Yeonnam-dong donburi: sake-don, chili pickles & thick radish, Jongno

Jongno Donburi Yeonnam: where a salmon addict goes for sake-don

Jongno Donburi Yeonnam (종로돈부리 연남) is a Japanese restaurant in Yeonnam-dong with a really good sake-don (salmon rice bowl). If you love salmon, this is a dish you can't just walk past. :-9 I'm a salmon addict who needs a regular refill, so I went to get my sake-don fix after a while. The salmon was fresh and thick, and the place is tidy and clean, so it works for a solo meal or a date. : )

Jongno Donburi Yeonnam hours and parking

Jongno Donburi Yeonnam is open Mon–Fri 11:30–21:30 with a break from 16:00 to 17:00, and Sat–Sun 11:30–21:00 with no break. There's no parking, and it's a 10-minute walk from Hongik Univ. Station.

Exterior and atmosphere

The exterior is warm yet neat, thanks to the wood tones. It has a calm, Japanese home-cooking vibe that catches your eye even as you walk past.

The moody lighting and minimalist sign are stylish, so I thought it would be fine for a date just from the outside, but the inside was even better!

The interior is bigger and more comfortable than I expected. Like the exterior, the wood-toned decor feels tidy and clean.

From a solo bar counter to tables for 2–4

Jongno Donburi Yeonnam has a bar counter that's great for eating alone,

plus tables for 2 to 4 people, so the seating works for solo meals, dates and gatherings. : )

A separate sink outside the restroom

There's a separate sink at the restroom entrance, which was super handy for someone like me who washes hands before eating.

The restroom is clean too, right?

Jongno Donburi Yeonnam menu and prices

As a proper Yeonnam-dong Japanese spot, it has a variety of Japanese dishes. The sake-don especially grabbed my eyes. +_+

• Sake-don (salmon rice bowl) ₩18,000
• Orion draft beer ₩8,000

The complimentary sides are a clear soup (jangguk), pickled radish (danmuji) and pickles (jangajji). The soup tasted a little salty at the first sip, but it turned out wildly addictive, and those pickles and the radish!!! They look ordinary but were so special. Super tasty.

How was the sake-don at Jongno Donburi Yeonnam?

And here are the sake-don and beer, which came out quickly! One downside: the lighting is daylight-white and a bit dim, so food photos don't come out vivid. ㅠㅠㅠㅠ The photos can't capture the real thing....

Still, I shot it from every angle and even edited the photos. hahaha I'm such a passionate blogger....⭐️

I debated between this and the salmon belly bowl and went with the plain sake-don, but even without the belly it was plenty rich and nutty. +_+

I love wasabi, so I thought it might be a little short, but the amount was spot on! As expected of the pros.... haha

The lighting is a bit dark, but look at that fresh salmon shining through the gloom....

The salmon blanket is the best. Really. haha And the wasabi is the real kind that tingles your nose, so it was delicious.

They did give me soy sauce on the side, but the default sauce was salty enough, so I skipped it. The rice was fluffy too, and I could feel each grain.

Why are the pickled chili and radish at Jongno Donburi Yeonnam so special?

The pickled chili (gochu jangajji) at Jongno Donburi Yeonnam is crunchy and spicy, and goes well with the sake-don. Wow, what is this pickled chili... it's so crunchy and spicy that, honestly, I could finish a bowl of rice with just this. hahahaha

I actually ate a lot of rice thanks to the pickles. haha I didn't get a photo, but the pickled garlic chive stems (maneuljjong jangajji) were amazing too. I'd call this not a Yeonnam-dong Japanese place..... but a pickle place.

When the salmon feels a bit rich (well, actually it never feels too rich to me...^^), just put one piece of this pickled chili on top. How good is that?

A heaping spoonful of rice under a salmon blanket. I'm loosening my belt a little. haha

Also, I rarely eat pickled radish, but the one here is different. hahaha First, it's sooo thick, and maybe because of that, it's sooo crunchy.

The main dish is delicious, of course, but this kind of difference, where plain pickled radish feels special, is what raises a restaurant's quality.

Sake-don and Orion draft beer, the finish to my one meal of the day

That day the sake-don at Jongno Donburi Yeonnam was both my first and last meal, and with fresh beer too, it was a perfect meal. :-)

Jongno Donburi Yeonnam at a glance

• Tidy, comfortable wood-toned interior that works for solo meals or dates in Yeonnam-dong
• The sake-don topped with thick, fresh salmon was especially satisfying
• The side dishes like pickled radish and pickles are high quality too, which made it even better

If you're looking for a Japanese restaurant in Yeonnam-dong, do visit Jongno Donburi at least once. : )