Seoul Restaurants

  1. Agio

    Sit outside in the spacious courtyard under shady trees or inside this charming Italian restaurant that serves interesting salads and pastas, but specialises in large, thin-crusted pizzas, freshly made in a wood-fired oven and served on a wooden platter. Drinkable house wine is around ₩5500 .

    Read more about Agio

  2. Ali Baba

    Authentic Egyptian food, coffee, music and surroundings are up here on the 2nd floor. Portions are small so sharing a number of dishes is the way to go, and the freshly made pitta bread is particularly delicious. The sheesha (water pipe) is an expensive puff at around ₩20000.00 0.

    Read more about Ali Baba

  3. Andong Jjimdak

    The jjimdak (minimum two people) is laced with red chilli so it's hotter than August. Chicken without bones is around ₩2000 extra and Bokbunja (wildberry wine) costs around ₩15000 . Although the restaurant is spread over three floors, you may have to queue.

    Read more about Andong Jjimdak

  4. Anjip

    Sit on embroidered cushions in your own traditional-style private room and order siksa (budget-priced banquet) , which includes 20 dishes at a budget price. The bulgogi, spicy cockles and steamed egg are particularly goodand fruit and cinnamon tea finish the feast off nicely.

    Read more about Anjip

  5. Baekje Samgyetang

    Famous for its brusque, brisk service and samgyetang (chicken and ginseng soup), which costs around ₩11000 and includes insamju (ginseng liqueur). The adventurous can try the more expensive ogolgyetang (black chicken cooked in ginseng), which also has medicinal qualities, or the dull can opt for roast chicken (around ₩9000 ). It's on the 2nd floor but has no English or hangeul (Korean phonetic alphabet) sign - look for the red Chinese characters.

    Read more about Baekje Samgyetang

  7. Baengnyeon Samgyetang

    This well-known rough-and-ready restaurant only serves chicken and ginseng soup and in summer you will probably have to queue because locals think it's the best in the area.

    Read more about Baengnyeon Samgyetang

  8. Beer Oak

    Always popular and noisy, Beer Oak serves delicious barbecue chicken roasted on a spit over a wood fire along with cheap beer (around ₩2000 for a big glass). Order sogeumgui for a whole chicken on its own or modeumgui for a whole chicken cut up and served on a platter with pasta, pressed rice cakes, corn and raisins, covered in a sweet chilli sauce.

    Read more about Beer Oak

  9. Berries Café

    A pleasant but quiet 2nd-floor restaurant decorated with bare bricks, plants and lilac tablecloths, it specialises in organic food and drinks. Organic tea, coffee, juices, wines, ice creams and beers accompany a short menu of Italianish food - salads with apple mayonnaise, fusion dorias (rice covered in spaghetti sauce) and pasta. Downstairs is an organic-food shop.

    Read more about Berries Café

  10. Bonjuk

    Big bowls of tasty and healthy rice porridge feature in this chain of small, neat restaurants - try ginseng and chicken, mushroom and oyster, seafood, sweet pumpkin, or red bean.

    Read more about Bonjuk

  11. Bsd Dubu House

    Fourteen varieties of spicy sundubu are on offer in this neat and clean basement restaurant decorated with collectables, but the traditional beef one is hard to beat. Add a raw egg to the sundubu, and empty the rice into a bowl, adding boiling water from the kettle to the rice that's left behind to make burnt-rice tea. Side dishes include freshly fried fish and odeng (processed seafood cakes in broth).

    Read more about Bsd Dubu House

  12. Advertisement

  13. Cabin Oak

    Most chicken-and-beer places sell fried chicken, but here at this clean and modern hof (pub) it is cooked on a spit over a wood fire. Beer costs around ₩2000 .

    Read more about Cabin Oak

  14. Chilgapsan

    The specialty in this convivial restaurant is the excellent neobiani , a beef patty the size of a small pizza, which is meant for sharing and comes with a dressed green salad and crunchy side dishes. You could try pajeon (green onion pancake) with it or doenjang bibimbap - salad with rice and soybean paste sauce. The décor is rustic/artsy and you sit on the floor at a log table. It has no English signs - look for a white frontage covered with ivy.

    Read more about Chilgapsan

  15. Chuncheonjip

    This large and cheerful restaurant with music, a tiled floor and paper lanterns never closes. Try their hot and spicy fusion dakgalbi (pan-fried chicken) with cheese and sweet potatoes or noodles that are cooked at your table. You serve yourself side dishes from a buffet - a great idea that reduces waste.

    Read more about Chuncheonjip

  16. Crown Bakery

    This sweet-smelling bakery is busy all day and has a few tables and chairs inside where you can down a coffee (around ₩3000 ) with your cake of choice.

    Read more about Crown Bakery

  17. Dimibang

    This sit-on-floor-cushions vegetarian restaurant features hamcho (a salty green herb that grows near the sea) and other medicinal herbs that are in the food, teas and alcoholic drinks. Order hamcho sujebi , hamcho bibimbap or a set meal. You can sit on bamboo mats and eat with wooden spoons and chopsticks.

    Read more about Dimibang

  19. Dolkemaeul Tofu House

    The star of the show is the excellent sundubu , uncurdled tofu, which is cooked in a stone pot, and served with hotpot rice, soup and six side dishes including grilled fish. Add egg to the sundubu , spoon the rice into the small ceramic bowls provided, and pour the hot water from the kettle into the rice hotpot to make scorched-rice tea.

    Read more about Dolkemaeul Tofu House

  20. Eunhasoo Dinner Buffet

    This long-running buffet is the perfect introduction to a wide variety of Korean food including beef ribs, barbecue pork, rice porridge, fish, oxtail soup, kimchi pizza, traditional desserts and tea. Some Western items are included and the green-themed classy surroundings add to the sense of occasion.

    Read more about Eunhasoo Dinner Buffet

  21. Familia Buffet

    This restaurant in the plush and pukka Imperial Palace Hotel provides a superb buffet banquet. Some of the food is freshly cooked by a squad of cooks who work in the dining area and are dressed in ninja outfits.

    Read more about Familia Buffet

  22. Gecko's Garden

    A lovely garden courtyard but this restaurant, which currently offers tapas, specials such as smoked salmon, king prawns and couscous, with a barbecue Friday to Sunday, hasn't yet hit on a winning formula.

    Read more about Gecko's Garden

  23. Gimbapgwamandusai

    This simple and neat budget eatery specialises in gimbap, including nude gimbap, but also serves up big bowls of bibimbap as well as noodles, homemade dumplings and sujebi .

    Read more about Gimbapgwamandusai

  24. Advertisement

  25. Gio

    The ladies in this shack serve up unique cheap food. There is no need to order as they only do two dishes that are both cooked at your table. First is a bowl of mushrooms and homemade noodles, which are the widest in Seoul. Remove some of the red pepper sauce if you want to make it less fiery and cook for 15 minutes. Next up is the pre-cooked rice, dried seaweed and herbs, which is mixed together in the same pot.

    Read more about Gio

  26. Gogung

    In the basement of Ssamziegil is this unusually smart and stylish restaurant, with live gayageum (12-stringed zither) and drum music (no microphones) on week nights. It specialises in Jeonju bibimbap , which is fresh and garnished with nuts, but contains raw minced beef. If that puts you off, choose the dolsot bibimbap (served in a stone hotpot). Side dishes include bean-sprout soup and a sesame and rice-cake gruel. Another Jeonju speciality is moju, a sweet and very thick cinnamon alcoholic drink. Also on the menu is an 11-dish royal banquet.

    Read more about Gogung

  27. Hanmiri

    Be treated like royalty by hanbok -clad staff in this oasis of old-fashioned service and décor with embroidery on the tables and walls, and indulge in a well-presented royal-cuisine feast fit for a Joseon king.

    Read more about Hanmiri

  28. Happy Table

    The tables and chairs are tiny and squashed together, but this small student restaurant serves up lots of small but inexpensive fusion dishes including chicken salad in a yam basket.

    Read more about Happy Table

  29. Hoejeonchobap

    Squeeze yourself into this tiny conveyor-belt sushi joint to enjoy Japanese-style raw fish items. It's expensive but this is downtown and not a student area.

    Read more about Hoejeonchobap