A Visit Review of Seongsu Nanpo, a Hot Seongsu-dong Restaurant

If I had to pick the hottest neighborhood, I think it would still be Seongsu-dong. Because of that, I naturally started thinking I should visit Seongsu-dong at some point.

I happened to have a reason to go to Seongsu-dong, and I decided to visit Seongsu Nanpo, a place I had wanted to try after seeing it on social media for a while.

Since it is such a popular Korean restaurant, waiting is said to be standard. I wanted to make a reservation in advance, but Naver reservations were not available.

I wondered if reservations weren’t possible at all, or if I would just have to go and wait in line, but there was a way to reserve.

Seongsu Nanpo reservations could be made through Tableing.

That doesn’t mean every restaurant can be booked that way, but reservations for Seongsu Nanpo were possible.

It wasn’t a matter of choosing a date and reserving a table, but rather remote queueing, so it’s best to do it before visiting. Even though it was a weekday lunch, the wait was about 1 hour and 30 minutes.

After making a reservation for this very popular Seongsu-dong Nanpo and visiting, I didn’t have to wait too long, but rather than going in a rush and feeling anxious, it seemed better to go a little early and wait comfortably.

I finally entered Seongsu Nanpo.

The tables inside Seongsu Nanpo were a little unusual. I guess you could say the table arrangement gave off the feeling of a local Southeast Asian restaurant?!

That said, the table setup wasn’t strange. There were two long tables with chairs placed along both sides, so it seemed like a good place for group visits as well as dates for two.

Once you sit down, you can receive the menu.

Seongsu Nanpo’s menu may feel simple, but maybe that makes it more trustworthy?

Rather than offering a wide variety of dishes, it feels like they focus on dishes they do well and can make deliciously.

Since I visited Seongsu-dong Nanpo, I felt I absolutely had to try the dish I had seen on social media.

The dish that comes to mind when thinking of Seongsu Nanpo is definitely the gang doenjang ssambap.

The sight of rice balls wrapped in kale and placed on top of gang doenjang made it a fusion Korean dish that had really gone viral on social media for a while.

When I visited and took photos, the colors made the pictures look pretty. And as a bonus, it looked appetizing too.

It may look small in the photo, but there was actually quite a substantial amount of rice inside, so it was filling.

Since two of us visited Seongsu-dong Nanpo, I thought ordering one menu item each might be enough, but after reading reviews before going, I saw that the portions might feel small, so we decided to order three dishes.

First, the gang doenjang ssambap was definitely something I wanted to order, so leaving that aside, these were the other two dishes I chose after thinking about what else would be good.

First is the soy sauce noodles with octopus. When done well, soy sauce noodles are a real treat. But since it came with octopus, I wondered what it would taste like, so I ordered it.

As you can see, the portion of noodles is small. So I was glad we ordered three dishes.

Rather than octopus, it was filled with vegetables, so I actually wondered if it was more like herb soy sauce noodles.

It includes vegetables such as crown daisy, cilantro, minari, and cucumber, so if you dislike strong herbal aromas, this may not be to your taste.

Even so, I could understand why the soy sauce noodles with octopus is one of Seongsu-dong Nanpo’s popular menu items.

The noodles were chewier than I expected, and the sesame oil’s nuttiness and soy sauce had not just saltiness but also a refreshing taste. The sauce itself wasn’t too strong, so it was the kind of flavor that kept drawing me back.

Lastly, it was the seasonal fish and aged kimchi roll.

The seasonal fish and aged kimchi roll is one of those dishes you can also find at sushi restaurants.

If the combination with aged kimchi is done really well, it becomes such a delicious dish, so I ordered it with anticipation.

First of all, there was no unpleasant fermented smell unique to aged kimchi at all. And the fish seemed aged as well, because it was very chewy.

As expected, the combination of aged kimchi and aged fish wrapped together with rice is one that can’t taste bad.

Seongsu Nanpo is open every day from 11:00 to 21:30, and the break time is from 16:00 to 17:00.

The last order for lunch is 15:30, and the last order for dinner is 21:00.

Please keep these times in mind and plan your visit, taking the wait into account.

If you are waiting and it reaches 16:00, you will have to wait until dinner time.

As one of the hot Seongsu-dong restaurants, Seongsu Nanpo is worth visiting once. Even if there is a wait.

But it’s not a place I would revisit while waiting in line; I would be willing to go again if there were no wait.