Gwanghwamun Korean restaurant, weekend date dinner for two: Wongiok

Why Wongiok Gwanghwamun for a weekend date dinner?

Wongiok Gwanghwamun is a Korean restaurant that stands out when you search for Korean set meals and course dishes in Gwanghwamun, so I booked ahead and went with my boyfriend on a weekend evening. Instead of just eating meat like we usually do, we wanted to enjoy a hearty spread of different Korean dishes, and that's how we found Wongiok Gwanghwamun.

We ordered the Hearty Set for ₩110,000. We picked octopus stir-fry and restorative hot pot, and the lineup ran from mustard salad to pepper fritters, pot rice and sujeonggwa (cinnamon punch) for dessert, so the two of us got a proper Korean table. ₩110,000 for one meal isn't cheap, but as a special dinner where you get lots of dishes at once, it was a pretty appealing setup.

Wongiok Gwanghwamun location, parking and opening hours

Wongiok Gwanghwamun is on the B1 floor of the D Palace building at 10 Saemunan-ro 2-gil, Jongno-gu, Seoul, about 9 minutes on foot from Gwanghwamun Station and also about 9 minutes from Seodaemun Station Exit 5. It's open Monday to Saturday 11:30–22:00, with a break from 15:00 to 17:00 and last order at 20:45, and closed every Sunday. Reservations are available.

It sits between Gwanghwamun Station and Seodaemun Station, so both stations are within walking distance. It's also fairly close to Deoksugung, Jeongdong-gil, Gyeonghuigung and the Seoul Museum of History, so it's a nice spot for a meal after a date or a stroll nearby.

I think it's a decent option for anyone looking for a good restaurant near Deoksugung or Jeongdong-gil. For parking, you can use B3 of the D Palace building, and it's said to be covered for up to 2 hours with a meal. The lot is small, though, and if it's full they direct you to the Concordian Building parking lot, so I'd check ahead if you're coming by car.

Is Wongiok Gwanghwamun good for a pre-wedding family meeting or family dinner?

The restaurant says it has separate rooms for 4–8 people and group seating, so it could be a useful reference for anyone looking for a Gwanghwamun spot for a formal families' meet-up (sanggyeollye) or a meal with parents. We came for a weekend date with my boyfriend, but it felt like a place many people visit for family meals or important gatherings. It's closer to a Korean restaurant where you enjoy several dishes in turn than to an ordinary Korean set-meal diner.

Depending on your party size, it's worth asking about booking a room or group seating. We reserved ahead, and if you're planning a special meal on a weekend evening, booking would give you peace of mind.

Wongiok Gwanghwamun free corkage rules

Wongiok Gwanghwamun says it offers free corkage for up to 2 bottles of wine, up to 1 bottle of whiskey, and up to 2 bottles each of sake and traditional liquor. A useful reference if you're looking for a corkage-free restaurant near Gwanghwamun Station. But the same drinks the restaurant sells, plus regular soju, beer and makgeolli, are excluded, so check before you go!

Wongiok Hearty Set (₩110,000): what's included and swap prices

The Wongiok Gwanghwamun Hearty Set is ₩110,000, and you choose one main dish and one hot pot. We ordered it as dinner for two, and our Hearty Set looked like this.

• Mustard salad (gyeojaechae)
• 3 handmade pepper fritters
• Octopus stir-fry
• Restorative hot pot
• 1 nutritious pot rice
• Sujeonggwa for dessert

Being able to enjoy this many Korean dishes at once is the set's biggest plus. Instead of octopus stir-fry you can pick flame-grilled short ribs for an extra ₩30,000, and for the hot pot you can choose restorative hot pot or gopchang (tripe) hot pot, or pay an extra ₩20,000 to switch to bulgogi.

We went with the no-extra-charge combo of octopus stir-fry plus restorative hot pot. Personally, I liked that we could get a main dish along with the hot pot instead of hot pot alone. If you're hunting for a good-value course in Gwanghwamun, it's better to compare by how many dishes you get at once rather than just looking at the price.

Octopus stir-fry and restorative hot pot: a Korean feast for two

What I was looking forward to most in the Wongiok Hearty Set was, of course, the octopus stir-fry and the restorative hot pot. At Korean restaurants I usually order either a hot pot or a stir-fry as the main, so I liked that this time we could have both.

Mustard salad and handmade pepper fritters stuffed with hanwoo beef

The meal starts with mustard salad and pepper fritters.

The pepper fritters especially made me curious, because they're not an ordinary side dish but a handmade item stuffed with minced hanwoo (Korean beef).

Octopus stir-fry, our main dish

Next, the octopus stir-fry we picked as our main!

If you like spicy Korean food, this is a dish worth a look, and I liked that you can order it together with a hot pot.

Restorative hot pot, Wongiok's signature dish

And then Wongiok's signature dish, the restorative hot pot.

The restorative hot pot is said to be Wongiok's own reinterpretation of eobok jaengban (a beef hot pot platter), using various cuts of beef. So it might catch the eye of anyone searching for a hot pot place in Gwanghwamun or for eobok jaengban. Ordered à la carte, the restorative hot pot is ₩45,000, and what's appealing is that in the Hearty Set you get it along with other dishes.

Eating the hot pot plus octopus stir-fry felt like having a whole traditional Korean banquet spread out in front of us, haha. With the pot rice included too, it was a far more varied lineup than a set meal that just comes with a few side dishes.

Nutritious pot rice and sujeonggwa (cinnamon punch) for dessert

I also liked that you can finish with sujeonggwa. Everything from the meal to dessert is covered in one set, so there's no need to pick extra menu items, which is another plus.

One catch: the set includes just 1 pot rice, so if the two of you each want your own pot rice, it's worth checking whether you can order extra.

Wongiok Gwanghwamun review: is the ₩110,000 Hearty Set worth it for a date dinner?

That was our weekend evening at Wongiok Gwanghwamun, reserved and visited with my boyfriend. We wanted to eat a variety of Korean dishes in a slightly more special way than usual, and thanks to the Hearty Set we got to enjoy lots of different foods at once.

From mustard salad and pepper fritters to octopus stir-fry, restorative hot pot, pot rice and sujeonggwa! ₩110,000 may feel like a lot for an everyday dinner, but I think it's worth considering when two people want to enjoy lots of dishes like a course. I especially liked being able to choose octopus stir-fry and restorative hot pot together, and next time it would be fun to compare it with the other hot pots.

Wongiok also sells gomtang (beef bone soup) and special gomtang, so anyone looking for a gomtang place in Gwanghwamun may want to look at the menu. And if you're after naengmyeon (cold noodles) near Gwanghwamun Station, note that Wongiok has mul makguksu (cold buckwheat noodle soup) and bibim makguksu (spicy mixed buckwheat noodles) instead of naengmyeon.

This time we only ordered the Hearty Set and didn't try the other meal items, but it's a place that makes me curious about the à la carte dishes next time. Wongiok Gwanghwamun is a useful reference for anyone looking for Korean set meals or course dishes in Gwanghwamun, or a spot for a family meal or a families' meet-up. If you're planning a date around Deoksugung or Jeongdong-gil, it's worth considering as your dinner course too.