What to eat in Yongsan, Seoul?
During our recent trip to Seoul, we decided to stay in the Yongsan district 용산구 in Seoul.
This district is easily accessible as it is located only one station away from the main Seoul station. If you’ve already explored all the main tourist attractions in central Seoul (e.g. Myeongdong, Gyeongbokgung palace), we think this is a great spot as it is less touristy. However, it is still quite accessible to popular areas such as Hannam-dong and Gangnam.
While not as hip as Gangnam or Hannam-dong, Yongsan still offers plenty of amazing restaurants and cafes, including a few that were featured in Netflix’s Culinary Class Wars series.
Here is the list of restaurants and cafes we recommend from our three-day stay here. All of these cafes/restaurants are located very close to the Yongsan subway station.
1. Yongsan Samgyetang 용산삼계탕
Samgyetang Yongsan serves hearty and healthy bowls of Samgyetang (Ginseng Chicken Soup) that comfort both the body and soul.
This establishment is located very close to the Yongsan Metro Station and is about a 10-minute walk away.
The place seems to be quite popular with celebrities as we saw a number of well-wishes on the walls from the likes of Hyun Bin, Park Bo-young, and Lee Dong-wook.
The service here is friendly, and as warm as the soup.
We ordered both the traditional Samgyetang and Herbal Samgyetang. The former has a prominent chicken soup base with sweetness from spring onion, while the latter had a stronger herbal taste. Both were delicious!
HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!
Yongsan Samgyetang 용산삼계탕
Address: 20 Hangang-daero 48-gil, Yongsan-gu, Seoul
Hours: 11am-9pm
2. Moscent Cafe 카페 모센트
This was probably the best cafe we visited on our recent trip. Located in an area filled with hip restaurants and cafes, Moscent stood out for its modern and cozy ambiance, and outstanding coffee.
The Colombian Cofinet Honey was one of the best fruity coffee we’ve drunk in awhile.
Moscent Cafe 카페 모센트
Address: 25-14 Hangang-daero 52-gil, Yongsan District, Seoul, South Korea
Hours: 10am-10pm, 11am-10pm (Sat & Sun)
3. Cho’s Downstairs Dining (Choi Dining Yongsan)
Located close to Moscent Cafe is Chef Cho’s Underground Dining. Those who watched Netflix’s Culinary Class Wars would recognise Chef Cho as the Manga Chef – as he cooks dishes straight from the manga pages.
We didn’t get a chance to visit this restaurant, but the popular dish here had to be the Bacon Spicy Cream Pasta. The restaurant specialises in Japanese fusion dishes such as Salmon Cold Soba and Mazesoba.
Cho’s Downstairs Dining
Address: 22 지하 1층, Hangang-daero 52-gil, Yongsan District, Seoul
Hours: 11.30am-3pm, 5pm-9pm
4. Mimiok 미미옥
There’s shabu-shabu, and there’s shabu-shabu.
This was our second favourite meal in Yongsan. Mimiok 미미옥 is a restaurant specialising in shabu-shabu, featuring the best beef cuts in savoury broth.
With its unique hanuk facade, Mimiok is operated by Park Jae-Hyun, who briefly appeared in the Netflix’s Culinary Class Wars series. That aside, we actually found the food delicious!
We ordered the Shabu-Shabu set for two (KRW46,500) featuring the beef chuck flap cut.
The broth was already sweet-savoury and flavourful on its own, but gets better as more veggies are added.
The beef was sweet, fresh and tender.
The set comes with a Crunchy “Minari” Pancake, which is mainly made of dropwort, and topped with meat and marinated mushrooms. This was so good.
A bowl of rice is added to the remaining broth at the end of the meal to make a truly flavourful rice-porridge dish. So good we finished everything!
HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!
Mimiok
Address: 27 Hangang-daero 15-gil, Yongsan District, Seoul, South Korea
Hours: 11am-3pm, 5pm-9.30pm
5. Standard Bun 스탠다드번
This cozy cafe is located just opposite HYBE headquarters. It specialises in coffee buns stuffed with handmade cream, and butter aged in maple syrup.
The butter aged in maple syrup didn’t do much for us – but the Injeolmi bun was quite delicious.
Standard Bun 스탠다드번
Address: 37 스탠다드번 106,107,108,109호, Hangang-daero, Yongsan District, Seoul
Hours: 8am-11pm
6. Backrang Yongsan 백랑
This is another third soup-y recommendation on the list. But don’t mind us as it was deep winter when we visited Seoul, and nothing beats a good bowl of dwaejigukbap (pork and rice in soup).
Backrang 백랑 specialises in only using Jeju black pork to make the dwaejigukbap stock – which might seem excessive to some. But this made for a truly delicious bowl with lovely pork sweetness in the broth and pork slices that were equally tender and firm.
We also enjoyed the bowl of Jokbal (pig trotters with rice). The meat was very tender and blended so well with the spring onions and pickles.
Backrang 백랑
Address: 23 1층, Hangang-daero 15-gil, Yongsan District
Hours: 11.30am-2.30pm, 5pm-8:30pm
7. PONT Cafe
If you’re looking for a coffee spot that opens until late (i.e. 9pm) in the area, PONT Cafe is one to visit.
The space is cozy, but the coffee’s also good. They also roast their own coffee, which we took home a few bags for our filter.
PONT Cafe
Address: 19-16 Hangang-daero 15-gil, Yongsan District, Seoul, South Korea
Hours: 10am-9pm
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