Hanam Misa kiosk restaurant: cream mentaiko pasta at Roi Sikdang

Hanam Misa restaurant Roi Sikdang

If you go hunting for Hanam Misa restaurants these days, you'll run into places where the photos look amazing but once you actually eat... hmm, turns out the photos were the tasty part haha. This time though, Roi Sikdang was a little different.

Inside Roi Sikdang: small but cozy

Roi Sikdang is a Japanese home-style restaurant on Misagangbyeon-buk-ro 30beon-gil in Hanam, and the space is on the small side, so there aren't a ton of tables. But honestly I didn't mind this vibe at all.

Compared to a huge, packed restaurant, it felt cozier and calmer to eat here. Of course, depending on when you go, seats might not be so easy to come by, so it's better to visit with a relaxed mindset.

In short, this isn't the kind of place for a today-I'm-busy-so-just-eat-fast meal — it's more of a let's-chat-over-dinner-and-maybe-a-beer kind of spot haha.

Once seated, the table was neatly set and the tableware was all arranged nicely. The overall mood was quiet and cozy, which I liked even more.

The menu had Roi Sikdang's own story about rice written on it — starting from a small rural rice mill, with their dedication to good rice. It felt less like a place that just sells a meal and more like somewhere that pours care into every bowl of rice, which left an impression on me.

How ordering works: menu at the table, kiosk for payment

What I picked at Roi Sikdang was the eggplant tempura rice bowl and the cream mentaiko pasta. Rice-bowl team and noodle team living in peaceful harmony — such an ideal menu choice, right? Haha. Honestly I'm the type who goes in for one dish and then gets swayed the moment the next table's food looks good, so I stood in front of the menu agonizing for quite a while, haha.

The system is: check the menu at the table, then order via kiosk. Since the place is small, I worried the kiosk line might get chaotic, but since you can take your time reading the menu at your seat and just make your selections on the kiosk, it actually went smoothly.

Along with Roi Sikdang's story about pouring sincerity into every bowl of rice, there was also a note on the milling date of the rice used that day — seeing that somehow made even a single spoonful of rice taste better, haha.

The menu has both a single-order format and a set combo format — we went with single orders.

Eggplant tempura rice bowl: good even if you dislike eggplant?

First up: Roi Sikdang's eggplant tempura rice bowl. Eggplant is honestly a bit of a love-it-or-hate-it ingredient. I'm the type whose appetite quietly disappears the moment eggplant turns mushy, so I was a little worried. But the eggplant here was fried up crisp, and the texture was great.

Crispy eggplant tempura + savory meat + rice — this combo worked way better than I expected. It's a little spicy, so there's no room to get greasy before the savoriness hits, and the eggplant's soft texture paired with the crunchy batter felt completely different from just eating plain eggplant.

The kkakdugi and pickled radish that came as side dishes went really well with the eggplant bowl too.

Personally, I think even people who don't like eggplant could give this one a shot. Fried this way, that distinct mushy texture is greatly reduced, and since you get meat and rice with it too, it feels like a pretty solid meal on its own — a proper rice bowl!

What the 100% cream mentaiko pasta tastes like

Second dish: Roi Sikdang's 100% cream mentaiko pasta. I've had plenty of mentaiko (pollock roe) pasta before, but cream mentaiko pasta? The name alone already sounds soft and rich, doesn't it?

The moment it arrived, the visual alone had me sold, haha. The nutty richness of the cream sauce plus the salty savoriness of the mentaiko made for an overall soft flavor that never got boring. If you like cream pasta, you'll probably end up scraping the sauce clean with a spoon. Soft and nutty, with the mentaiko's savoriness keeping things anchored in just the right spots!

Right as it starts getting a little rich, one bite of pickle resets everything, haha.

I liked it enough that I'd come back just for this pasta! Especially since my boyfriend, who hates rich creamy stuff, took one bite because of the mentaiko and then kept stealing more, haha.

Bottom line: I ended up scooping it onto bread and scraping the sauce clean with a spoon too, lol.

Waiting and cooking time at Roi Sikdang, honestly

When writing a restaurant review, of course I want to say the good things are good, but if I only list positives, it can actually come off as suspicious. So let me be honest about a few things I noticed during my actual visit to Roi Sikdang.

Roi Sikdang isn't a very large space. It's not packed with tables — overall it's on the small side. So during busy hours there's a bit of a wait! There were quite a few takeout customers, and also families waiting to be seated.

And the food takes a bit of time to come out too. In the kitchen, it looks like a couple — presumably the owners — cook everything, with one staff member serving the floor, so it's not the kind of place where tables turn over quickly.

But I didn't see this as purely a downside. Especially for dishes like rice bowls or pasta that are cooked to order, some wait time is expected. It's totally fine if you take photos, chat, browse the menu again while you wait — but if your goal is to quickly grab a meal in a rush, well... maybe not.

On the flip side, if you're meeting a friend or a date for a slow meal and conversation, this cozy atmosphere actually suits that perfectly. Other reviews I've seen also describe Roi Sikdang as a comfortable-vibe restaurant, and it's mentioned as a spot for family visits or date-night dinners.

If you're looking for something a bit different among Hanam Misa restaurants — a Japanese home-style menu — or want a break from your usual rice bowl and pasta, put Roi Sikdang on this week's shortlist. I left pretty satisfied that day, so next time I'm stuck deciding where to eat in Misa, I'll be quietly adding it back to the list.