Seongsu & Konkuk Univ.: 19 restaurants worth the trip
Seongsu-dong, Ttukseom and the Konkuk University area. Former workshops turned into cafés and pop-ups, with barbecue houses, marinated crab and spicy braises for dinner.
A home-style Korean restaurant near Seoul Forest in Seongsu, listed on DiningCode for jipbap, everyday home cooking. Set meals include lettuce wraps, bibimbap with bulgogi, Korean beef tteokgalbi and grilled fish, alongside spicy stir-fried pork and fire-grilled bulgogi. Reviewers most often call it clean, pretty, casual and down-to-earth.
START WITHSsambap jeongsik · lettuce-wrap rice set with side dishes
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.
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
A pork barbecue restaurant in the lanes between Ttukseom and Seongsu, open from lunchtime to 23:00. Staff grill for you and suggest which salt or sauce to pair with each cut, and locals queue here as well as visitors.
START WITHPork barbecue with house salts and sauces
Minjeong Sikdang's main branch in Jayang-dong, near Konkuk University, is listed on DiningCode for seolleongtang and boiled-beef hot pot. The menu also has ox-head gomtang, beef knee soup, mixed boiled beef, seafood chive pancake, dumplings and seasonal naengmyeon. Reviewers most often describe it as unpretentious, lively and popular with locals.
Damsot serves sotbap, rice cooked in individual pots, close to Seongsu Station. Toppings include eggplant, spicy eggplant with cheese, steak, beef with bean sprouts, abalone, garlic scapes and shishito pepper with tofu, priced ₩12,000–₩18,000. DiningCode reviewers most often describe it as clean, casual, unpretentious and generous.
START WITHGaji Sotbap · rice cooked in an individual pot with eggplant
Majang-dong is Seoul's biggest wholesale meat market, a warren of butcher counters each paired with a simple grill room where you eat what you just bought. Yeongchuksan is a reliable, foreigner-workable stop for this butcher-shop-to-table format, selling top-grade hanwoo at close to wholesale prices.
START WITHHanwoo yukhoe & grilled cuts · raw beef tartare and grilled Korean beef
A market eatery in Ttukdo Market, Seongsu, known for jeyuk and charcoal-grilled marinated pork bulgogi sold by 600 g, alongside low-priced bean-sprout bibimbap, gamjatang and cockle bibimbap. DiningCode reviewers most often describe it as down-to-earth, under the radar, good value and generous with portions.
Deirit is a fusion Korean restaurant a short walk from Ttukseom Station, listed on DiningCode for flame-grilled jokbal. The menu mixes aged-kimchi beef tartare and hanu rolls, jokbal noodles, jambon cream noodles, a pepperoni-cheese potato pancake and mango-mustard chicken nanban. Reviewers most often describe it as casual, pretty and clean.
START WITHJikhwa Jokbal Noodle · noodles with flame-grilled pork trotters
Songrim Sikdang near Konkuk University is listed on DiningCode as a gisa sikdang, a diner built around taxi drivers' quick meals, known for pork bulgogi baekban. The short menu adds blood sausage hangover soup, kimchi stew and soybean paste stew. Reviewers most often call it down-to-earth, good value, lively and generous with portions.
START WITHDwaeji bulgogi baekban · pork bulgogi with rice and side dishes
A Korean restaurant near Konkuk University serving a pot-rice (sotbap) set meal, beef-bone kalguksu with a mini barley-rice bowl, spicy flame-stir-fried octopus and crispy seafood pancake, plus house makgeolli. DiningCode reviewers most often describe it as clean, down-to-earth, popular with locals and somewhat formal.
START WITHSotbap Hansang · pot rice with side dishes
A Gunja-dong specialist built entirely around aging technique, dry-aging and wet-aging pork belly side by side so you can taste the difference in one meal. Staff grill everything at the table, so first-timers don't need any barbecue experience to order well.
START WITH7&7 cross-aged pork belly · wet- then dry-aged samgyeopsal
Jeongseon Buttumak is a restaurant near Seoul Forest listed on DiningCode for gondeure-bap and kimchi-jjim. The gondeure rice set (₩10,000) sits alongside kimchi-jjim (₩14,000), spicy or sweet pork back ribs (₩24,000 each) and braised semi-dried pollock; DiningCode reviewers most often describe it as clean, casual and down-to-earth.
START WITHGondeure-bap · rice cooked with gondeure thistle greens
Nanpo is a Korean restaurant near Seoul Forest in Seongsu that DiningCode lists for its gomguk, a beef bone soup. The menu also has abalone perilla noodles, octopus soy noodles and aged-kimchi rolls with raw fish or beef tartare. Reviewers most often call it clean, casual, lively and pretty.
This single-item jokbal shop in the middle of Seongsu's warehouse-and-cafe district draws long waits with a name-list, walk-in-only system rather than reservations. It's frequently ranked among Seoul's best trotters, a solid savory stop between gallery-hopping and cafe browsing in one of the city's most-visited new neighborhoods.
Sonyeo Bangatgan near Seoul Forest in Seongsu is listed on DiningCode for jipbap, everyday home cooking, and sannamul bap, rice with wild mountain greens. The menu also offers pollock roe bibimbap, bulgogi rice with pickles, vegetable nutrition rice, chili-flake stir-fried pork and snail doenjang stew. Reviewers most often call it clean, casual, down-to-earth and quiet.
START WITHSannamul bap · rice with wild mountain greens
A trotter specialist near Konkuk University that smokes its pork over apple wood before roasting, giving a smokier, less gelatinous result than the usual steamed jokbal. Paired with a bowl of rich sundae-guk, it's an easy one-stop group dinner.
What are the best-rated restaurants in Seongsu & Konkuk Univ.?
By Google rating with at least 300 reviews: Halmeoni-ui Recipe (Grandmother's Recipe) (★4.4, 590 reviews), Seogam Saengsogeumgui Seongsu (★4.9, 877 reviews), Yugilgwan Main branch (★4.9, 687 reviews).
Where can I eat late at night in Seongsu & Konkuk Univ.?
Open late: Seogam Saengsogeumgui Seongsu (12:00–24:00), Yugilgwan Main branch (12:00–24:00), Hwayang-dong Wang Jokbal (11:00–23:00).
Which Seongsu & Konkuk Univ. restaurants suit a first visit to Korea?
Easy first stops: Yugilgwan Main branch, Gebang Sikdang Seongsu, Ilmirak Seongsu, Damsot Seongsu branch.
Latest Table Notes
What a Seoul restaurant owner ordered, paid and noticed.
