Eating at BTS’s Favorite Restaurant in Seoul
It is no secret that BTS has made a lasting impact on how South Korea is perceived by the world. The hallyu wave (the term for Korean popular media and culture) has been flooding the international scene over the past few years with Korean food, films, and music finding immense popularity with wider audiences. Leading that wave is none other than the seven-member boy group BTS, who’s well-deserved fame has in many ways reshaped South Korea’s tourism industry. In fact, in 2017, the band was solely responsible for 1 in every 13 tourists in South Korea. From music video filming locations and pop-up stores to cafes visited by the members, there’s a slew of spots across South Korea for ARMYs (BTS’s fans) to visit. As a former ARMY, I’ve visited a number of these locations myself and among them found a very special place: a restaurant called Yoojung Sikdang.
Yoojung Sikdang
Yoojung Sikdang (trans. Yoojung Restaurant) appeared in Episode 1 of Rookie King, BTS’s first variety show. In the episode, Yoojung Sikdang is introduced as the members’ favorite restaurant during their trainee days. According to BTS’s leader RM, the group ate at Yoojung Sikdang every day after rehearsal since their practice studio was located in the basement below the restaurant. Members Jimin and V even stated that they ate there three times a day. With Rookie King being BTS’s first proper television series, aired in 2013, Yoojung Sikdang is perhaps the oldest BTS tour spot ARMYs can still visit.
Photo credits: The Kpop. (2019, February 18). [Highlight] BTS' home & favorite restaurant! | Rookie King BTS.
In past interviews, the owner of Yoojung Sikdang, Kang Sun-Ja, has stated that she viewed the BTS members as her own sons and always believed they would become successful due to their kind manners and hard work ethic-a belief which was evidently justified. Today, even after the members can no longer visit the restaurant, Mrs. Kang continues to support them by hosting special events celebrating the members’ birthdays every year and allowing fans to cover her restaurant in BTS merchandise. The restaurant’s past connections with and current decorative emphasis on BTS has inevitably led to an ever-increasing influx of ARMYS coming to visit. Yet, it’s clear that the owner’s actions are rooted in unequivocal sincerity rather than any acquisitive, making the restaurant even more charming and wholesome.
Kang Sun-ja, owner of Yoojung Sikdang ; Photo Credits: @yoojungsikdang
Getting there
Yoojung Sikdang is located in Gangnam in Seoul. The best way of getting there is by bus. From Gangnam Eulji Hospital, you’ll walk up a short inclined street then take the first right.
The restaurant is located along a short alley behind the main road. It’s impossible to miss with large colorful BTS posters splayed across all its front windows.
Inside, the place is filled to the max with BTS memorabilia; from full album collections and signed posters to acrylic figurines, newspaper clippings, and carboard cutouts. Every inch of the restaurant is covered, including the ceiling.
Even the silverware containers and water jugs on the tables have pictures of the members plastered on top of them!
In the Rookie King episode, BTS is shown eating at a low-rise floor table. Since then, the restaurant has swapped out the floor seats for chairs. Besides that, the structure of the restaurant has remained the same, from the location of the menu and air conditioners to the grandfather clock along the back wall.
What to Eat
BTS’s favorite menu item was the black pork stone pot bibimbap, which the staff call the bangtan bibimbap. The members also enjoyed the ssambap (vegetable wraps and rice) and budae jjigae (military stew). All main courses cost 9,000 won*.
I ordered the vegetable stone pot bibimbap and wow it was incredible. The bibimbap was flavorful with a variety of vegetables and the rice was perfectly cooked—they also used purple rice which is always a bonus! My order also came with a doenjang-jjigae (fermented soybean paste stew) which was deliciously earthy and hearty. The banchan (side dishes) were all good as well.
*since my visit, the prices have increased to 10,000 won.
The food was so tasty that I’d recommend it to anyone regardless of if they’re a BTS fan or not, and that also seemed to be the consensus amongst all the other customers inside the restaurant. About half the customers there looked like BTS fans or tourists while the other half looked like people who just came in during their lunch break. At one point, a group of about ten older construction workers came in to eat together, seemingly indifferent to the surrounding décor.
At one point, an employee came over and asked me if I was an ARMY. After I said yes, she left then came back to give me a free cupholder and photo card set. I saw her do this once more with another group of customers.
Conclusion
Overall, I had a great time at Yoojung Sikdang and I’d highly recommend other ARMY to visit: the food was delicious, the restaurant staff were kind, and I personally had a blast reliving my old ARMY days. Compared to some other BTS tourist spots around Korea, Yoojung Sikdang feels extra special: it’s a meaningful piece of the group’s history and furthermore exemplifies the reach of their success.
BTS reportedly brings in about $3.6 billion to the South Korean economy annually, yet their influence extends past brand deals with large-scale corporations like Hyundai and Samsung; it trickles down and inadvertently turned the once small, humble mom-and-pop Korean food joint into a famous tourist stop visited by fans all over the world. This isn’t to say that Yoojung Sikdang wouldn’t be successful had it not crossed paths with the group, but I doubt it would have been as successful as it is now without its branding as the member’s favorite rookie-days restaurant. In a way, Yoojung Sikdang’s transformation can be an allegory for the group’s own growth: from practicing in the basement below the restaurant to performing concerts seating over 2 million people. Even though the situations around the group and restaurant have changed, at the heart of them both are the same original ingredients and spirit.
Location: 서울 강남구 도산대로28길 14
14 Dosan-daero 28-gil, Nonhyeon 1(il)-dong, Gangnam-gu, Seoul
Hours: Monday-Friday: 10:00-22:00
Saturday - Sunday: 10:00am-20:00