Local places · 13242 stories
Restaurants, cafés and salons across Korea — every story by a blogger who actually went, linked to Google Maps.
Yeongjae Susan is a fixed-price sashimi shop on the 1st floor of Garak Mall's sales building in Songpa, Seoul. Two sisters packed a small seasonal sea bass, flounder and red seabream platter (₩65,000) for a home drinking night, and staff threw in fish stew ingredients for free. Between the cold-bag packing and the easy basement parking route, it was a satisfying Garak Market sashimi takeaway.
Modam Dining Gwanghwamun is a Korean set-meal restaurant on the basement level of the Deoksugung D-Palace building in Jongno, Seoul. Diners get 2 hours of free parking in the building garage, and the writer's family ordered the ₩39,000 grade 1++ Korean beef bulgogi hot pot set, with the perilla oil cappellini appetizer standing out as the best bite of the meal. Between the parking, the atmosphere and the service, the family already promised to come back for mom's birthday.
Working Holiday Minrak is a pizza and pasta café on the 7th floor of the Badamaru building at the end of Minrak Hoe Center Street in Suyeong, Busan. The blogger ordered honey sweet potato pizza, shrimp oil pasta, and a cola, enjoying the chewy wood-fired crust and sweet potato topping alongside the chewy noodles with shrimp and clams, all with a full ocean view. The pasta sauce could have been a bit stronger and a garlic dip for the pizza would have been nice, but overall it was a satisfying dinner with a view.
Handam Guksu Gwakji Aewol Branch is an ocean-view pork noodle restaurant on the Aewol coastal road in Jeju. The writer ordered three dishes — rich bone broth pork noodles, dongchimi bibim noodles, and pork belly dombe naengsuyuk — and ate them looking out through the floor-to-ceiling windows at the sea, with a well-balanced self-serve side dish counter to round things out. On a quiet weekday there was no wait at all.
Jeju Seobine Haejangguk, Manchon Direct Branch is a hangover soup and tonkatsu restaurant in Manchon-dong, Suseong, Daegu. Visiting for dinner with her sister, the writer shared intestine soup and jumbo Jeju-style tonkatsu, finding the broth clean with no off-smell and the tonkatsu thick and generous enough to fill the plate. With a wide dedicated parking lot right out front, it's an easy spot to drive to for a satisfying, no-fuss meal.
Bongja Makchang Daegu Jongno Branch is a raw makchang (grilled pork intestine) and samgyeopsal (pork belly) restaurant tucked in a Jongno alley in Jung-gu, Daegu. Two people ordered the Bongja set with one plate plus one plate of raw pork belly and raw makchang, dipped in seasoned sauce with chili, and topped it off with steamed egg, plus unlimited ramen and patbingsu. Portions were generous even for two, making it a great value pick for makchang in Jongno.
Ieo Coffee Roasters Gongdeok Branch is a roastery café tucked in an alley between Daeheung Station and Gongdeok Station in Mapo, Seoul. The writer paired an iced Colombia Via Clara Watermelon filter coffee with an egg financier (₩4,900), finding black tea aroma flowing into ripe watermelon sweetness with no artificial edge. A strong pick for specialty coffee before or after a walk along the Gyeongui Line Forest Trail.
Gyuen Dang Seolleung Branch is a beef cutlet and omurice specialty Japanese restaurant on the 2nd floor of a building just a short walk from Seolleung Station in Gangnam, Seoul. Each table gets a mini brazier with solid fuel to grill sirloin gyukatsu (beef cutlet) yourself, tried with salt and wasabi and then with butter, alongside an omurice with a whole brie cheese melted inside. Both the tenderness and the visuals delivered — a spot to become a regular if you love gyukatsu.
Sacheon Hwogwa Yangkkochi Nampo Branch is an all-you-can-eat hotpot and lamb skewer restaurant tucked inside the jokbal alley of Bupyeong Gangtong Market in Jung-gu, Busan. The writer ordered the hotpot & lamb skewer set for two, split white and red broth, loaded up on crab, beef tripe, lamb, and blood sausage from the self-bar, and kept the red broth at spice level 2. A solid pick when you want to eat hotpot until you're stuffed, thanks to the wide variety of self-bar ingredients.
Bada Super Haemul Cheonha Jogaegui, Geobukseom Oido Branch is an ocean-view grilled and steamed clam restaurant on the 3rd floor of a building on Geobukseom-ro in Siheung, Gyeonggi. The writer ordered the small steamed clam soup (₩54,000) with her 7-year-old son, picking through scallops, abalone, shrimp, and octopus, then finished with a complimentary beef shabu-shabu cooked in the leftover seafood broth. The broth was spicy so her son ate mostly clam meat, but the window-seat ocean view was the real highlight.
Songjeongok is a Korean restaurant in Songjeong, Haeundae, Busan, serving an abalone pot rice full-table set with boiled pork, black sesame tofu, soy marinated crab, and cockle salad, plus a seafood hinoki steamer dish on the side. The mix-and-match variety of side dishes made it a satisfying family meal.
Stack Bakery is a croissant bakery café in Jayang-dong, near Konkuk University Station in Gwangjin, Seoul. After lunch, this visit tried a plain croissant, hazelnut kouign-amann and iced americano at the second-floor seats — crisp outside, moist and buttery inside. A great stop for grabbing bread before heading to Hangang Park.
