Gwanghwamun Korean restaurant with pine mushroom tempura: Modam Dining

I'm a blogger who finds little pockets of happiness chasing good food. Lately I'd been eating way too much meat and greasy Western-style pasta, so my stomach felt heavy and I started craving a neat, clean, traditional Korean meal. So I went looking for a restaurant my brother and I could enjoy together after work — cozy but polished.

We tried the tidy bori-gulbi set at Modam Dining Gwanghwamun, tucked into the basement of the Deoksugung D Palace building. With its upscale interior and separated room layout, it suits all kinds of gatherings and meals, and the mellow yet deeply savory bori-gulbi was really something.

• Why we went and how to get there, plus parking notes
• The dining room atmosphere and the course we ordered
• Soft seasonal porridge and an appetite-sparking salad
• Chewy sashimi, sweet shrimp perilla oil noodles, and pine mushroom tempura
• Deep-flavored bori-gulbi and four side dishes
• Overall impressions and which gatherings it suits

Why we chose Modam Dining Gwanghwamun for an after-work dinner

Modam Dining Gwanghwamun is a Korean restaurant in Gwanghwamun I chose because I wanted proper, gentle traditional Korean food. After back-to-back meals of meat and greasy pasta, my stomach felt completely stuffed, and I was craving a clean, light spread.

After some searching on the green portal site, I heard this was a go-to Gwanghwamun Korean restaurant for family gatherings, known for neat, well-presented food, and booked a table right away. My brother and I went in with high expectations.

Where is Modam Dining Gwanghwamun, and how does parking work?

The restaurant sits in B102 and B103 on the basement level of the Deoksugung D Palace building at 10 Saemunan-ro 2-gil, Jongno-gu, Seoul, South Korea, which made it very easy to find. Reservations and inquiries can be handled easily by phone.

We drove, and parking on B3 of the building gave us 2 hours free, which was really convenient. The parking area tends to get crowded, and if it's full you're directed to the nearby Concordian Building underground lot — but that lot doesn't offer parking support before 6pm on weekdays, so it's worth checking the time before you go.

Inside Modam Dining Gwanghwamun: partitions, private rooms and what we ordered

Walking into Modam Dining Gwanghwamun, we were greeted by an upscale interior and a quiet, cozy atmosphere. The space is nicely divided with partitions, and there are also separate private rooms, making it a great spot for a quiet conversation.

Room seating is limited to 1 hour 30 minutes, which suited a relaxed, intimate meal just fine. After looking over the menu, we decided on the bori-gulbi set for two.

First courses: seasonal porridge and two salads

The bori-gulbi set opened with warm seasonal porridge, white kimchi, and two kinds of salad. The dishes came out one by one, carefully plated. First, a warm porridge that gently eased an empty stomach, a cool crunchy white kimchi, and two fresh salads landed on the table.

The seasonal porridge went down incredibly smoothly, warming an empty stomach. The salad — cucumber, lean chicken, and crunchy almonds — got nuttier with every bite. Alongside it, a fresh vegetable salad with a citrusy orange dressing had a bright tang that was perfect for waking up the appetite.

Flounder sashimi, sweet shrimp perilla oil noodles and pine mushroom tempura

After the salads came fresh flounder sashimi, sweet shrimp perilla oil noodles, and piping-hot pine mushroom tempura. The thickly sliced flounder sashimi had a wonderfully chewy texture, and dipping it in the savory sauce brought out a deep umami. The sweet shrimp perilla oil noodles had thin noodle strands carrying a subtle nutty perilla aroma along with a tangy edge — unusual and really appealing.

The shrimp was laid on raw and fresh, carrying a mild sea sweetness all its own. The freshly fried pine mushroom tempura had a shell so crisp and firm you had to be a little careful when biting in. Bite through that crunchy coating and the moist mushroom inside released a rich, earthy aroma that was honestly impressive.

The bori-gulbi with green tea water and four side dishes

Next came the star of the day — bori-gulbi — along with rice, cool green tea water, and four neat side dishes filling out the table. Bori-gulbi is often too dry or too dark in color, but the one at Modam Dining Gwanghwamun was pale, bright, and perfectly aged — it looked delicious just to see.

There was no fishy smell at all, and it wasn't too salty — just the right amount of saltiness with a clean flavor that I really loved. Pouring cool green tea water over white rice and topping it with a hefty piece of gulbi, I cleared a whole bowl of rice in no time.

Which gatherings does Modam Dining Gwanghwamun suit?

Being able to enjoy such refined traditional Korean food in a clean, comfortable interior at a reasonable price left me very satisfied. With generous courses like the abalone tteokgalbi set or the bori-gulbi set, it would work just as well for a meal with parents as for a matchmaking meeting, a blind date, a class reunion, or a work dinner. My rating is 4.9 out of 5, and I'd say my chances of returning are over 400 percent.

Bori-gulbi refers to yellow croaker that's salted, dried in sea winds, then aged in a jar of unhulled barley to develop a deep flavor.

Frequently asked questions

How much free parking does the building give, and what should you watch out for?

Parking on B3 of the Deoksugung D Palace building gets you 2 hours free. When the lot is crowded, you may be directed to the Concordian Building parking lot nearby, but that lot doesn't support parking before 6pm on weekdays — worth confirming ahead of time.

Is there a time limit on the private rooms?

So that everyone can use the rooms comfortably, room seating is limited to 1 hour 30 minutes.

What are the signature set meals at Modam Dining Gwanghwamun?

The clean, deeply savory bori-gulbi set and the juicy abalone tteokgalbi set are the most loved by customers.

It's rare to find a restaurant in the middle of downtown Gwanghwamun that makes you feel treated to such a neat, no-frills spread. With mild seasoning that works for everyone from grandparents to kids, it was a genuinely comfortable Gwanghwamun Korean restaurant for a family gathering.