Jihwaja Seoul — Restaurant in Seoul

We booked a table for two at Jihwaja on 2025.9.17, as we’d like to try a traditional royal feast this time. We chose this one because: It introduces itself as a “high-class traditional royal banquet restaurant”. It offers course dinner. The dishes look good in picture and on YouTube. It has high ratings and mostly good reviews. (It has some not-so-good reviews too.)

In that evening when we stepped out of the car, the restaurant caught our eyes as a traditional venue with nice vibe. It was close to 7:30, yet the restaurant was quiet without any customers in sight. As the lady greeted and led us upstairs, we thought maybe other guests were seated there too.

We left the restaurant at around 9pm. It turned out to be a total disappointment to both of us. Our excitement was somewhat gone by half, as we seemed to be the only two guests for the night. As far as we could see, it was empty. We had strange feeling about it, to begin with.

The set dinner menu was KRW200,000 (USD145) per person. From my experience in Seoul, it’s reasonable to expect a high quality, satisfying dinner for this charge.

From a catering background myself, I don’t think the food quality was high enough to be labelled as “high class” or “royal”.

Food material was so-so. In fact, this was my first time in Seoul that I suspected (most certainly) some food was prepared with MSG. As soon as I felt it, I immediately ordered a coke to calm it down….This is my usual cravings whenever I suffered from heavy dose of MSG in restaurants. Mind you, I rarely take soft drinks but just water or tea.

If my Chef gave me the following desserts for a “royal dinner”, I would definitely call him/her sloppy. The dessert we had in Jihwaja, contained 2 medium-size green grapes, a 4x4 cm oily pastry puff, and one 1x4cm sesame cracker. Not only the buy-in ingredients but the presentation looked effortless.

The only thing we won’t complain about was the service by the young man who speaks very good and courteous English. All serving staff were courteous and wear lovely smiles. The place is clean though showing some signs of aging, with some nostalgic decor. At the end of the dinner, the restaurant provides a gimmick by taking a picture for us and inserting it in a card frame to take away. (We forgot about it totally. You can imagine how unimpressed we were by the whole dinner experience.)

We would therefore not recommend this restaurant if you want to try a satisfying, good cost-performance Royal...

Just last year this time, we were dining at this place and it was one of the best dining experiences we had in Korea. To be honest, we are indifferent about Korean food and weren’t sure if we wanted to splurge in Korean Royal cuisine. While the rest of our travel group opted out, we decided to give it a try and it’s the best decision!

The food is truly unique, I couldn’t really pinpoint it to any cultural cuisine, it’s not really the modern Korean food that you’re used to or like any Chinese or Japanese. We loved it and especially enjoy how they explained the manual process in crafting the food and how the food is meant for the King or nobles so is prepared to be both nutritious and delicious. Much needed, given we’ve been in a period of gluttony of rich fatty foods and eating lavishly throughout our trip.

They stay true to the food presentation of that period, so don’t expect decorated dishes for that perfect Instagram photo, as superfluous presentation isn’t a thing as it is nowadays in fine dining.

We ordered the Daejanggeum set because it’s also the same set that was in the hit Kdrama that I watched a long time ago (drama based on the royal kitchen serving the king). Fun fact: Their master chef designed the meal set for the show to stay authentic to the period. The hands shown serving/preparing the dish on the show was actually the head chef herself.

Not only was the food tasty, but the service was also unbelievable as the server/owner explained the history of royal cuisine and was open to talking about anything we were curious about.

Apparently, the head chef for the King, picks a disciple to officially succeed them in carrying the recipes to next generation and their master chef is the one that descended from the head chef sho served the King. She also represents Korea for preserving the royal cuisine and showcasing it in international events. There are many knock-off royal cuisines, so if you’re going to do royal cuisine, might as well get the authentic recipes and experience.

They also timed every dish perfectly, didn’t rush us despite the place closing and also even helped us call a cab home. An unforgettable experience, especially must-do on a trip (hopefully we all could in the near future) and if you’re a local, why not treat yourself, you deserve it.

Tip: When reserving might want to let them know what language you speak, a higher chance they might be able to pair you up with a server that can speak...

Traditional Korean Royal Banquet Cuisine served in accompanying premises n decor, this restaurant boasts of a varied history which caters to delicate n exquisite traditional Korean cuisine usually (past) reserved for those of blue blood - the royals. Each particular course of the total 7 courses was served individually as per European concept of fine dining as opposed to the Asian concept of shared dishes. The decorative presentation and plating of dishes was unique, “pretty” and nouveau. Flavours were delicate but wholesome and clearly defined. The plating was very well done n most tasteful taking into consideration the food served and the manner of preparation.

One disappointment was the clear lack of verbal presentation of each course to denote what we were dining upon and the preparatory measures taken for each dish. This lack of explanation or any presentation verbal or otherwise would undoubtedly leave diners guessing what was being served or dinning upon. This, in my humble opinion, is a huge lacunae and does the restaurant or its chefs no justice as to its repute in serving royal type banquet dishes. Discerning Diners need to know and appreciate the preparation of the dishes, its intricacy and of course the ingredients. We were left guessing what each course was and this did not leave a nice impression on a restaurant that boasts of fine royal dining.

Serving staff were not trained to perfunctorily explain the cuisine nor were they trained to serve the dishes in an appropriate manner ie not to remove dishes or utensils except from the side and not disrupt any ongoing conversation between guests or blocking the view between guests who were conversing. More training is truly required and would add to the graceful ambience of this restaurant which was decorated exquisitely n historically. Seatings were in private rooms which gave some intimacy to the meal and the utensils n tableware were accordingly tasteful.

It was indeed a pleasant luncheon but would have been made much more memorable if several...