Private-room bar near Seoul National Univ. Station: Tomo

After work, I wanted to have a quiet drink with my boyfriend, so we went to Tomo, a private-room bar near Seoul National University Station :) We were looking for somewhere we could chat comfortably as a couple, and heard it had private rooms, so we made a Naver reservation before visiting. From beautifully plated aged sashimi to charcoal skewers, plus reservation-service clam sake-steam and review-event takoyaki, we ate so well! ₍ᐢ..ᐢ₎♡

Tomo location and visitor information

Tomo is a two- to three-minute walk from Exit 3 or 4 of Seoul National University Station. It is in such a convenient spot for taking the subway. You will find it on the second and third floors of the building at 24 Gwanak-ro 15-gil.

• Sun–Thu 17:00–02:00 the next day / Fri–Sat 17:00–03:00 the next day
• No dedicated parking. Egg Yellow Parking Lot and Daeyeon Building Parking Lot are recommended.
• Naver reservation required
• One alcoholic drink per person required. If choosing non-alcoholic, an ade drink is required.
• Corkage available; a corkage-free event is currently running
• Pets welcome

An atmosphere where every seat is a private room

At Tomo near Seoul National University Station, every seat on the second and third floors is in an independent private room. We were shown upstairs to the second floor, and it was all rooms up there too!

Rooms are assigned according to party size, so it seemed great both for cozy conversations between two people like us and for bigger gatherings. Our room was more spacious and tidy than I expected, not stuffy at all! *•.✦ The soundproofing does not block every bit of noise, but because it is a separate room, we could talk comfortably without worrying about people at neighboring tables looking over, which was lovely!

Menu and prices ordered by kiosk

You can order from the kiosk placed inside the room.

Tomo has a well-rounded izakaya menu centered on sashimi sets, including pasta, soup dishes such as Nagasaki champon and seafood jjamppong (spicy seafood noodle soup), skewers, fried dishes, salads, and grilled black cod.

There are also plenty of side dishes and drinks, including soju, draft beer, sake, whisky, and highballs.

There was also a wall event for a “Mega Highball,” a 1.2-liter highball for ₩10,000, so we debated ordering one. But we were craving cold beer that day, so we went with draft beer instead haha.

Ordered: premium sashimi, 12 varieties for two + five charcoal skewers ₩69,000 / soju ₩6,000 / draft beer ₩6,000

How does corkage work?

Corkage is free except for soju and beer, and there is no limit on the number of bottles. They provide one type of glass and will set things up according to your request for red wine, white wine, whisky, and so on. Leave the type of alcohol in the reservation requests and it will be set up in advance.

Naver reservation-service clam sake-steam

Plates and cutlery had already been set at the table. Especially that little dish combining a soy-sauce dish and chopstick rest—it was so useful (?) haha. My boyfriend and I both wanted one. I should find a similar little friend soon! They also set out the basic banchan (Korean side dishes). Such neat, izakaya-style starters!

Clam sake-steam

With a Naver reservation, Tomo gives you either clam sake-steam or tako wasabi as a complimentary service. We requested the clam sake-steam and received it!

For a complimentary dish, there were so many clams! At first I thought it was clam soup, but it was not very brothy—it was a thick, lightly saucy clam sake-steam.

It had a slight kick, with rich butter and clam aromas coming through, and my boyfriend and I were so surprised at how good it was. (One drinking snack + one = one soju + one.) Everyone, make a Naver reservation and get the complimentary dish!

After one bite of the clam sake-steam, we ordered it right away~

Five charcoal skewers with great smoky flavor and texture

The five charcoal skewers are house-made and include chicken hearts, chicken thigh, enoki mushrooms wrapped in pork belly, chicken cartilage, and chicken skin. I ordered them as part of a set, but they are also sold individually!

The skewers were deeply infused with charcoal aroma and each one was grilled beautifully. You could really feel the different textures of the ingredients; the enoki pork-belly wrap in particular had wonderfully crisp pork belly outside, while the enoki was chewy and juicy inside. So delicious.

The chicken hearts were tender and springy, without any gamey smell or toughness! We enjoyed them dipped in teriyaki sauce haha.

The chicken skin had such a rich, fatty flavor, yet the outside was grilled super crisp, so the texture was great. It was even tastier dipped in savory mayonnaise! This was honestly perfect with beer haha.

The chicken cartilage was moist with a pleasant crunchy bite!

The five charcoal skewers were even better than expected, with unmistakable smoky flavor and varied textures! Haha.

Trying all 12 varieties of premium sashimi

Then the main event arrived: the premium sashimi set for two with 12 varieties. The long plating was unusual and pretty. It felt like Tomo’s own signature presentation!

It also came with white kimchi, rakkyo pickles, ginger, gim (roasted seaweed), and gamtae (sweet seaweed) to enjoy with the sashimi. Since we ordered for two, we got two pieces each of 12 kinds of seafood, including octopus, abalone, tuna, salmon, cuttlefish, and engawa, so it was great for my boyfriend and me to try one of each! The fish may vary by season. The heart made from sweet shrimp was so cute that I took photos first haha.

I started with the red sea bream sashimi. It was gently sweet and nutty with no fishy smell, and its moderate aging gave it a satisfying chew without making it soft.

Honestly, can salmon and halibut fin ever be bad? Haha. The slices were thick and springy, and I was so happy while eating them~ The cuttlefish was especially much tastier than I expected! It began with a chewy bite, then finished with a slight richness that I loved more than expected. The abalone was cut large and thick too, so it had a truly satisfying chew!

I wrapped a scallop in gamtae, and the fragrant seaweed combined with the scallop’s clean flavor, letting me really enjoy the seafood aroma in different ways haha. I love sashimi, so I personally do not get tired of it easily, but with 12 varieties there was also fun in choosing each one, and it stayed delicious right to the end without becoming repetitive :)

Review-event takoyaki

As we ate the delicious dishes above one by one, we kept ordering more drinks—and then we had drinks left but not enough food… You all know that situation, right? Hahaha. It felt a little awkward to order another dish, so we were thinking about it when I spotted that we could get takoyaki through a review event! We joined without hesitation haha.

Since it was a review event, I expected only a few pieces, but we got quite a lot! They were loaded with sauce and bonito flakes too, and even though I was full, that punchy flavor hit my mouth right away! Haha. Thanks to the generous service, we ate wonderfully until the very end.

Tomo was a lovely spot for a quiet drink-date near Seoul National University Station! We could talk comfortably in a private room, and the drinking snacks ranged from aged sashimi to charcoal skewers, which was great. The service, from the reservation perk to the review event, made it an even more memorable place haha. We enjoyed the food and drinks so much that we ended up completely drunk in the end hahaha. (Proof that we had that much fun!)

Two to three minutes on foot from Seoul National University Station, quiet private rooms, varied dishes from 12-variety aged sashimi to charcoal skewers, and great service through Naver reservation and review events.