Gastro Pan-Asian Cuisine

The Hongdae area is glutted with greasy fast food places, perfect for the struggling art student. However, if you’re ever looking for a more upscale atmosphere to dine in, you may want to check out Gastro, a chic restaurant just past the playground in front of the university. Amazingly, Gastro is a swanky Pan-Asian restaurant with pojangmacha prices. Last time we ate there, 10 people had tons of food and 5 bottles of wine for 30,000 won each! The menu includes items like Gado-Gado (an Indonesian salad with peanut dressing), Pad Thai, Kung Pao Chicken, beef with mushrooms over rice, green chicken curry, vegetarian fried rice, marinated eggplant with ground pork. Each dish had it’s own unique flavor and seemed to be of good quality.
The atmosphere is art-gallery modern, with minimalist stone walls, Asian accents and an open plan kitchen. There’s an outdoor seating area which is charming, but not super lively due to the fact that the restaurant is a little off the main walkway.
Gastro got an overwhelming thumbs up from the group of diners I went with and, they usually eat at nice places in Cheongdam dong or Itaewon. When the bill came, everyone marveled at the low prices. For a great meal with a great atmosphere at budget prices, you definitely should try Gastro. $$ (358-121 1/F Seogyo-Dong, Mapo-Gu, Seoul) 02-322-1766

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