Songdo first-date lunch, green grape caprese: Cenacolo Artfore

Where is Cenacolo Artfore in Songdo?

Cenacolo Artfore is a pasta restaurant inside the Artfore building, right in front of Songdo Central Park. It's right across from the park so it's great for a walk, and I personally think the Artfore building itself is pretty and has a nice atmosphere, which makes it great for a date.

It's also close to Central Park Station. You can walk there from Exits 1 and 2, so public transit works fine too! And it's really close to Central Park itself!! Right when you step out there's even a spot to catch the water taxi in Central Park, so it'd be perfect for a stroll or as part of a date course haha.

• ✔️Hours: Daily 11:00-22:00
• ✔️Break time: 15:00-17:00
• ✔️Parking: Artfore underground parking lot

Artfore is divided into several buildings and it's quite large, so you need to navigate carefully. Cenacolo Artfore is at the end of the 2nd floor of Building C.

Is Cenacolo Artfore good for a first date? The window seats and mood

The exterior has a nice atmosphere and looks pretty. It seems to be a popular blind date spot too. It's hard to find pretty, atmospheric places in a complex building like this, but Artfore seems to have quite a few, so I end up coming back here often!

The interior has a great atmosphere too, thanks to the floor-to-ceiling windows!! Cozy and perfect for a date haha. If you want a window seat, it seems like a good idea to book ahead.

The interior isn't huge, but I actually like this kind of atmosphere more — cozy and full of character. I visited on a weekday for lunch and it was quiet, which was nice.

What we ordered at Cenacolo Artfore and what it cost

Cenacolo Artfore really has a wide variety of menu items. There was so much I wanted to eat that I spent forever deciding haha.

• Caprese salad ₩19,000
• Basil pesto pasta ₩21,000
• Mushroom cream risotto ₩23,000

After much deliberation, here's what we picked!!

Bread and olives before the meal

After ordering, the pre-meal bread came out first, along with olive oil and steamed olives!!! I love olives, and this is the first place I've been to that actually serves them...! The olives aren't too salty, so eating them with the bread is genuinely delicious haha. Definitely try them with the bread! You can also order extra bread and olives :)

Caprese salad, 19,000 won: green grapes and burrata

And then the caprese salad. It was a little different from what I expected — it's a salad with burrata cheese on top of tomatoes and green grapes. It looked really pretty too.

They tear up the burrata nicely so you can eat it together with the tomato and green grapes. Whoever invented burrata cheese... it's so soft and delicious, I could cry. The green grapes are sweet, so eating them together made it even better. It'd also make a great wine pairing.

Basil pesto pasta, 21,000 won

And then out came the basil pesto pasta and the mushroom cream risotto. The plating is pretty too!!!

My favorite, basil pesto pasta. This one has burrata cheese on top too haha. Obviously I ordered it knowing that haha. The basil pesto smell is so good, I could cry.

Burrata is a fairly mild, not-too-salty cheese, and maybe because of that, the pasta had a slightly plain flavor!!! Kind of a clean, unfussy pasta taste.

Pine mushroom cream risotto, 23,000 won

The mushroom risotto. It's topped with grilled king oyster mushroom, and the chewy texture of the mushroom was genuinely great. The aroma was really good too, and it paired well with the cream risotto! The risotto isn't too heavily seasoned either, so it's a flavor you don't get tired of and can keep eating. I think kids would enjoy it too!

Cenacolo Artfore had a great atmosphere and pretty food, making it a nice spot for a date. If you're looking for a Western-style restaurant near Songdo Central Park, like a good pasta spot, give Cenacolo a try :)