Private parking date-night restaurant in Seo-gu, Gwangju: Bueokgan

Bueokgan, a well-loved brunch spot in Sangmu, has a clean, elegant European-style exterior and interior that make it perfect for a blind date or date night. When we visited, we spotted a few couples on dates at the table right next to us — the atmosphere was quiet and calm, so it would also be great for catching up with friends or family.

Location and hours of Bueokgan Sangmu Branch

• 📍Location: 25 Seogwangju-ro, 1F, Seo-gu, Gwangju, South Korea (297 Maewol-dong)
• ⏰Hours: 11:00–22:00 (last order 21:00)
• ⌛Break time: 16:00–16:30
• 🚗Parking: Lot behind the building

Parking

There's a parking lot right behind the building, and since restaurants with their own private lot are rare, I was glad we came — it was a load off my mind. When I have to park on the shoulder of a road I always feel anxious, so I end up avoiding places like that.

Anyway, this place has the basics covered, so it's a comfortable spot for anyone on a blind date or date night to visit.

The exterior and interior

There's a terrace running around the outside of the building with tables and chairs set up on it — literally the kind of half-outdoor tables you see lined up when you travel in Europe. It gave off a similar feel, and the entrance was in the middle of the building, facing the road.

The whole front of the building looks like it's made of windows, so it might be a little confusing, but the door is subtly different. If you look closely you'll notice the difference and find the entrance in no time. ^^

As you can see, the tables are arranged under cozy, sophisticated lighting — and instead of being uniform, they're placed either lengthwise or crosswise depending on the space, which avoided the flatness that can make things feel ordinary.

The walls are brick with arched mirrors, which had the effect of making the interior feel even more spacious. I've been to several branches around Gwangju, but personally, the Sangmu branch was my favorite in terms of atmosphere and scale.

Review event

If you save the place on Naver and write a receipt review, they give you a pastry pie. It's great to eat as a dessert after your meal, so definitely try joining this event at this Sangmu brunch spot~

Taste review

Since we love basil, we picked a pasta with basil in it, and since we were hungry and craving rice, we also picked a pilaf, plus a pastry soup as an appetizer. We also ordered a cola alongside all this for the refreshing, cooling factor and to keep from getting sick of the flavors.

Pastry soup

With the pastry soup, you crumble the pastry and scoop it up together with the warm pumpkin soup underneath — the pastry itself was soft and the soup was sweet, and the combination worked quite well.

Basil pesto cream pasta

The basil pesto cream pasta had just the right amount of basil aroma and flavor for us, since we love it, and combined with the nuttiness and richness of the cream sauce along with fresh arugula, it was a dish we cleared to the very last bite without getting tired of it. Popping a piece of the tangy pickled radish in between bites was refreshing and great~ Both visually and taste-wise, it really lived up to being a signature pasta.

Kung pao chicken pilaf

The kung pao chicken pilaf, with oven-roasted chicken stir-fried in kung pao sauce on top of rice, had a really huge chicken thigh with a generous amount of meat. Compared to restaurants that just plop down one skinny piece of chicken and charge a high price, this was much better value, and eating the mild thigh meat together with the spicy chili gave it a really savory, delicious flavor.

Wrapping up

I'd venture to call this a great-value brunch spot in Sangmu. The atmosphere is calm and the interior is stylish, so as I mentioned, it would be the perfect place to bring a date or blind date. I'd reasonably guess a blind date at a place like this would be pretty likely to lead somewhere. And it's just as good for setting the mood on a date with your partner~