Hongdae and Yeonnam are packed with restaurants, but for a proper sit-down bowl of pasta in Yeonnam, Yeonnam Toma (연남토마) is a favorite. It’s a Korean-fusion spot in a converted brick house, best known for a smoky, Chinese-style beef cream pasta you won’t find elsewhere. There are several Yeonnam Toma branches around the city, but this is the original Yeonnam location — and to me it’s still the best of them.
Getting there
- From Hongik University (Hongdae) Station Exit 2: about an 8-minute walk (451m) into the Yeonnam streets.
- Address: 61 World Cup buk-ro 6-gil, Mapo-gu, Seoul. (Google Maps)
Hours: daily 11:30–21:30 (last order 20:30), no break time. Cards accepted. You can join the waitlist or book through the CatchTable app, or make a reservation via Naver Map.
The space
Step through the brick house’s metal gate and you reach a small white-gravel courtyard.
Inside is clean and cozy, with big glass walls on both floors that keep it feeling open and airy. It’s quiet and calm — a nice spot for a date or a relaxed meal with friends. There’s even a little mirror photo spot among the decor.
You order from a tablet at the table, which supports English, Chinese and Japanese — so there’s no language barrier.
What to order
The menu is Korean-Japanese-Italian fusion — pasta, risotto and rice bowls (deopbap). Meals come with a few simple banchan (side dishes). A few things worth knowing (prices around, and the lineup shifts over time):
Start with the ricotta cheese salad (₩12,000 / about $9) — fresh greens with mild, nutty ricotta and a sweet-tangy balsamic dressing. A light, bright counterpoint to the richer mains.
The signature is the beef Chinese-style cream pasta (차돌중화크림파스타, ₩18,000 / about $13.50) — spicy cream sauce stir-fried over high heat with thin-sliced beef (chadolbagi) for a smoky “wok breath” flavor. The sauce is delicious and the noodles stay firm; eat the beef and perilla leaf together with the pasta for the full effect. It’s the dish I’d cross town for.
Among the rice bowls, the mix deopbap (₩14,000 / about $10.50) tops rice with a crispy pork cutlet and a fried shrimp, finished with a sweet soy sauce and a runny egg — the sauce soaks into the rice and the egg makes it rich and savory.
Other popular picks include the mentaiko-basil oil pasta (₩17,000), yakiniku beef rice bowl (₩14,000), fresh salmon rice bowl (₩16,000), and sides like Japanese-style karaage (₩7,000). Meals come with a few banchan.
Good to know
- Hours: daily 11:30–21:30 (L.O. 20:30), no break time
- Payment: cards accepted
- Ordering: tabletop tablet in Korean, English, Chinese and Japanese
- Booking: waitlist or booking via the CatchTable app; reservations via Naver Map
- Getting there: 8 min from Hongdae Station Exit 2
- There are several branches; this is the original Yeonnam location
Verdict
Yeonnam Toma is a lovely, low-key place for a proper meal in Yeonnam — a converted-house setting with a gravel courtyard, a no-language-barrier tablet, and Korean-fusion cooking that punches above its price. Come for the smoky beef Chinese-style cream pasta, add the ricotta salad or the mix rice bowl, and enjoy a calm meal a few minutes from Hongdae Station. If you’re exploring more of Yeonnam, the giant salmon sushi at Yeonhadong is another fun, unusual meal nearby.
