Are you a BTS Army? Are you heading to Seoul soon? Do you love delicious Korean food? If your answers to these 3 questions are a solid yes, then you must plan a trip down to Yoojung Sikdang! Yoojung Sikdang was featured on Rookie King when the Bangtan boys revealed on the show that it was their go-to restaurant during their pre-debut, trainee days. I had no idea what to expect at Yoojung Sikdang other than "Korean food", but according to the boys, Yoojung Sikdang serves food that tastes like their mothers' cooking, and so I decided to have faith in the boys and just go for it!
Address: Yoojung Sikdang, Dosan-daero 28-gil, Nonhyeon 1(il)-dong, Gangnam-gu, Seoul, South Korea (click for google map link)
The nearest station is Sinsa Station, and although it is no where near the station itself, I would say it is still a walkable distance. We did take awhile to find the restaurant, but I think the key thing to take note of is that this restaurant is located at a really quiet area with not much shops surrounding it. So if you find yourself at a really, really quiet area... You're probably on the right track.
From the outside, I could already see the walls plastered with photos, posters, and banners of the boys. Entering the restaurant was like entering a whole new BTS world.
Ordering the food was a little bit of a struggle even though an English menu was available. We didn't really understood what the menu was describing, moreover when we tried to order the first dish on the menu which was called something like "veggie wrap rice", she told us that we had to order 2 servings of that which made us really confused since we wanted to order the bibimbap too. This is just based on my experience, but after we couldn't decide on what to order (because she basically insisted that we have to order 2 servings of the first dish), she simply walked off and ignored us for awhile. I'm not sure if she was pissed at us but in the end, we decided to order what she suggested which was 2 servings of the "veggie wrap rice" plus one bibimbap.
We went during lunch time (~2PM on a Sunday) and it was pretty packed as the restaurant is actually kinda small, but there were no troubles getting a table. Most of the customers were fans, but there were also locals who just popped in not knowing that this is actually a popular spot for BTS fans. A group of locals sat next to us too and I overheard them saying that they are surprised at how many foreigners are in the restaurant! We also chatted with them a little during our meal.
The food arrived and it was obviously way too much for the two of us. A family of 4 who sat next to us literally had the same order, but we had no complains! The food was one of the best we ever had in Korea and wiped everything out (hehe). In case you're just as confused as us, 2 servings of "veggie wrap rice" is actually a set of that massive pan of pork, soondubu (tofu stew), 2 bowls of rice, and some fresh veggie leaves. We kinda understood why she insisted on that 2 servings after finding out that "veggie wrap rice" was a set. I'm probably the worse blogger ever because I forgot how much this costs, but if I'm not mistaken, it's around 10,000won - 12,000won per serving.
The bibimbap is my favourite! I'm not sure what the pork dish was seasoned in, but the bibimbap had the same flavour and pork in it, as well as a mixture of seaweed and lettuce. Yes, unlike the traditional bibimbap where you'll find carrots, radish, beansprouts, basically all the veggies I don't eat, this one only has seaweed and lettuce! Again, I don't remember the exact price but I'm pretty sure it was about 9,000won - 10,000won.
Dump your bowl of rice in it and mix it up! Fun fact, there is a nickname for this bibimbap and it's called "Bangtan"! So don't be surprised when you hear the staff shouting "방탄 하나!" ("Bangtan hana" which means 1 serving of "Bangtan").
My boyfriend wasn't that keen on visiting Yoojung Sikdang since to him, it just sounds like a gimicky restaurant to scam die-hard BTS fans. But his opinion completely changed as like I said, this was hands down one of the best meals we had in Korea. If we'll ever go back to Seoul again one day, Yoojung Sikdang will definitely be in my itinerary, not because of BTS, but because of the delicious food. Even if you're not a fan of BTS, I highly recommend you to visit this restaurant for some awesome Korean food!
Labels: BTS, food, korea, lifestyle, review, seoul, travel
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