Attention: If you are looking for a place to get a delicious and hearty meal, please look no further.
Today, we will be introducing Doma (도마 means cutting board), a restaurant that specializes in serving healthy and replenishing meals, located in Insadong.
Information
Location: 서울 종로구 인사동 8길 6-1
6-1 Insadong 8-gil, Jongno-gu, Seoul
Directions: Head straight from Exit 5 of Jongno 3ga Station. It will take you about 8 minutes by foot.
Hours: Everyday 11:30am to 9:10pm (Break Time: 3pm - 5pm) Last Order: 8:30pm. No Reservations.
Why We Recommend It
Since it located on Ssamji-gil, it is at a perfect location to eat and then go sightseeing in Insadong.
The restaurant is pretty famous since it has been showcased on TV shows on three different occasions.
Here you can find THE BEST fermented soybean paste stew (된장찌개) in Seoul.
You can enjoy a variety of healthy menu items such as stone pot rice, a set table of shabu shabu (Korean-style hot pot), meat, and of course a variety of other Korean food.
Menu
Menu Item | Price (KRW) | Menu Item | Price (KRW) |
| Black Pork Shabu Shabu | 17,000 | Beef Ribs Hot Pot Rice Meal | 20,000 |
| Table BBQ Meat (Beef Ribs, Pork Neck, Chicken Legs) | 42,000 | Charcoal-Grilled Samgye Hot Pot Rice Meal | 17,000 |
| Iberico Charcoal-Grilled Pork Neck Meal | 16,000 | Charcoal-Grilled Chicken Leg Meal | 14,000 |
*Shabu Shabu is only available for parties of 2 and above.
Our Visit
Doma is famous for serving several Korean style dishes such as stone bowl rice, meat, and more. As a result, it is a popular for people to go, so even if you arrive before opening, you might have to wait in line to get in!
The restaurant is located in an alley on Ssamgil. When you find the big painting of tigers, then you'll know you've come to the right spot!
When you come inside, you will see that there are many seats. However, during typical meal times, it becomes very difficult to get a seat.
The interior is decorated with wood and other wooden accent features, which gives it a very traditional feeling. This is perfect for a restaurant located in the cultural hub of Insadong.
Since Doma has been showcased on TV multiple times, the food has to be good, right?
When we got the menu, we saw that it was shaped like a cutting board, just like the name of the restaurant. We also saw the helpful tigers that let us know we'd arrived to the right location.
When we received our food, we were pleasantly surprised by how much food came out. We order the Beef Ribs Hot Pot Rice Meal and the Charcoal-Grilled Samgye Hot Pot Rice Meal. The food quickly! We only waited about 15 minutes after ordering to get our food.
The Beef Ribs Hot Pot Rice Meal (20,000 KRW) came out with out with the hot pot filled with rice, three side dishes (fish cake, kimchi, and seaweed), dipping sauce and fermented soybean paste soup.
The dish was filled will ribs, mushrooms of different types, gingko nuts, chestnuts, and jujube. We could feel ourselves getting more and more energized with every bite. We ate the ribs together with some rice and the given sauce, which was DELICIOUS.
The ribs were cooked just perfectly, soft and tender. Even if you eat it without sauce, the meat was so soft and savory so we enjoyed every bite.
With every bite meat, rice and mushrooms, we slowly became happier and happier.
The fermented soybean paste stew is really out of this world. We thought they were exaggerating when they called it the best in Seoul, but now we understand why. The special ingredient in this particular fermented soybean paste stew is the use of wild chives. It really gives the soup a distinct taste different from others we've tried.
The rich flavor of the wild chives gave the stew a rich flavor that complimented the spice red peppers and soft meat. We easily ate a whole bowl of rice while enjoy this soup.
Next up is the Charcoal-Grilled Samgye Hot Pot Rice Meal (17,000 KRW). All the same side dishes as before were served with this meal as well.
In this dish came plenty of nutritious ingredients such as chicken, gingko, chestnuts, jujube, and ginseng roots. Maybe because the ingredients are similar, but the smell of the dish reminded us of another Korean dish called samgyetang. It was nice to have another dish that came with ginseng, the health food of all health foods.
There was a huge chunk of chicken in the dish that was really soft and went well with the rice and fermented soybean paste stew.
When you're almost finished with your rice in the hot pot, you should pour hot water into the bowl to make a savory nurunji (essentially the cooked rice stuck to the bottom of the bowl).
When you pour the hot water into the pot and then cover it for awhile, the rice absorbs the water and steam and becomes loose so you can simply scoop it out and eat it! It was particularly delicious because the flavor of the meats and ingredients that came served on top of the rice had well-seasoned the nurungji.
Once we finished eating, we grabbed a small yogurt out of a small bathtub on our way out. It was a nice sweet treat after a great meal! Thanks to eating such a hearty meal, we left feeling well-fed, energized and ready to take on the rest of our day.
We hope you enjoyed our review and we can't wait to provide you with more content on the various places to visit in Seoul. Make sure you to follow our Instagram, TikTok, and Facebook so you can stay up to date on all the great places to visit in Korea. And if you have any questions, do not hesitate to contact us help@creatrip.com.
