Wolmi Sesame Bagger · 12 stories
Writes about restaurants and cafes visited around Incheon and Gyeonggi. · Writes about: Restaurants · Cafés
Tiny Dot is a four-story roastery café in Juan, Michuhol-gu, Incheon. The writer, who is pregnant, visited Tiny Dot with her mom and ordered a decaf iced americano (4,500 won), a fresh-fruit lemonade (6,500 won) and a Basque cheesecake (6,500 won), and the elevator made it easy to settle in on the 2nd floor. Tiny Dot is a good café for enjoying decaf coffee and dessert with someone who is pregnant or with your parents.
Pyeonpyeonjip Yeongjong Sky City branch is an all-you-can-eat steam pot (pyeonbaek-jjim), shabu-shabu and rice paper roll restaurant in Yeongjong Sky City, Incheon, near Guyeupbaetteo. The writer went on a weekend with her older sister, paid 21,500 won per adult for the dinner/weekend/holiday menu of steam pot, half-and-half shabu-shabu and rice paper rolls, and stuck mostly to meat and vegetables to keep an eye on her blood sugar. Verdict: Pyeonpyeonjip is clean, the meat is good quality, and the half-and-half pot keeps the kalguksu (noodle) finish from turning salty.
5PM sunset hour is a dessert café focused on salt bread and baked sweets, on the ground floor of the KCC Switzen shopping arcade in Yeongjong Haneul City, Incheon. After dinner with her older sister, the writer found the salt bread sold out and ordered an Isigny butter rice cake (₩2,500), a vanilla canelé (₩3,000) and a decaf americano (₩4,300); the butter rice cake's crisp outside and chewy inside stood out most. If salt bread is your goal at 5PM sunset hour, check the bread release times before you go.
Ogong Donkatsu (오공돈까스) is a pork cutlet restaurant on Songdomirae-ro in Yeonsu, Incheon. On a mother-daughter date, the writer shared the Ogong set (pork cutlet, fish cutlet and hamburg steak on one plate, 14,000 won) and garlic tteokbokki (stir-fried rice cakes, 4,000 won), and the open kitchen and tidy dining room satisfied her hygiene-conscious mother. For a crowd-pleasing meal with parents in Songdo, the Ogong set at Ogong Donkatsu is a safe pick.
Wunder Coffee Bar Hyundai Premium Outlet Songdo Branch is an affogato café on B1 of Hyundai Premium Outlet Songdo (Songhyeona) in Yeonsu, Incheon, right next to Gong Cha. After an early dinner at Ogong Donkatsu, a pregnant blogger and her mom ordered two Vanilla Wunder Gato (₩14,000) switched to decaf, and while they tasted great, the receipt showed regular caffeine. Wunder Coffee Bar's affogato is worth it, but if you order decaf, double-check your order when you pick it up.
Standard Square is a coffee-blending café at 50 Keonbensia-daero in Songdo, Yeonsu, Incheon. After brunch, the writer's group ordered iced americanos (mild and strong, ₩5,200), an iced decaf americano (₩5,700) and a hazelnut dark chocolate cookie (₩4,700). The decaf was nutty and gently sweet with no burnt taste, and the regular americano impressed everyone in the group. Standard Square is a reliable Songdo café for anyone who cares how their decaf tastes.
Sushi Doku The Songdo (스시도쿠 더송도) is a sushi restaurant on the 2nd floor of Honesta Mall in Songdo, Yeonsu, Incheon. A pregnant writer took her mom and her mom's best friend there at opening time and ordered two Premium Special 10-piece sets (25,900 won each) and Coca-Cola. Friendly staff explanations, Nemo fish cake soup, silky steamed egg, a soy sauce brush, plum tea after the meal and even mouthwash and floss stood out. With private rooms and high chairs, Sushi Doku The Songdo is a Songdo sushi spot well suited to family meals.
Matgoeul Sundae Guk (맛고을 순대국) is a sundae gukbap (Korean blood sausage and pork soup with rice) restaurant at Juan Seunggi intersection in Michuhol-gu, Incheon. The writer and her husband went after his work hours and ordered two bowls of sundae gukbap at 10,000 won each, praising the clean pork bone broth with no gamey smell, the fresh sundae and staff who kindly brought extra broth. Verdict: Matgoeul Sundae Guk won over even her picky husband and is now the couple's go-to spot.
Tongkeun Sottukkeong Dakbokkeumtang Guwol Branch is a cauldron-lid chicken stew (dakbokkeumtang, spicy braised chicken) restaurant on the 2nd floor of a shopping building near Yesulhoegwan Station in Guwol-dong, Namdong, Incheon. Five days before the writer's due date, a family of five ordered cauldron-lid chicken stew for 4 at ₩15,000 per person, plus fish cake skewers, udon noodles and cheese fried rice, and the staff at Tongkeun Sottukkeong Dakbokkeumtang cooked everything at the table from start to finish. With a spicy sauce that finishes clean and torch-finished cheese fried rice, it made a satisfying family dinner.
Jojo AK Plaza Suwon is a teppanyaki-focused Japanese restaurant on the B1 floor of AK Plaza at Suwon Station, serving okonomiyaki, yakisoba (stir-fried noodles) and mentaiko gyoza (pollock roe dumplings). The writer stopped by alone after shopping and tried a yakisoba set (18,000 won) for the very first time, falling for the springy udon noodles that never went soggy and the mentaiko gyoza with flying fish roe sauce. Jojo AK Plaza Suwon is an easy, low-pressure place to try yakisoba for the first time on a solo meal.
HOKATSU is a handmade tonkatsu (breaded pork cutlet) restaurant on Seogot-ro in Geomdan, Incheon, serving cutlets dry-aged in yogurt. The pregnant writer visited HOKATSU alone on a weekday and ordered the Choeae Katsu + mini curry set (19,000 won), a handmade fried shrimp and a Coke Zero. She tasted everything from the handmade pre-meal yogurt to the tenderloin and cheese katsu with sauce, curry, wasabi and salt. Her verdict: HOKATSU's tender, odor-free aged tonkatsu makes a filling meal even for a solo diner.
Hanmaeum Jeonguk Sikdang Yeongjong Sky City Branch is a butcher-style Korean BBQ restaurant on the 2nd floor across from Byeolbit Plaza in Yeongjong Sky City, Incheon. On a drive to Yeongjong, the writer ordered the so-banmari beef half-cow set (₩43,000) with five cuts, including jin-galbisal and bone-in galbi, plus nurungji, enjoyed the scallion-and-jjolmyeon side dish, and played games in the kids' playroom after the meal. The so-banmari looks small but is plenty, and scallion jjolmyeon wraps are the real highlight at Hanmaeum.
