4 stories
Danya at Seoul Garden Hotel (서울가든호텔 단야) is a Japanese restaurant on the hotel's first basement level near Mapo Station in Seoul. I took my mom for the ₩85,000-per-person sushi omakase, a chef-selected dinner course, and especially enjoyed the lightly aged sashimi and sushi made to order. The space was small, but the staff were attentive and the courses added up to a filling meal.
Hero Board Game Cafe Hongdae Branch 1 (히어로보드게임카페 홍대1호점) is a board game café about a 10-minute walk from Exit 9 of Hongik University Station in Seoul. The two of us played one episode of Unlock 8, and I liked having separate sections for murder mysteries and cooperative deduction games. We used a few hints, but the theme and difficulty were enjoyable; it was busy late on Friday.
Samhyeongje Gimbap’s Sangam branch (삼형제김밥 상암점) specializes in yubu gimbap (seaweed rice rolls with fried tofu) on basement level 1 of Nurikkum Square in Mapo-gu, Seoul. I took three varieties to Nanjicheon Park for a picnic and enjoyed the savory, sweet tofu and generously packed fillings. There is a small seating area outside the shop, but it felt better suited to takeout, and the spicy fish cake roll was hotter than I expected.
Jitheunsan (짙은산) is a café in Yeonnam-dong, Seoul, with separate areas for laptop work or reading and conversation. I visited with my mom and ordered fig cream cheese terrine cake and grapefruit lemon ade. I liked the calm space with window seats and a large table, and the dense, smooth terrine with pieces of fig.
