QR-code ordering and solo lunch at Tanbaek, a Seoul Korean restaurant

I was looking for somewhere to have lunch near City Hall Station and ended up at Tanbaek. Walking along Jeongdong-gil, there are quite a lot of restaurants and cafés with nice atmosphere, and this is a good spot to stop by when you want neat, tidy Korean food. There are especially seats on the first floor good for eating alone, so it suits solo diners hunting for a City Hall Station restaurant too. There's Deoksugung Palace and several museums and galleries nearby, so it's also a good stop for lunch after checking out an exhibition or strolling Jeongdong-gil.

Where Tanbaek is and when it opens

• Address: 37 Jeongdong-gil, Jung-gu, Seoul, South Korea
• Hours: Mon–Sat 11:00–21:00 / Sun 11:00–17:00
• Break time: 15:00–17:00

Tanbaek is located on Jeongdong-gil. From City Hall Station, walk toward the Deoksugung stone wall path and follow Jeongdong-gil to find it. It's near Jeongdong Theater, so it's easy to take your time wandering around before you arrive.

Personally, I liked the location on Jeongdong-gil itself. The area around City Hall Station is usually busy and hectic with office workers, but walking just a little toward the Deoksugung stone wall path, the atmosphere calms down considerably. It works especially well if you're looking for a place to eat after visiting Deoksugung or the nearby museums and galleries.

First-floor bar seats for eating alone

The inside of Tanbaek feels clean and orderly overall. There are bar-style seats on the first floor, so eating alone doesn't feel awkward at all. It's genuinely a good layout for solo dining, so if you come for lunch by yourself, you can eat comfortably.

When you go to a restaurant alone, sitting by yourself at a table meant for two to four people can feel a bit awkward — but having bar seats definitely takes that pressure off. The atmosphere is quiet and tidy overall, so it seems like a fine place to visit with a companion too, not just solo.

Tanbaek's menu and how QR ordering works

The soybean bibim kalguksu I had this time was a seasonal item, which made me even more curious to try it.

Tanbaek's menu centers on kalguksu (knife-cut noodle soup), along with warm jeyuk (boiled pork), mandu (dumplings), and jeongol (hot pot). The signature kalguksu options include gom kalguksu and yukgaejang kalguksu, and the restaurant also rotates in seasonal dishes. The soybean bibim kalguksu I had this time was a seasonal item, which made me even more curious to try it.

Ordering is convenient — you scan the QR code at your seat and order online without needing to call a server over.

How the warm jeyuk and kimchi dumplings tasted

The warm jeyuk arrived first.

I liked that the meat was warm and tender. Since it's served hot rather than as cold sliced boiled pork, the tender texture of the meat came through even more.

And the warm jeyuk was much better paired with the chamnamul namul (aromatic herb salad) that came alongside it than eaten on its own. The fragrant, refreshing flavor of the herbs added to the soft, mild meat made everything taste much cleaner in the mouth.

Eating only meat can get a little heavy, but with the herb salad, that feeling was much lighter. There were also condiments like wasabi and dadaegi (spicy chili paste) served alongside, which was nice for variety.

The mandu were pretty solidly tasty overall. That said, maybe because I can't handle spice well, they felt spicier than I expected. If you're someone who struggles with spicy food, it's worth keeping in mind.

Still, they were good eaten alongside the kalguksu or the warm jeyuk. Alternating with other dishes rather than eating the mandu alone seemed to tone down the spiciness a bit. If you handle spicy food well normally, it probably won't feel too intense, but for someone like me who's not great with spice, it can be spicier than expected.

Seasonal soybean bibim kalguksu at Tanbaek

The most memorable dish of this meal was the soybean bibim kalguksu. I ordered it out of curiosity since it's a seasonal item, and it turned out to be far tastier than I expected.

Unlike a typical bibim noodle where a thin sauce is just lightly coating the noodles, this one has thick, hearty soybean sauce that you really mix into the noodles.

Unlike a typical bibim noodle where a thin sauce is just lightly coating the noodles, this one has thick, hearty soybean sauce that you really mix into the noodles.

Since I personally like soybeans, I really enjoyed this. I expected the soybean bibim to be just mild and plain, but the thickness and nuttiness of the soybean sauce were pronounced, so it was much more satisfying than expected. The perilla aroma also went really well with the soybean sauce, making for a fragrant, nutty flavor that stood out.

It was good enough that it felt a bit of a shame it's only a seasonal menu — if you visit while it's available, I'd recommend trying it at least once.

Is Tanbaek worth a solo lunch?

Overall, Tanbaek was a great place to stop by when looking for a solo lunch spot near City Hall Station. The space was tidy and the food came out neatly, so eating alone didn't feel awkward at all, and I liked the Jeongdong-gil location too. The seasonal soybean bibim kalguksu especially stood out, and I'd like to come back and try it again next time I'm looking for a City Hall Station restaurant.