Yoojung Sikdang

When both of your travel mates are part of the BTS army fan base, visiting the BTS route in Seoul is one of the must-do itineraries. One of the more popular and famous stops is the restaurant that the band used to visit when they were trainees

Located in Gangnam near the old BTS studio, it is stated as BTS’s favourite restaurant as the band used to eat there every day after dance practice at the studio just below the restaurant. It was not difficult to find our way to the restaurant using either Naver or Google Maps. The exterior of the restaurant will tell you if you have found the right place with all the BTS posters plastered on their windows and door

When you enter the restaurant, it is like Disneyland to all armies. The entire restaurant is plastered with BTS posters, photos, merchandise, plushies, standees and more. All the walls are fully covered and even half of the ceiling is filled with photos of BTS. The size of the restaurant was average and it could sit close to 50 people at any one time. The tables are tightly packed together to accommodate more customers who are visiting purely because of BTS

The menu is simple and straightforward with some recommended items like the Ssambap which is a lettuce wrap of grilled pork and rice, black pork bibimbap, kimchi stew, bean stew, army stew as well as other varieties of bibimbap. BTS’s favourite menu was the Ssambap and bibimbap. Each item was priced extremely reasonably at KRW10,000

The side dishes served were simple yet delicious; cabbage kimchi, spicy anchovies, spicy seasoned perilla leaves and seasoned radish. The flavours tasted like home cooking and were slightly different from those served at the restaurants

I ordered a kimchi stew as I was craving for something hearty and warm and it came served in the traditional Korean stone pot. It was bubbling hot so I had to wait for a while before I started eating. The stew was filled with tofu, kimchi and sliced pork meat which looked normal at first glance but was unforgettable at the first taste. Most kimchi stew I had in both Singapore and Korea was quite mediocre with some overly sourish in flavour. The only one I enjoyed so far was the one here and this one at Yoojung Sikdang. Each spoonful of soup was packed with umami flavours; savoury and spicy which rendered me unable to put down my spoon. I slurped up every single drop of soup and would do a 2nd serving if we were not moving to our next stop

My friends who are armies went for the army stew (pun intended) instead. We ordered for 2 people and the dish was served in a huge pot on top of a portable stove to keep the stew boiling. The dish is mildly spicy which is perfect for my friend who cannot take spicy food and the balance of flavours between the kimchi, spam meat, and sausages was great so none of the items overpowered each other. While the army stew was delicious, I do love my kimchi stew more

Overall, putting aside the fact that this is BTS’s favourite restaurant, I highly recommend this restaurant for homely hearty meals. The meals are simple yet filled with sincerity from the owners who were such darlings, especially the lady boss. Strangely, they did not ask if we were armies nor did they gift my friends with any merchandise. Instead, the lady boss bonded with my friend over religion and even gave her a set of rosary. I would gladly visit again just to get a taste of a sincere home-cooked Korean meal

Address: 14 Dosan-daero 28-gil, Gangnam-gu, Seoul, South Korea

Operating hours: 10.30 am to 9.30 pm ( Til 8pm only on Sat and Sun )