Where I Take My Foreign Friends
When a friend from Hong Kong came to Seoul for a business trip in early June, we decided to meet in Hongdae.
Her accommodation and my home were on opposite sides of Seoul, so Hongdae seemed like a convenient place to meet. There was just one problem: I hadn’t kept up with the restaurant scene in Hongdae for years. My knowledge of the neighborhood was, to put it mildly, a little outdated.
So instead of relying on my old favorites, I asked a friend for a recommendation. She suggested Oiji Yeonnam, a Korean fusion restaurant in Hongdae, located in the Yeonnam-dong neighborhood.
It turned out to be a pretty good choice. My friend wanted to try tteokbokki, and I wanted to take her somewhere where she could experience Korean flavors without necessarily having to start with a very traditional Korean meal.
Why I Chose This Restaurant
When I take friends from abroad out for Korean food, I don’t necessarily look for the most famous Korean restaurant or the most traditional dish.
Of course, there are plenty of traditional Korean foods I’d recommend trying. But depending on someone’s experience with Korean food, some ingredients, flavors, or textures can be completely unfamiliar.
For this dinner, I thought a Korean fusion restaurant might be a nice middle ground: Korean ingredients and flavors, but presented in a slightly more contemporary and approachable way.
Oiji Yeonnam seemed like a good fit for what I was looking for in a Korean fusion restaurant in Hongdae.
And since my friend specifically wanted to try tteokbokki, I was curious to see what she would think of it.
Oiji Yeonnam: A Korean Fusion Restaurant in Hongdae
Oiji Yeonnam is a Korean fusion restaurant in Hongdae, located on a small street in Yeonnam-dong, just a short walk from Hongik University Station.
We visited on a weekday in early June and arrived a little before the usual dinner rush. Luckily, we were able to get a table without waiting.
By the time we finished our meal, though, the restaurant was full and there was already a line outside.
The restaurant itself has a fairly casual atmosphere, with the dining area arranged around an L-shaped space. I didn’t take any interior photos because it was quite busy when we visited, and I was there to catch up with my friends rather than document every corner of the restuarant.
One thing I did appreciate was that English menus were available, and orders could be placed using a tablet at the table. That’s a small convenience, but it can make a difference when you’re introducing someone to Korean food for the first time.
The restaurant wasn’t particularly noisy when we visited, either, so we could comfortably talk while eating.
What We Ordered
Since it was my first time at Oiji Yeonnam, I asked the staff for some recommendations.
There were three of us, so we decided to order several dishes to share:
- Myeongran Cheese Sundubu – soft tofu with pollock roe and cheese
- Chadol Deulgireum Guksu – noodles with beef brisket and perilla oil
- Chadol Tteokbokki – tteokbokki with beef brisket
- Rice
- Apple makgeolli
I liked the idea of sharing several dishes rather than ordering one meal each. It gave us a chance to try a few different flavors and textures, which is one of my favorite ways to eat Korean food with friends.
The Tteokbokki My Friend Loved
My friend specifically wanted to try tteokbokki, so naturally, this was one of the first dishes we ordered.
Tteokbokki is probably one of the most recognizable Korean foods among international visitors. If you’ve seen Korean street food videos or K-dramas, you’ve probably encountered these chewy rice cakes in a spicy res sauce.
The version we ordered at Oiji came with plenty of beef brisket on top, giving it a more substantial feel than the street-food version I usually associate with tteokbokki.
The sauce was pleasantly spicy and slightly sweet, while the rice cakes had that wonderfully chewy texture that makes tteobokki so satisfying.
And my friend’s reaction was immediate. It became her favorite dish of the night.
I was especially happy about that because this was exactly the kind of Korean food experience I had hoped she would have: something recognizably Korean, but not so unfamiliar that it became difficult to enjoy.
Myeongran Cheese Sundubu: A Familiar Korean Ingredient with a Twist
The myeongran cheese sundubu was probably the dish I was most curious about.
Sundubu means soft tofu, and it’s a familiar ingredient in Korean cuisine. Here, however, it was combined with pollock roe and cheese, giving a more modern twist to the dish.
I was slightly worried that the combination might be too mild. Soft tofu and cheese are both fairly subtle ingredients, and I wasn’t sure how they would work together.
Fortunately, the dish had more flavor than I expected. It was nicely seasoned with a gentle kick of spice, and there were plenty of ingredients in the bowl.
We also ordered a bowl of rice, which went particularly well with the warm broth.
This was a good example of what I liked about the restaurant. The dish wasn’t a traditional Korean dish in the strictest sense, but it still used ingredients and flavors that felt distinctly Korean.
Perilla Oil Noodles: My Friend’s Husband Had a Different Favorite
The chadol deulgireum guksu turned out to be my friend’s husband’s favorite.
The bowl was quite large, so I initially wondered if the portion might be smaller than it looked. It actually contained quite a generous amount of noodles.
The standout flavor was deulgireum, or perilla oil. It has a distinctly nutty and savory aroma and is used in many Korean dishes.
It’s also one of those Korean ingredients that is difficult to describe perfectly in English. “Perilla oil’ tells you what it is, but not quite what it tastes like.
In this dish, its rich, nutty flavor was particularly noticeable, and the noodles were well-seasoned without being overwhelmingly spicy.
It was a nice reminder that Korean food isn’t all about heat. There are plenty of Korean dishes built around earthy, nutty, savory, and delicate flavors, too.
Trying Apple Makgeolli
We also ordered a bottle of apple makgeolli because my friends wanted to try a Korean alcoholic drink.
Makgeolli is a traditional Korean rice wine with a milky appearance and a slightly sweet, tangy flavor. The apple version we had was considerably fruitier and sweeter than the traditional makgeolli I’m used to.
My friends thought it tasted surprisingly similar to fresh apple juice and found it very easy to drink.
If you’ve never tried makgeolli before, a fruit-flavored version could be an approachable introduction.
Of course, it’s still an alcoholic drink, so this is an option for adults who drink.
Would I recommend Oiji Yeonnam to First-Time Visitors?
I would.
There are plenty of traditional Korean restaurants I could have chosen for this dinner, and I wouldn’t say Korean fusion food is necessarily a better introduction to Korea.
It’s simply a different way to experience Korean food.
As a Korean fusion restaurant in Hongdae, Oiji Yeonnam offers familiar Korean ingredients and dishes while also introducing some less traditional combinations.
And most importantly, everyone at the table found something they liked.
For me, that’s one of the things that matters most when choosing a restaurant for a friend visiting Korea. You don’t necessarily need to find the most famous restaurant in Seoul.
Sometimes, you just need someswhere where everyone can sit down, share a few dishes, discover something new, and enjoy the meal together.
And you definitely don’t have to be a visitor from abroad to enjoy Oiji Yeonnam. I’d happily come back here with my Korean friends, too.
Oiji Yeonnam: Practical Information
- 📍 Location: Hongik University Station, Exit 4 – about a 5-minute walk
- 🍽️ Cuisine: Korean fusion
- 🌐 English menu: Available
- 📅 My visit: Early Jun 2026
- 🕐 Opening hours: Mon-Sun 11:30-22:00 (Break Time: 15:00-17:00)
- 💰 Prices: ₩10,000-20,000 per person
- ✔️ Tip: We arrived slightly before dinner on a weekday and didn’t have to wait, but the restaurant was full and had a waiting line when we left. If you’re visiting during a busy dinner period, you may want to allow some extra time.
Where I Take My Foreign Friends
This post is part of Where I Take My Foreign Friends, a series about restaurants, cafes, and other places in Korea that I’ve personally visited with friends from abroad.
Rather than simply making a list of “foreigner-friendly” places, I want to share why I chose each place, what my friends actually thought of it, and what I think makes the experience worth having.
Because sometimes, the best way to introduce someone to Korea isn’t by checking every famous item off a list.
It’s simply by sharing a good meal together.
Next: NOS – A Korean Fusion Restaurant in Seongsu