Bukchon Hanok Village pasta restaurant with forest views: Concasse

I was looking for somewhere with good vibes and good pasta near Anguk Station, and that's how I ended up at Concasse Anguk. It's close enough to the station to be easy to find, and best of all, it's right along the way after exploring Bukchon Hanok Village — a perfect stop on a Bukchon day-trip course.

Where is Concasse Anguk, and what are the opening hours?

Concasse Anguk is at 1F, 14-3 Bukchon-ro, Jongno-gu, Seoul, South Korea, 130m from Anguk Station Exit 2.

• Weekdays 11:30–21:30 / break 15:30–17:00 / last order 14:30, 20:30
• Weekends 11:30–22:00 / break 16:00–17:00 / last order 15:00, 21:00

Concasse sits along Bukchon-ro in Jongno-gu, and once you head down the alley, this pretty space blending right into the neighborhood comes into view. It's actually a hanok (traditional Korean house) done up as a restaurant while keeping its original charm, so it feels quite different from your average pasta place. The quiet, timeworn feel of the hanok naturally mixes with a sleek restaurant atmosphere — I wanted to start taking photos from the entrance.

We walked over to Concasse after touring Bukchon Hanok Village, and honestly, a good meal after all that walking put us in an even better mood. If you're into hunting down pretty spaces to photograph while eating something good, this could work well as an Anguk Station date course or a Seoul day trip with friends.

Inside Concasse Anguk: a converted hanok with forest-view window seats

The thing I liked most about Concasse Anguk was, unsurprisingly, the space itself. Even the exterior, tucked in an alley, matched the surrounding hanok atmosphere, and stepping inside a restaurant converted from a hanok felt different right away. It kept the feel of an old hanok while the interior was done up clean and sleek, so traditional and modern sensibilities came through at once.

The interior in particular was really pretty. The exposed hanok ceiling was striking on its own, and with the forest view through the windows added in, there was never any cramped feeling while eating. Green scenery outside the window naturally pulled your eyes away from just the food. Between the hanok ceiling, the wood textures, and the green forest view, it felt like stepping into a different world in the middle of Seoul.

Concasse Anguk menu and prices

• Kimchi purée, pork jowl steak — tender pork jowl steak served with kimchi purée, ₩36,000
• Tomato salad — tomatoes cured in yuzu and omija (schisandra berry), ₩12,000
• Soy crab pasta — pasta with soy-marinated crab and black sesame dressing, ₩16,000
• Wasabi pasta — pasta with wasabi pesto and wasabi cream, ₩18,000
• Potato gnocchi — Concasse-style potato gnocchi, ₩19,000
• Abalone soft tofu risotto — risotto with abalone innard cream and soft tofu, ₩22,000
• Halibut steak with doenjang risotto — halibut steak with mussel doenjang (soybean paste) risotto, ₩28,000
• Corkage — ₩30,000

A restaurant with great food alone is nice, but when the space itself is this pretty, the whole meal feels more special. Concasse scored high on that front for me. There are photo-worthy spots all over, and the calm, good atmosphere would suit a date or a special-occasion meal too.

Pre-meal bread with anchovy butter

The first thing I tried after sitting down was the bread. Warm bread came out with anchovy butter, and it was a fun departure from the usual butter. Spreading anchovy butter on the bread added a salty, savory depth quite different from bread on its own. The bread itself was plain enough to pair well with the butter — a good light bite before the meal.

The anchovy butter combo in particular stuck with me. At first I wondered, 'what would anchovy butter even taste like?' but once I tried it, it worked more naturally than expected. Nice to get a menu with Concasse's own personality instead of just plain pre-meal bread.

Potato gnocchi, 19,000 won: chewy and soft

Gnocchi's charm is that chewy, soft potato texture, and with the sauce it stayed soft yet held its chew nicely. It was bite-sized and easy to eat, and the sauce's flavor paired well with the plain taste of the potato. Ordering the gnocchi alongside gave the meal a nice variety of textures — the soft, chewy potato feel meant switching back and forth never got old.

The gnocchi's flavor especially came through with the sauce, so I ended up slowing down to savor each piece. If you feel like just one pasta isn't quite enough, ordering the gnocchi as a side is a good move. If two of you are going, I'd recommend ordering one pasta and one gnocchi and splitting them.

What does the wasabi cream pasta taste like?

One of the dishes I was most looking forward to that day was the wasabi cream pasta. I was curious how wasabi in a cream pasta would taste, and it turned out pretty appealing — the smooth, savory cream sauce got a kick from the sharp wasabi flavor running through it. Regular cream pasta can start feeling a bit heavy the more you eat, but the wasabi's sharpness kept cutting through and easing that.

The soft cream sauce and the sharp pop of wasabi worked better together than I expected, and the dish only got tastier the more I ate — better than the first few bites. It would especially suit anyone who loves cream pasta but finds it too heavy normally.

The sauce coated the noodles well, so every bite had plenty of that creamy richness, and the wasabi aroma finished things off cleanly. Most of all, it was a nice change from the usual cream pasta. If you're near Anguk Station hunting for an atmospheric pasta place and want something a bit different, this is worth ordering at least once.

Concasse Anguk as a stop on a Bukchon Hanok Village walk

What I took away from this Concasse Anguk visit was that you get to enjoy the surroundings just as much as the food. It's close enough to Anguk Station to be convenient, and being near Bukchon Hanok Village makes it easy to walk the Bukchon alleys before or after the meal. Bukchon's alleys each have their own mood, so wandering around slowly is part of the fun, and after all that exploring, sitting down for pasta and gnocchi in a pretty hanok restaurant made the whole day feel more worthwhile. Concasse itself, being a converted hanok, fit right into Bukchon's atmosphere. Good food is nice, but eating in a pretty space, walking the alleys around it taking photos, and taking in the hanok and green scenery together — that's the real appeal of this place.

Good food, a pretty space, and Bukchon's own hanok charm all in one — Concasse Anguk was a great find near Anguk Station, and I'd love to come back next time I'm in the area.