Jongno Korean restaurant course with charcoal-grilled pork: Modam Dining

A calm day enjoying a Korean course in Gwanghwamun

I was craving Korean food, so I visited Modam KOREAN DINING. Since it is in Gwanghwamun, it seemed like a nice meeting spot—and a good option when you want a neatly presented Korean restaurant for a meal with your parents or a family outing.

What is the atmosphere like at Modam Dining Gwanghwamun?

The moment I walked in, Modam felt more modern and upscale than a typical Korean set-meal restaurant. The whole space was clean and calm, so rather than somewhere for a noisy meal, it felt better suited to eating slowly while catching up.

The tables were generously spaced, and each seat had a degree of separation, so it is good-good for family gatherings, meals with parents, dates, or group meetups. Even though I went after 1 p.m. on a weekday, there were lots of people dining.

A menu ranging from set meals to courses

Modam has lots of dishes that interpret Korean food in a more contemporary way. With everything from set meals to courses, it is a good place for a casual meal or for taking your time over several dishes.

Most dishes do not arrive all at once in the usual Korean set-meal style; they come out one by one like a course, which makes the meal feel a little more special.

Drinks menu

There is a separate drinks menu, too.

They have a really wide variety of traditional Korean alcohol, too! After debating the menu, we ordered the deodeok charcoal-grilled pork set.

What comes with the deodeok charcoal-grilled pork set

The deodeok charcoal-grilled pork set is ₩27,000 per person and requires a minimum order of two. It starts with seasonal porridge, followed by salad, mustard vegetables, fresh fish sashimi, fried dishes, perilla-oil capellini, and the main deodeok charcoal-grilled pork!

Rice, soup, and four side dishes follow, then dessert, so there were more varied courses than I expected for the price.

Seasonal porridge

The first dish was seasonal porridge. It was nice to gently settle the stomach with warm porridge before properly beginning the meal. Starting lightly with porridge rather than something intense really made it feel like I had come for a Korean course!

Cheongyang chili water kimchi

Cheongyang chili water kimchi also came with the porridge to refresh the palate. It was cool and clean, perfect for little bites in between. With Cheongyang peppers as the name suggests, it had a slightly spicy kick beyond ordinary water kimchi, making it great alongside richer dishes.

Seasonal salad with yuzu dressing

Next was a seasonal salad with yuzu dressing!

Fresh vegetables met yuzu's bright, sweet-tart fragrance, making this a palate-awakening dish. It was light and refreshing before stronger-flavored dishes like the fried items and pork arrived.

Mustard vegetables with pine-nut sauce

One dish that especially gave that Korean-course feeling was the mustard vegetables with pine-nut sauce. Crisp vegetables came with nutty pine-nut sauce and a little of mustard's sharp heat, so it was not bland. It was another light dish like the salad, but its flavor was completely different from the yuzu-dressing salad, making it fun to compare them.

The earlier dishes had been vegetable-focused, but from here it felt like the course was properly getting underway~

Seasonal fresh fish sashimi and pickled-vegetable ceviche

Next came seasonal fresh fish sashimi and pickled-vegetable ceviche. I liked that fresh sashimi was included in a Korean course, and rather than simply serving sashimi, Modam prepared it ceviche-style with pickled vegetables, which gave it a distinct Modam touch.

The pickled vegetables became the key note with the clean sashimi, making it feel somewhere between Korean and Western food!

Modam fried dish

Next came crisp Modam fried dishes. It was nice to have something freshly fried and warm in the middle of the course.

The cheese sauce on top was sooo good.

Perilla-oil capellini

The perilla-oil capellini had intrigued me from the moment I saw the menu! I wondered what capellini would taste like in a Korean course, and its thin noodles were given perilla oil's nutty aroma for a Korean-style interpretation.

It had the familiar nuttiness of perilla-oil makguksu (buckwheat noodles), but the capellini gave it a different texture and mood. Finally, the star of the day—the deodeok charcoal-grilled pork—arrived!

White rice, today's stew or soup, and four side dishes

The proper meal setting arrived with the main. White rice, today's stew or soup, and four side dishes made the ending feel like a complete Korean table. With varied banchan (side dishes) and warm soup, it was a hearty finish.

The seasoned eggplant and seaweed-stem side dish were so delicious, too. I also loved that the soup had plenty of meat!

Charcoal-grilled pork eaten with deodeok

The sweet-spicy seasoned pork had that characteristic charcoal-fired aroma, so its flavor felt much deeper than ordinary stir-fried pork. Eating it with deodeok was the key!

Deodeok's fragrant, slightly bitter flavor and crisp bite went surprisingly well with the pork's rich seasoning.

If you keep eating only the pork, the seasoning might start to feel a little strong. Adding deodeok every so often brought out its aroma and changed the texture, so I could enjoy it deliciously to the end.

With its clean, calm atmosphere, I think it would be a nice Korean restaurant for taking your parents out, family gatherings, dates, or a slightly more formal meal. This was a Modam Gwanghwamun meal I would recommend to anyone who, like me, enjoys tasting a little of many dishes rather than eating just one thing 💛