Hongdae Chinese restaurant bar seats for solo diners: Seodamheon

Hi everyone 😉 When you're looking for a place to eat in Hongdae, familiar menus are great, but sometimes you get a day where you think, "Should I try something a bit different today?" That's how I ended up at Seodamheon in Seoul, looking for something a little different from the usual jjajangmyeon near Hongik University Station.

The menu lineup was pretty interesting, from samjjamyeon made with hand-cut noodles to a dongpa-yuk rice bowl and cotton-ball sweet and sour pork. To cut to the chase: this was a day I ate well from the noodles all the way to the glutinous rice donuts that served as dessert!

Where is Seodamheon Hongdae Main Branch, and what are its hours?

• Seodamheon / 40-3 Yeonhui-ro 1-gil, 1st floor, Mapo-gu, Seoul
• Hours 11:00-21:15
• Break time 16:00-17:00
• Last order 20:25
• Reservations available via Naver

Seodamheon in Seoul is located in Hongdae, making it convenient for anyone searching for restaurants near Hongik University Station, and the space itself is fairly spacious, so it felt like a good spot for meals with friends or dates too. The exterior alone makes you curious about the menu, so it might be worth checking the menu board before heading in.

Is Seodamheon good for solo dining? The bar table seats

Walking into Seodamheon, the seating felt generously spaced, and overall it had a comfortable atmosphere for eating. There were also bar table seats like these, which made it look much less intimidating to visit alone. If you're looking for a solo dining spot in Hongdae, this kind of seating setup will probably be a welcome surprise. Yes, you can still order samjjamyeon even when dining solo 😎

Ordering at Seodamheon: a kiosk at every seat

At Seodamheon, you check the menu and order through a kiosk set up at each seat. Since you can browse photos and descriptions of each dish, it seemed like a good reference point for first-time visitors deciding what to order.

The dish I was most curious about that day was samjjamyeon 😮 Seodamheon's samjjamyeon is a signature menu item combining doenjang yunijjajang (bean-paste noodles) with flame-fried jjamppong (spicy seafood noodle soup). For anyone who can never choose between jjajang and jjamppong, this dish sounds pretty tempting just from the name! There was also a review event notice on the kiosk, so if you're interested in joining, it's worth checking the details before ordering. It would be a shame to miss out on something like that 😉

Once seated, basic side dishes come out along with mala oil and vinegar. It's fun that Chinese food lets you adjust the flavor slightly depending on which sauce or seasoning you add. I'd recommend mixing them in to suit your taste.

Samjjamyeon: hand-cut noodles with jjajang and jjamppong in one bowl

The dish I was most looking forward to at Seodamheon that day was, of course, samjjamyeon. It's a name that makes you do a double take — "sam-jjamyeon?" Seodamheon's samjjamyeon mixes doenjang yunijjajang with flame-fried jjamppong, giving you a different combination from your typical jjajangmyeon. Best of all, since I'm a hand-cut noodle lover, I was thrilled that the noodles here are hand-cut 👍🏻

Once you mix the noodles evenly with the sauce, the jjajang and jjamppong seasonings blend together into a really appetizing-looking dish. The wide, chewy texture unique to hand-cut noodles paired well with the sauce and tasted great. The noodles themselves had quite a chewy bite, giving them a different charm from regular noodles, and the seasoning was just right.

The fun of samjjamyeon is being able to enjoy the savory flavor of jjajang alongside the flame-fired taste of jjamppong at the same time. If you're usually torn between jjajangmyeon and jjamppong, this dish is worth trying at least once.

What does Seodamheon's dongpa-yuk rice bowl taste like?

Next up was the dongpa-yuk rice bowl 🍗 Dongpa-yuk is a Chinese dish made by cooking pork until tender. At Seodamheon, it's served as a rice bowl using slow-braised, tender pork shank.

Cutting into the meat, it was even more tender than I expected, and it seemed like a dish that pairs well with rice. In particular, the dongpa-yuk rice bowl was better eaten together with the rice than just on its own. Adding bok choy to the tender meat gave it some texture and a cleaner finish. The combination of savory meat and rice is hard to go wrong with, and it has a different kind of heartiness from the noodle dishes, so it should also suit anyone who prefers rice dishes.

Cotton-ball sweet and sour pork and its round shape

And since we're at a Chinese restaurant, sweet and sour pork can't be skipped. What we ordered that day was the cotton-ball sweet and sour pork! Unlike the usual long strips, it stood out for coming in round, ball-like pieces.

Picking one up with chopsticks, the outside was fried crisp, and the round shape was pretty cute. True to its name, the look was reminiscent of cotton balls, giving it a different feel from regular sweet and sour pork. I was a bit worried since the meat pieces were large, but it turned out more tender than expected and was delicious. The balance between the crispy coating and the meat inside was good, and dipping it in the sauce brought out that classic Chinese-restaurant appeal. Sweet and sour pork really is the kind of dish where, before you know it, the plate has quietly emptied out.

What comes in the set for two, plus the glutinous rice donuts

Among the dishes we ordered that day, we also enjoyed the two-person set. The two-person set is Seodamheon's signature combo of samjjamyeon + sweet and sour pork or yurinji + 1 drink + glutinous rice donuts. It could be a good choice if you'd rather enjoy the restaurant's representative dishes together instead of ordering everything separately.

In particular, the glutinous rice donuts unexpectedly stuck with me. Ending a meal with something sweet just puts you in a good mood 👏 Cleansing my palate with the glutinous rice donuts after the Chinese food made for a really satisfying finish. Waking up the appetite with mala oil, filling up on samjjamyeon, and finishing with glutinous rice donuts — that's a pretty solid course for one meal 👍🏻

Final verdict on Seodamheon, a Chinese restaurant in Hongdae

This visit to Seodamheon in Seoul was a good one for whenever you want something a bit different from the usual Chinese food in Hongdae. In particular, the hand-cut noodle samjjamyeon was fun for letting you enjoy jjajang and jjamppong at once, and I loved the chewy texture unique to hand-cut noodles. The dongpa-yuk rice bowl paired tender meat and bok choy nicely with rice, and the cotton-ball sweet and sour pork stood out for its round shape and tender meat.

Above all, the restaurant is spacious and has bar table seating that's great for solo dining, so it seemed like a good fit for everyone from solo diners to friends on a date or group gatherings. If you're looking for a Chinese restaurant in Hongdae or curious about something different from the usual jjajangmyeon, it's worth checking out the samjjamyeon and cotton-ball sweet and sour pork at Seodamheon in Seoul.

Next time I visit, I think I'll be curious about the other hand-cut noodle dishes I haven't tried yet. Exploring restaurants in Hongdae always seems to start again the moment you get more curious about the dishes you haven't tried than the ones you have 😋