Apgujeong Chinese restaurant from Black & White Chef 2: Bobo Sikdang

Neighbors, when you hear a place was on Black & White Chef, don't you worry about the bill before the menu? Haha

I made a weekday lunch reservation with a friend and went to Bobo Sikdang Apgujeong — we ordered three dishes and it came to ₩85,000. Let me walk through everything from the stairs to the dongpo pork, prices included.

Where is Bobo Sikdang Apgujeong?

Bobo Sikdang Apgujeong is on the 1st floor, Unit 103, of Robin Luxury Mall, 30 Eonju-ro 174-gil, Gangnam-gu, Seoul, South Korea. It's 423m from Apgujeong Rodeo Station (Suin-Bundang Line) exit 6, so I walked there.

There's a red-walled building on a sloped alley. The restaurant sits above a flight of stairs. Since the alley is on an incline, you have to climb steps from the sidewalk up to the restaurant. The sign, the exterior wall, and the menu cover are all in Chinese characters: 「保保食堂」.

This is the front entrance. There are lion statues on either side of the door, and three or four more steps right in front of it. Above that hangs a red umbrella decoration and an OPEN sign. There are stairs, but they weren't too hard to climb.

Before you go: parking, waiting, reservations and prices

I'd recommend reserving ahead at Bobo Sikdang Apgujeong even for a weekday lunch. When we arrived, the dining hall was nearly full. I made a weekday lunch reservation and walked over from Apgujeong Rodeo Station.

The Black & White Chef 2 trophy that greets you at the door

Once you open the door at Bobo Sikdang Apgujeong, you're straight into the dining hall, and a wooden shelf by the entrance is lined with trophies.

There are three 100 TASTE OF SEOUL trophies for 2023, 2024, and 2025, next to a Netflix Black & White Chef trophy plate split black and white, and below that, Blue Ribbon Restaurant cards for 2024 and 2025. If you came looking for the Black & White Chef 2 Chinese restaurant, this shelf is your first checkpoint +_+

Here's the full dining room. Mint-colored walls with wood accents, and pendant lights with fabric shades hang overhead. One wall is mint green with a large vase and decorative plate in front of it. Another wall is a big mirror, and the tables for two combine a swivel armchair with a bench seat. You can see straight into the open kitchen from the dining room, so you can watch the cooking happen.

This is a place setting for one. A teapot and teacup come as standard. There's a small plate, teacup, chopstick rest with wooden chopsticks, and a dish of zha cai (pickled mustard tuber) as the basic side dish. With a teapot on every table, the mood leans more toward a proper Chinese restaurant than a neighborhood joint.

Bobo Sikdang Apgujeong menu and prices

The menu at Bobo Sikdang Apgujeong is a teal hardcover embossed with gold Chinese characters. There are separate sections for meals, dishes, cold dishes, soups, fried items, and even a wine list.

This is the meal page of the menu. Flip it open and the origin labeling is on the side. We ordered dongpo pork at ₩45,000, Bobo-style jjajangmyeon, and abalone samseon-jjajangmyeon at ₩25,000, all at the menu prices as of our visit on September 21, 2026.

The origin info is printed on the menu too: pork is domestic and Chilean, rice is domestic, beef is Australian and American, and abalone is domestic.

Dongpo pork: the reason to come to Bobo Sikdang

To cut to the chase, the star of the day was the ₩45,000 dongpo pork at Bobo Sikdang Apgujeong.

This is the dongpo pork spread. Steamed buns come out on a footed dish behind it. Chunks of dongpo pork and bok choy sit on a blue-and-white porcelain plate, while the steamed buns (flower buns) come separately on a footed dish behind. Scissors come out on the plate as well.

It's a 4-piece serving. The skin has a glossy sheen, and soy sauce is pooled underneath. The dongpo pork was melt-in-your-mouth soft yet not the least bit greasy, which was seriously satisfying — dddd. ₩45,000 didn't feel like a waste.

I split a flower bun in half and tucked in the meat with cucumber and scallion. You split the steamed bun in half, then add a piece of dongpo pork with cucumber and scallion on top. Just pick it up and eat it in one bite.

Bobo-style jjajangmyeon and abalone samseon-jjajangmyeon

The two noodle dishes have similar names but are completely different foods. Straight from the menu description: jakjangmyeon is Chinese-style jjajangmyeon made without chunjang (black bean paste), while abalone samseon-jjajangmyeon is Korean-style jjajangmyeon with whole abalone, shrimp, scallop, and pork tenderloin stir-fried in chunjang.

This is the Bobo-style jjajangmyeon. Shredded cucumber and a fried egg sit on top of the noodles. The sauce dish for the abalone samseon-jjajangmyeon shows the whole abalone alongside scallop, squid, shrimp, and zucchini.

Both dishes come with the noodles and sauce separate. The noodle plate comes with shredded cucumber and a fried egg, while the minced meat sauce arrives in its own bowl. Mixing it together is on you.

The abalone arrives whole, with decorative knife scoring. The ₩25,000 abalone samseon-jjajangmyeon comes with a whole abalone in it. Lift it with your chopsticks and you can see the scored texture clearly.

What was good and what to keep in mind

Three things stood out. The dongpo pork was soft enough to melt in your mouth yet not greasy at all.

The price was reasonable too. Compared to the named-chef restaurants that appeared on Black & White Chef, this felt fair — two of us ordering three dishes came to ₩85,000.

The atmosphere leans toward an upscale Chinese specialty restaurant. With teapot settings, mint-colored walls, and an open kitchen, it's a different tier from a neighborhood Chinese spot.

A few things to note. First, the entrance is up a flight of stairs. After climbing the alley steps, there are three or four more right at the door.

It wasn't too hard for me, but if you're bringing a stroller or going with someone who has mobility issues, factor this route in.

Second is timing. Break time starts at 3:00 PM and lunch last order is 2:20 PM, so if you're picturing a leisurely lunch, it could feel tight.

Third, the menu notes that the chef's recommended dishes are limited quantity and may sell out early. If you're going for the braised eel or the autumn steamed blue crab, check ahead.

Who Bobo Sikdang Apgujeong suits

• Anyone who wants to visit the Chinese restaurant that appeared on Black & White Chef 2 in person
• Anyone who likes wrapping dongpo pork in a steamed bun
• Anyone in Apgujeong who wants a proper Chinese meal for two around ₩80,000
• Anyone who wants that specialty-restaurant atmosphere — open kitchen, teapot settings

If the topic of eating proper Chinese food in Apgujeong ever comes up, this is a place worth bringing up. Of the three dishes, the dongpo pork is the one that stuck with me. Make a reservation, watch your step on those stairs, and go check it out 🚗💨