Top-rated restaurants in Korea: 26 places (October 2026)
26 restaurants in the Korea on a Plate guide for the highest-rated meals, ranked Monthly 30 first and then by Google rating. Each has hours, a price per person and what to order.
In this guide: Yukmian Gangnam branch, Jigang Hansikdang (Jigang Korean Restaurant) Apgujeong Main, 1992 Deopbap & Jjageuri Gangnam Main, Ikseon Aetteut, Ttukbaegijip (Earthen Pot House).
At a glance: Price per person ₩9,000–₩320,000 (middle ₩16,000). Average Google rating ★4.7. 6 of 26 are open late or 24 hours.
Updated 2026-10-05
Tips before you go
Only places with a Google rating of 4.5 or more and at least 300 reviews make this list.
Popular places queue at peak hours. For lunch, go before 11:30 or after 13:30.
Yukmian's Gangnam branch, near Sinnonhyeon Station, is listed on DiningCode as a beef barbecue restaurant. Cuts include angchang galbi and bon galbi (250 g, ₩27,000 each) and pork galbi (200 g, ₩16,000), with fried rice and a truffle galbi sotbap to finish; DiningCode reviewers most often describe it as clean, pretty and casual.
Jigang Hansikdang's main Apgujeong restaurant is listed on DiningCode for nakgopsae and Korean dishes. Nakgopsae is ₩17,000, with variations such as chadol nakgopsae (₩20,000), plus cheese octopus stir-fry, an octopus bibimbap set and Korean beef yukhoe; DiningCode reviewers most often describe it as clean, generous and casual.
START WITHNakgopsae · spicy stew of octopus, beef intestines and shrimp
This main branch is about 80 m from Gangnam Station and is listed on DiningCode for rice bowls and jjageuri. Every listed dish, from jjageuri stews to Jeolla-style rice bowls and Jeonju bibimbap, is priced at ₩13,500, and reviewers most often call it down-to-earth, casual, clean and good value.
START WITHJjageuri · thick pork stew eaten with rice
Ikseon Aetteut sits in Ikseondong, about 130 m from Jongno 3-ga Station, and is listed on DiningCode for ssambap and beef galbi. The menu runs from pork ssambap and bibimbap to marinated beef galbi and kimchi pancakes, and reviewers most often call it pretty, clean and casual, with a good view.
START WITHGang-doenjang ssambap · lettuce wraps with rice and thick soybean-paste pork
Ttukbaegijip is a small stew restaurant near Jongno 3-ga serving four stews in earthenware pots: snail doenjang, plain doenjang, soft tofu and kimchi stew, all priced ₩8,000–₩9,000. DiningCode reviewers most often describe it as unpretentious, good value and popular with locals.
START WITHUreong Doenjang · soybean paste stew with freshwater snails
Gosami is a home-style Korean restaurant near Sinchon Station, listed on DiningCode for grilled fish and stir-fried squid. The menu covers grilled mackerel and Spanish mackerel, ojingeo bokkeum, beef bulgogi and two stews at ₩9,000–₩17,000. Reviewers most often describe it as unpretentious, lively, generous and good value.
Hangaram serves hanjeongsik-style set meals near City Hall, including a herbal-style (yakseon) soy-marinated crab set, an abalone and braised beef shank set, a bulgogi set and a spicy freshwater-crab hot pot. DiningCode reviewers most often describe it as upscale, clean and generous with portions.
START WITHGanjang-gejang · raw crab marinated in soy sauce, served as a set meal
A fine-dining restaurant in Cheongdam serving set tasting menus at lunch and dinner, with wine, Korean liquor (uri sul), signature and selected drink pairings offered at varying prices. DiningCode reviewers most often describe it as upscale, formal, clean and pretty.
Byeolmi Bokkeumjeom near Yeouido Station is listed on DiningCode for jeyuk bokkeum, spicy stir-fried pork. Every main is cooked over direct flame: pork, squid, webfoot octopus, small octopus, or pork paired with squid or octopus. Steamed egg and chilled acorn jelly soup are the sides. Reviewers most often call it down-to-earth, lively, good value and a lesser-known local pick.
A Korean barbecue house a few minutes from Itaewon Station that opens in the late afternoon and grills until nearly midnight. Staff cook the meat at the table and keep the side dishes topped up, and English is spoken, which is why it is one of the most-reviewed barbecue rooms in Itaewon.
START WITHSamgyeopsal and pork neck grilled at the table
A pork barbecue room on Bogwang-ro, down the hill from Itaewon Station, open until midnight every day and from noon at weekends. There is a set that lets you try several cuts at once, and the house stew is what regulars add to the grill.
START WITHPork belly, pork neck and the house stew
A second branch of a pork barbecue place in the lanes below Itaewon Station, open from late afternoon to midnight every day. Servers grill the thick cuts at the table and tell you which condiment to eat each one with; the room is set up for visitors, with most tables full of travellers.
A salt-grill pork restaurant on Achasan-ro by Seongsu Station, open from noon to midnight every day. The point is well-marbled fresh pork grilled with nothing but salt, with carefully made side dishes; staff guide you through the grilling.
START WITHSaeng-sogeumgui · fresh pork grilled with salt
A barbecue house steps from Konkuk University Station, open noon to midnight daily, serving pork belly and shoulder as well as Korean beef. Staff grill at the table, and the steamed egg on the side is worth adding.
A small noodle restaurant holding a Michelin Bib Gourmand in the Seoul selection. The kitchen builds Korean noodle bowls with some Italian technique, and the menu changes with the season, turning cold in summer and to an ox-head broth in winter. There are only a few tables.
Bapjangin Dwaeji Jjigae's Hongdae branch, about 140 m from Hongik University Station, serves pork stews: jjageuli, pork kimchi stew, soft tofu with potato and soft tofu with brisket, plus bulgogi, stir-fried squid and Spam sets for one or two. DiningCode reviewers most often call it unpretentious, generous and good value.
Running since 1968 in the old Mukyo-dong office district, this single-menu restaurant serves the mild, clear pollack soup Seoul office workers turn to as a gentle hangover cure. It opens early and is built for a quick, quiet meal rather than a leisurely dinner.
Baekam sundae is a style from Baekam in Yongin, where the sausage is packed with vegetables and glass noodles rather than filler and the broth is a clear pork bone stock. This is the original branch of the Nongmin group and it draws a steady office lunch crowd from the Daechi and Seolleung blocks. The soup arrives with sundae and assorted pork offal already in the bowl.
START WITHSundae-gukbap · pork blood sausage and offal rice soup
A Korean restaurant in Ikseon-dong centred on onban, rice served in a warm broth, alongside soy-sauce suyuk (sliced boiled pork), dumplings, perilla-oil buckwheat noodles and samgyetang. DiningCode reviewers most often describe it as upscale, with a good view, clean and quiet.
START WITHOnban · warm rice in clear broth with toppings
An agujjim restaurant near Ttukseom Station that tops its spicy braised monkfish with crispy fried beef intestines, an unusual mix of tender fish and crunch. Portions are large, and pollack roe, pork belly and beef dishes are also on the menu.
A Seongsu branch of a restaurant known for soy-marinated raw crab, with a spicy crab, marinated shrimp and marinated abalone on the same menu, all served as set meals with rice and side dishes. It has a lunch and a dinner service and is closed on Mondays.
START WITHGanjang-gejang · raw crab marinated in soy sauce
Muwol Siktak, near Sinnonhyeon and Gangnam Station, is listed on DiningCode for Korean bansang, a tray of rice, soup and side dishes. The menu on file shows one main: old-style beef bulgogi served with lettuce wraps. Reviewers most often call it clean, casual, lively and pretty.
Hyehwa Dodam is about 180 m from Hyehwa Station and is listed on DiningCode for kimchi-jjim and makgeolli. The menu centres on kimchi-jjim and braised pork ribs in shareable sizes, plus a green onion pancake, and reviewers most often call it down-to-earth, casual, lively and popular with locals.
START WITHKimchi-jjim · braised aged kimchi with pork
Opened in 2014 by an owner who mills and cuts his own buckwheat, so the strands are slightly thicker and rougher than at the older Pyongyang houses. The broth is simmered about five hours from Korean beef with medicinal roots, and the house also makes its own pear vinegar, mustard sauce and daily radish kimchi. It appears in the Michelin Guide Seoul selection.
START WITHPyeongyang mul-guksu · buckwheat noodles in chilled beef broth
Every place is in the Korea on a Plate guide, written by an editor who runs four restaurants in Seoul. The list is filtered from published hours, prices and tags; nobody pays to be listed.
