Gangnam restaurant with crispy eggplant and rabbit pasta: Brivit

A green-fronted restaurant between Gangnam and Sinnonhyeon stations

Follow the street behind the CGV near Gangnam Station and you will soon come across Brivit Gangnam Station. I have not visited the Seongsu branch, but the entrance already looks lovely with all its lush plants. I do grow a few plants myself, and when a restaurant has lots of greenery, the air feels better and I end up liking the atmosphere more, too. Maybe because the exterior is so pretty, there were people taking photos as well.

It is about a 10-minute walk from Gangnam Station, while Sinnonhyeon Station is even closer—right in front of it. The dining alley you reach by heading straight up behind the CGV is also one of our usual stomping grounds. Including the café I posted about recently, there are lots of pretty restaurants around here.

Outside, the signature dishes are advertised with mouthwatering photos. Brivit says it tastes like “the flavor of love,” so let’s head in.

What we ordered from the Beet set

There are two set menus, the Bri set (₩70,200) and Beet set (₩50,700), and both seem like good-value options. Unlike the other prices, they end in 200 and 700 won, which made me curious about whether there is a meaning behind that. The signature dishes—Brivit Steak (₩37,900), Corn Cream Gnocchi (₩18,900), and Hoppity Rabbit Pasta (₩19,900)—are popular, too.

• Beet set ₩50,700
• Corn Cream Gnocchi upgrade +₩1,000
• Hoppity Rabbit Pasta upgrade +₩2,000
• Crispy Spicy Eggplant upgrade +₩0
• Beet Ade +₩3,400
• Zero Cola +₩0

A warm interior of wood tones and plants

Once inside, unlike the pink-toned, plant-filled exterior, the green and brown wood tones create a warm feeling. There are window tables, several two-person tables, and three round tables inside. The semi-open kitchen also lets you watch the food being made in real time.

Instead of the call buttons we know, Brivit has an actual bell that you shake to call a staff member. Isn’t it cute that they paid attention to little details like this?

The self-service bar has a water dispenser, pickles, chargers, tissues, and more. Everything, including water and pickles, is self-service.

At the very back is a lush, warm space. It feels like a little greenhouse where you would want to spend an entire afternoon having tea. The sunlight happened to fall beautifully across the table, so I took a photo. The seats were comfortable, too, which helped settle my excited heart while waiting for the food. I’m hungry... The interior was so pretty that I took lots of photos; this is exactly the kind of atmosphere that feels perfect for a blind date or a pre-wedding meeting!

Beet Ade and Corn Cream Gnocchi

That introduction got a little long. Let’s get right into the food review. Reviewing the side dish(?) first is a tradition on our blog, after all. I had some pickles while waiting, since we visited around 2 p.m. and I was a little hungry.

First, the Zero Cola and Beet Ade (lemonade) arrived. There is also a Bri Ade, and I had lots of questions about the naming and the restaurant’s interior, among other things. They looked a little busy, though, so I could not ask. Against the green garden, the drinks look even prettier in photos.

The lemonade was refreshing and not overly sweet—exactly my taste. Its color was so pretty that I almost hated to stir in the syrup, haha. It went well with today’s dishes, which could have been a little rich.

This is the signature Corn Cream Gnocchi. The gnocchi and corn look delicious sitting atop the cream. Looking at the plating, you can really tell Brivit puts a huge amount of care into how its food looks.

The nutty aroma of handmade gnocchi and roasted corn, joined by the scallion cream, made for a very good combination. It did taste slightly sweet, but no one flavor was overpowering; I think they achieved a nicely balanced dish.

Like the words written on the plate, it is the kind of food that makes you smile after one bite. Good food makes your eyes, nose, mouth, and stomach all happy, and this gnocchi felt exactly like that, right?

The chewy, nutty gnocchi; the sweet, pleasantly popping corn; and the rich, nutty scallion cream all worked so well together that I personally enjoyed it tremendously. I was sad to see it end, so I even scraped up every last bit of sauce. 😅 How does it look? Ah, this is really delicious. If you come here, make sure to order the gnocchi.

Crispy spicy fried eggplant

Next was the Crispy Spicy Eggplant, which my companion said was the best dish. It was excellent fried eggplant: crisp on the outside, with moist eggplant inside releasing its juices. By the way, maybe it was because the sunlight was so beautiful that day, but the photos came out well. Hahaha.

What surprised me was how truly crisp the coating was. For fried eggplant, that crispy-outside, tender-inside contrast is surely important, and every bite of coating kept making a crunchy sound, which made it so fun to eat. A spicy chipotle sauce cut through what might otherwise have been a slightly greasy flavor. It was not extremely spicy—just pleasantly spicy. There was a lightly grilled lemon, too, but I forgot to squeeze it. Haha!

The taste of the cute rabbit pasta

Here is another signature dish, Hoppity Rabbit Pasta. You can probably tell at a glance why it has that name, right? The rabbits made from mozzarella cheese look adorable hopping around on top of the pasta.

By the way, is the olive supposed to be a hat, or bangs...? I’m curious what you think. 🤔 Either way, the rabbit is very cute.

The rabbit is mozzarella cheese, and the pasta has a slightly spicy tomato base. I liked the variety of textures created by rigatoni that is perfectly suited to the thick sauce, shrimp, squid, and cheese. The pasta holds lots of sauce inside.

The downside of eating such cute food is that...

there comes a moment when you have to ruin that cute face. Haha. Cute is cute, but I will enjoy eating it.

Once again, I finished a delicious meal today. Personally, I regret not getting to try the steak. Still, the set menu is such good value that if two people are visiting, I would recommend ordering as we did. Maybe I will come back on my own next time and enjoy the steak, too.

Pros and cons from my visit

• Pros: Food that looks great and tastes excellent, pretty interior and comfortable seating, kind staff service
• Cons: No parking or parking-fee support; window-side seats are somewhat narrow