Szimpatikus Seoul StationBracken and Brisket Pasta, Western Food Built from Korean Ingredients

The name will look unfamiliar. Szimpatikus is Hungarian for "likeable," and Koreans say it as sim-peo-ti-ku-si.

The bracken and brisket pasta

This is the reason to come. The combination is hard to find anywhere else.

Two things sit on top of the noodles in the photo.

Chadol-baegi — a thin cut of beef brisket. Koreans normally grill it. Here it is seared hard over high heat to pick up a smoky char before it goes on the plate. The pieces curled crisp at the edges are the brisket.

Gosari — the dark brown tangle on the left of the photo. It is bracken fern, gathered on mountainsides, dried, rehydrated and stir-fried. In Korea it is a completely ordinary vegetable, one of the standard toppings on bibimbap and a fixture of memorial-rite food. Almost nobody puts it on pasta.

Then there is perilla oil, pressed from perilla seeds. It is nutty in a way sesame oil is not. Bracken and perilla oil are an old Korean pairing, and this dish moves that pairing onto pasta without changing it.

The result is Western food that tastes Korean. That is meant as a compliment — it does not sit awkwardly between the two, and the ingredients genuinely belong together.

What it looks like

On a round stone plate, thin spaghetti is coiled like a nest, topped with a heap of crisp-seared chadolbaegi and meat pulled apart along the grain. The noodles are tinted with a green herb sauce, with sliced scallion scattered on top and more across the plate. The beef is crisped to a deep brown on the outside, with white fat visible at the edges. The tip of a tong-like tool rests lightly over the top of the plate.

Menu words

• Chadolbaegi is thinly sliced beef brisket with a rich, fatty flavor
• Spaghetti is thin, rod-shaped Italian pasta
• Gosari is bracken fern, used in Korean seasoned vegetable dishes. It is an ingredient named in the dish

Above average all round, and reasonably priced

To be honest about it: this is not a once-in-a-lifetime restaurant. What it is, is a place that does not disappoint you on any single count.

• Food — the signature dish is genuinely good, and the rest is above average
• Room — wide, bright, clean. Somebody clearly thought about the plates and the glassware
• Price — pasta runs 21,000 to 23,500 KRW, which is reasonable for a room like this

That makes it a safe place to bring anyone. It is a slight waste to eat here alone; two or four people is the right size.

A break from Korean food, without leaving it behind

People come to Korea and look for Korean food. Of course they do.

But Korean Western food is a separate story. Western cooking was not simply imported here — it was rebuilt around Korean ingredients and Korean palates. Bracken, pollack roe and short rib turning up on pasta and risotto is exactly what that looks like.

There comes a point in a trip when you have had enough Korean food. Usually around day three or four. Rather than fleeing to some entirely different cuisine at that moment, eating something half-Korean like this makes the trip more interesting, not less.

It also is not spicy at all, which on its own is reason enough for some visitors.

The location, and the other branches

It is on the ground floor of Grand Central, directly outside Seoul Station — a three-minute walk.

For a traveller that matters.

• The AREX airport line runs straight to Incheon Airport from here. Good for a last meal before flying out
• You can eat unhurried before a KTX departure
• Namdaemun Gate is a 3-minute walk, Namdaemun Market 10 minutes, Myeongdong 15

If Namdaemun Market is on your route, Maknae Hoejip and its weekday-lunch-only sashimi set is worth folding into the same walk.

Besides Seoul Station there are six branches in total, including one at Gwanghwamun.

Prices differ slightly between branches. The bracken and brisket pasta is 23,000 KRW at Seongsu and 23,500 at Seoul Station and Yeouido. The menus vary a little too, so check the branch you are actually going to.

Before you go — the break, and booking

They close from 3:00 to 5:00 PM.

Turn up thinking of it as a late lunch and you will find the door shut. Get in before half past two, or plan for after five.

Last order is 9:00 PM and the door closes at ten.

Evenings and weekends fill up. CatchTable takes reservations.

Notes for visitors

Bracken and brisket pasta (chadol-gosari pasta) is the signature dish — two Korean ingredients served on pasta.

• Chadol-baegi is a thin cut of beef brisket, seared for a smoky char. It is beef, so it works if you avoid pork
• Gosari is bracken fern, a mountain vegetable. Dried, soaked, then stir-fried. Soft with a slight chew and a deep, faintly earthy flavour. Koreans meet it most often in bibimbap
• Perilla oil (deulgireum) is pressed from perilla seeds and smells strongly nutty. It is the central aroma of this dish
• Nothing here is spicy. Fine if you cannot handle chilli
• Vegetarians will struggle. The signature contains beef, and most other dishes are meat or seafood
• Three minutes on foot from Seoul Station, with a direct airport rail link to Incheon
• Check the 3:00 to 5:00 PM break
• An English menu is generally available, with photographs, so ordering is not difficult

Come here if

• ✅ You are curious about Western food made from Korean ingredients
• ✅ You have had enough Korean food for a moment
• ✅ You cannot eat spicy food — nothing here is
• ✅ You are catching a train or the airport line at Seoul Station
• ✅ You want a clean, comfortable room for two or four
• ✅ You would like wine with dinner
• ⚠️ Break from 3:00 to 5:00 PM
• ⚠️ Difficult for vegetarians
• ⚠️ Book ahead for evenings and weekends
• ⚠️ Prices and menus differ slightly by branch