:15 to 16:30.

• Parking: not available in the building itself; use a nearby paid lot
• Daeseong paid parking lot: 8 Eonju-ro 168-gil, Gangnam-gu, Seoul
• Rates: ₩6,000 per 30 minutes / ₩12,000 per hour

Is the entrance really a bookshelf door?

When you go up to the 2nd floor, the entrance is a door that looks like a bookshelf. I came up the stairs and thought, wait, there's no door? The entrance is decorated in such a fun, quirky way. It's a bookshelf, but it's a door, lol! You push it open and go inside...

Inside, the mood is the complete opposite of the entrance: very calm and tidy. There are more seats than I expected. You can sit wherever you like, and every spot looked pretty to me.

Among Apgujeong brunch places, I think Eulji Darak might be the only one this calm and clean. It's not easy to find a quiet brunch spot, right? To order, you don't press a buzzer; you just ring the bell sitting on your table.

What did we order with friends?

The menu at Eulji Darak is varied, and I tried the dishes it's best known for. The Darak omurice is an absolute must, and to suit my friends' tastes we also got the spicy cream pasta and the flat carbonara, plus extra bread.

The pasta arrived, and it looked so appetizing, like it had just jumped out of the menu photo. I can see why this is famous as an Apgujeong pasta spot. It's perfect for a brunch get-together too, right? Haha.

How is the spicy cream pasta?

Eulji Darak's spicy cream pasta has a cream base sprinkled with spicy powder, and it came with 3 plump shrimp. The cream sauce is really thick and rich. It's moderately creamy and spicy.

How is the flat carbonara?

Eulji Darak's flat carbonara is the textbook cream pasta: thick, rich cream, flat wide noodles, and an egg yolk and thick-cut bacon on top.

Break the yolk and toss it through and it gets even thicker, with a wonderfully nutty flavor. The noodles are wide and flat, so lots of sauce clings to them. The salty bacon you bite into along the way is great too. Dip the extra bread in the sauce and isn't this exactly what an Apgujeong brunch spot should be?

How was the signature Darak omurice?

The big signature dish, Eulji Darak's Darak omurice (₩16,000), is cut open at your table by a staff member, and the inside melts softly away. It was actually my first time ordering it, and it's really well made.

I made quite a few omurice myself while getting my Western cooking certification, and making it like that is really not easy. Serious respect. Made that way it's so soft and vanishes in your mouth, like a meringue cookie.

The sauce is a little sweet and went so well with the omurice, and the savory fried rice inside was another plus. Honestly, Eulji Darak's omurice seems both great value and really outstanding in taste.

Overall verdict

If you're looking for an Apgujeong pasta spot, go to Eulji Darak Dosan! I recommend it as a brunch place too. The omurice is especially good!! My total score is 4.5 out of 5.