Best Restaurants in Seoul City Center : Jongno-gu & Jung-gu - IVisitKorea
best restaurants in seoul the city center

Best Restaurants in Seoul City Center, Jung-gu & Jongno-gu

When in another country, trying that countryโ€™s food is a must. Through the delicious local foods, we hope that you will experience Korean culture and make unforgettable memories. The popular restaurants introduced below were on various TV programs, like Baek Jong Wonโ€™s Three Great Kings. These best Korean restaurants in Seoul city center have been in business for a long time so most of them are small and hard to find. Thus, make sure you have the Naver Map app downloaded before you go that works better than Google Maps in Korea.

Best Korean Restaurants in Seoul City Center, Jung-gu & Jongno-gu

Jongno Spicy Pork :ย ์ข…๋กœ๋ถˆ๋ผ์ง€

This small authentic Korean BBQ restaurant is highly favored by locals.ย You can see many of the restaurantโ€™s ownerโ€™s photos with famous Kpop stars.ย ย We recommend trying the thick garlic bee house 5layered pork belly first. After, try the restaurantโ€™s signature dish the fire pork belly. It is marinated with spicy red pepper paste sauce and grilled on briquette fire, which adds an extra smoky taste. You can find this restaurant 5 minutes from the Jonggak Station exit number 4.ย 

  • Address:ย 67 Cheonggyecheon-ro, Jongno-gu, Seoulย |ย ์„œ์šธํŠน๋ณ„์‹œย ์ข…๋กœ๊ตฌย ์ฒญ๊ณ„์ฒœ๋กœย 67
  • Open hours: 11:30 โ€“ 01:00ย 
  • Phone:ย 02-734-1190
https://www.instagram.com/p/B3_-GkBnsK0/

Wonjowon Halmae Somunnan Chicken Hanmariย :ย ์›ํ• ๋งค์†Œ๋ฌธ๋‚œ๋‹ญํ•œ๋งˆ๋ฆฌ

Dakhanmari is a dish that is eaten in a large pot with broth, chicken, noodles, rice cake, mushrooms, vegetables, and potatoes. There are several other chicken restaurants in this alley, but this place has been loved for more than 30 years. It is located at the local market so you can experience other traditional Korean foods here. There are also Chinese, Japanese menus, and you can also walk down to Jongno 5-ga or Dongdaemun Station from here.

  • Address: 26 Jongno-gu 40ga-gil Jongno-gu Seoul ย |ย ์„œ์šธํŠน๋ณ„์‹œย ์ข…๋กœ๊ตฌย ์ข…๋กœ40๊ฐ€๊ธธย 25
  • Open hours: 10:00 โ€“ 24:00ย 
  • Phone: 02-2279-2078
https://www.instagram.com/p/BhwEPiunJbV/

Euljiyuk Branch :ย ์„์ง€์œก์ 

This restaurant specializes in pork specialties and matured meat. A place we strongly recommend if you want to experience a different taste from the normal Korean barbeque. There is white pork belly, gold pork belly, temple pork belly, and also red pepper paste pork belly. You can walk down from Euljiro 3-ga station and stop by a hidden trendy bar nearby after the meal and enjoy the Seoul nightlife!ย 

  • Address:ย 48-17 Supyo-ro, Jung-gu, Seoulย |ย ์„œ์šธํŠน๋ณ„์‹œย ์ค‘๊ตฌย ์ˆ˜ํ‘œ๋กœย 48-17
  • Open hours:ย 
    • Mon.-Fri. 11:00 โ€“ 22:00 | Break time 14:00 โ€“ 17:00ย 
    • Sat. 17:00 โ€“ 22:00ย 
    • Sun. Closed
  • Phone: 02-2269-3398
https://www.instagram.com/p/B8tMV6HFP7F/

Samcheongdong Sujebi : ์‚ผ์ฒญ๋™์ˆ˜์ œ๋น„ย 

This popular Korean restaurant is listed in the Michelin guide 2020. Their signature menu is sujebi which is hand-pulled dough soup, and also jeon, which is Korean style pancake. We also recommend Korean traditional alcohol, Makgeolli, as itโ€™s the perfect combination to these foods.

  • Address:ย 101-1 Samcheong-ro Jongno-gu Seoulย |ย ์„œ์šธํŠน๋ณ„์‹œ์ข…๋กœ๊ตฌย ์‚ผ์ฒญ๋กœย 101-1ย 
  • Open hours: 11:00 โ€“ 21:00ย 
  • Phone: 02-735-2965ย 
https://www.instagram.com/p/Bzz_FXqANH2/

Pyeongando Pigโ€™s Feet |ย ํ‰์•ˆ๋„์กฑ๋ฐœ์ง‘ย 

Jangchung-dong is a famous alley known for jokbal (pig hocks)! There are many jokbal restaurants there, but amongst them, we recommend Pyeongan-do Jokbal restaurant. It was also recommended by several TV programs with the best quality. Other countries do not eat this part of the pig but after one taste youโ€™ll see why itโ€™s Koreaโ€™s representative late-night food.

  • Address:ย 174-6ย Jangchungdan-ro Jung-gu Seoulย |ย ์„œ์šธํŠน๋ณ„์‹œ์ค‘๊ตฌย ์žฅ์ถฉ๋‹จ๋กœย 174-6
  • Open hours:
    • The. โ€“ Sun. 12:00 โ€“ 22:30ย 
    • Mon. Closedย 
  • Phone: 02-2279-9759
https://www.instagram.com/p/B0iycNehnSB/

Seorin Octopus : ์„œ๋ฆฐ๋‚™์ง€

Seorin Octopus is the perfect place to try Korean spicy stir fried octopus. Their signature menu is octopus stir fried with scallions, vegetables, and other popular menu is sausage with bean sprouts and vegetables that are fired pan. Many Korean people order 2 sides and grill them both on the fired pan. Lastly, do as the locals do and add rice to make spicy stir fried octopus rice! You wonโ€™t regret once you try it!

  • Address:ย 19ย Jong-ro Jongno-gu Seoul |ย ์„œ์šธํŠน๋ณ„์‹œย ์ข…๋กœ๊ตฌย ์ข…๋กœ19
  • Open hours:ย 11:30 โ€“ 22:30ย  | The second Sunday Closed
  • Phone: 02-735-0670
https://www.instagram.com/p/BUAUtBpD9eU/

Honam Restaurant :ย ํ˜ธ๋‚จ์‹๋‹น

Honam restaurant is a hidden Korean barbeque house. It has a shabby exterior but this restaurant is a jewel that locals love. Unlike typical galbi, which is grilled over charcoal, the meat here is cooked over slowly boiled water. Not to mention, they have various side dishes and ssam! Or vegetables used to wrap the meat in. Make sure you eat the unforgettable iron plate fried rice made by the restaurantโ€™s owner.ย 

  • Address: 9 Toegye-ro 41-gil Jung-gu Seoul |ย ์„œ์šธํŠน๋ณ„์‹œย ์ค‘๊ตฌํ‡ด๊ณ„๋กœ41๊ธธย 9ย 
  • Open hours: 12:00 โ€“ 22:30 | Sun. Closed
  • Phone: 02-2273-1348ย 
https://www.instagram.com/p/BeSiDL9Hzr2/

Jungnimjang Ox Bone Soup :ย ์ค‘๋ฆผ์žฅ์„ค๋ ํƒ•ย 

This restaurant only sells ox tail bone soup and boiled meat. It is one of the five most popular ox tail bone soup restaurants in Seoul. Plus, it is especially popular with the ox tail bone soup manias. If you want a deep and savory taste, visit this restaurant for a hearty and healthy meal. You can walk from Chungjeongno Station but make sure you donโ€™t get lost because the entrance is hard to find.

  • Address: 459-1 Cheongpa-ro Jung-gu Seoul |ย ์„œ์šธํŠน๋ณ„์‹œย ์ค‘๊ตฌ์ฒญํŒŒ๋กœย 459-1
  • Open hours:ย 
    • Mon. โ€“ Fri. 08:00 โ€“ 22:00 | Break time 15:30 โ€“ 17:00ย 
    • Sat. โ€“ Sun. 08:00 โ€“ 21:00ย 
  • Phone: 02-392-7743
https://www.instagram.com/p/B6PUU3unTqX/

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