Are you wondering where to eat in Myeongdong (besides street food & Myeongdong Kyoja)? While Myeongdong street food is great, sometimes you just want to sit down and rest your feet and eat a meal at a table. Here are 5 restaurants that you should consider visiting.
MiSeong Og (미성옥)
MiSeong Og is a 50 year old restaurant down a small alleyway in Myeongdong that sells Seolleongtang ox bone soup (설렁탕). Sul Lung Tang is a hearty soup made of ox bones that has been boiled on a low heat over several hours. It takes on a milky white color. It’s saved with noodles, rice, and two kinds of kimchi – radish kimchi and regular cabbage kimchi. Almost everyone in this restaurant is Korean – it’s unlikely that you’ll see foreigners here. However, if you want to eat here, don’t be intimidated. Just order a bowl of sul-lung-tang which will run you 10,000 KRW or $8.92 USD.
Address: 54-5 Myeongdong 1(il)-ga, Jung-gu, Seoul
Cost: approx. $10/per person
Saeng-Gujeon (생구적)
This second restaurant is a real gem, especially if you like seafood. We got what is essentially a seafood bibimbap. It’s a bowl of rice topped with various seafood pieces in a hot stone pot. In a separate bowl they give you a scoop of eggs, flying fish roe, seaweed, pickles, and other little nuggets of goodies. You scoop your seafood rice out of the stone pot and into the bowl and mix it all up. When you scrape the rice out of the hot stone pot, make sure you leave the edges of the rice that still sticking to the bowl there. Then pour some water into your stone pot and cover it up. You season your rice with
Address: 35 Myeongdong 8na-gil, Myeong-dong, Jung-gu, Seoul
Cost: approx $12 per person
Yoogane (유가네)
Yoogane is a chain restaurant that serves up a spicy chicken galbi or dak-galbi (닭갈비) cooked at your table. You can customize it to your liking, by adding cheese (trust me, it’s GOOD!), ramen, vegetables, bulgogi, seafood, and Korean rice cake (tteok). You can also add fried rice to your order. The side dishes include pickles, pickled radish, kimchi, soup, and cabbage salad topped with an apple yogurt dressing. The apple yogurt dressing really cools down your mouth after you’ve eaten the spicy chicken. The food is served family style and cooked at the table, and you are charged based on the number of people at the table.
3 locations in Myeongdong:
8 Myeongdong 4-gil, Myeongdong 2(i)-ga, Jung-gu, Seoul
22-6 Chungmuro 1(il)-ga, Jung-gu, Seoul
9 Chungmuro 2(i)-ga, Jung-gu, Seoul
Cost: approx $10-15 per person
Innisfree Green Cafe
If you are tired of eating Korean food, check out Innisfree Green Cafe for seemingly healthy, western food. There are a small selection of dishes here. I liked the shrimp cous-cous salad and the macaroni basil salad. I especially liked the black volcanic bread that came with the macaroni salad. The drinks are also quite good. If you are ok with a 25 minute wait, check out the fluffy Japanese pancakes. They are a little eggy for my liking but they are still good.
Address: 64-2 Myeongdong 1(il)-ga, Jung-gu, Seoul
Cost: approx $10 per person
QooQoo (쿠우쿠우)
QooQoo is a chain restaurant. It’s a sushi buffet and is a good option for families or large groups. They specialize in sushi and salad, and have a nice selection of nigiri sushi, rolls, and some sashimi as well. The quality is not the best but it’s what you would expect from a buffet restaurant. There are also Western food options like pizza, fried shrimp and chicken, and french fries. There’s also cooked food like bulgogi. My favorite part of the buffet is the tropical fruit selection, including lychee, mango, and passion fruit.
Address: 55 Myeongdong-gil, Myeongdong 1(il)-ga, Jung-gu, Seoul
Website: www.qooqoo.co.kr
Cost: approx $15-20 per person