Korean
SOUL
소울 Soul The menu card writes Soul as 疏鬱, 'loosening a heavy heart', and it also means the English 'soul' — the cook's spirit put into the food.
Compiled from 8 blog posts read in fullSources →
Soul is a Korean tasting-menu restaurant in the basement of the Banahill building at Sinheung-ro 26-gil 35 in Haebangchon, run by chefs Kim Hee-eun and Yoon Dae-hyun, serving a sequence of plates from a welcome bite to the closing petits fours. Posts by people who ate there put lunch at 170,000 won and dinner at 270,000 won, with the 'byeolmi jinmi' add-on (truffle, caviar, truffle bingsu) at 50,000 won more. We read 30 posts dated 11 April to 15 October 2026; 8 record an actual meal. 18 were not about this restaurant — mostly the pasta place Egg & Flour upstairs in the same building, or posts that merely used the phrase 'soul food'. One October 2026 post describes a freshly renovated white room; earlier posts describe a dark-toned one.
Data as of · Published ·
Location & hours
- Address서울특별시 용산구 신흥로26길 35, 지층1호 (용산동2가)35 Sinheung-ro 26-gil, Yongsan-gu, Seoul
- Phone02-318-7685
- Typical spend₩30,000 – ₩270,000
- From the station0 posts say it is walkable from the station.
- Floor areaFloor area 183 m² · Status In business
When it opens
Of 3 posts: 2 wrote 12:00–22:00.
| No day given | 12:00–22:00 | 2 of 3 posts |
|---|---|---|
| Break | 15:00–17:00 | 3 of 3 posts |
| Closed | 월요일·화요일 | 3 of 3 posts |
Counted from what bloggers wrote in their posts; we did not confirm it with the restaurant. Where the values differ, it may be a change over time rather than a disagreement, so we show when each one was written.
What sets it apart
- If you drive, you hand the car to the valet. Four posts used it and all four paid 5,000 won — one says that covers two hours, another that three hours is 10,000 won. The valet stand is a blue booth by the building. One writer warned the narrow hillside lane is a nervous drive.
- Getting there by subway is the weak point. Two posts said public transport is awkward: one said subway access is poor and suggested a car or taxi, the other came by bus and walking and still listed transit as the one downside.
- Sit at the bar and you watch the kitchen. Four posts mention the open kitchen, and several booked bar seats specifically to watch both chefs cooking and conferring. There are tables too.
- You go with a Catchtable booking. Four posts booked ahead; writers called it hard to get and said you may need to join a waitlist. One noted allergies are asked at booking; birthday guests who noted it got seaweed soup and a lettered dessert.
1 more
- Service comes up a lot. Five posts called the staff kind: a server offered to slow down for a writer taking notes, another came to stand a fallen menu card back up. Several left with the chefs seeing them out and a gift of a spoon rest or spoon.
What 8 bloggers said
namsan teureopeul bingsu
Friendly staff
We read all 8 in full. The most common claims are “Friendly staff” (5) and “Quiet” (2).
What they liked
Things you can check on site
- In a basement 5 of 8 posts
- Open kitchen 4 of 8 posts
- Takes reservations 4 of 8 posts
- Valet parking 4 of 8 posts
- Seats to sit and eat 3 of 8 posts
- Wine served 2 of 8 posts
- Hard to reach by transit 2 of 8 posts
- Beer served 1 of 8 posts
These are raw counts, not percentages. Someone who did not mention something is not someone who disagreed.
Who came, and with whom
- Came by car 4 of 8 posts
- Date 2 of 8 posts
- Family visit 1 of 8 posts
Where it is
We could not find this shop’s own listing on Naver Map, so the link searches for its Korean name around this spot instead.
From the station
0 posts say it is walkable from the station.
Getting inside
| In a basement | 5 of 8 posts |
|---|
You go downstairs. Five posts describe walking down into it. The address says first basement level, though one writer put it at the second; others mention paintings along the stairway, like a small gallery, and planting outside the windows that made it feel less like a basement.
We don't know whether a wheelchair or stroller can get in. Posts mention taking stairs down to the basement, but none mention a lift or a step at the door.
No one said whether the toilet is inside the restaurant or split by gender; one post only noted it was tidy and nicely scented.
No one mentioned: Second floor · Lift to the floor · Ramp at the door · Step at the entrance · Step-free access · Toilet inside · Accessible toilet · Separate restrooms. That is not the same as there being none — it means we could not confirm it. Worth calling ahead, and do tell us: we will put it here.
How to read these posts
- Posts saying they paid themselves4 of 8 posts
- Posts saying nothing either way4 of 8 posts
Posts that followed a TV spot
Of the 12 posts we gathered, 4 went up on a single day right after a TV spot and show no sign of a visit. They retell the broadcast, so we left them out of the counts.
| 2026-10-11 | 2 posts in one day |
|---|
We do not discard them. That a TV spot produced a burst of posts is itself something worth knowing about a place, and a star rating will not show it.
When the posts appeared
Month by month
| Month | Posts |
|---|---|
| 2026-04 | 1 |
| 2026-07 | 1 |
| 2026-08 | 1 |
| 2026-09 | 1 |
| 2026-10 | 4 |
What we do not know
- The room changed in autumn 2026. Posts from around February and July describe a dark, black-accented interior; a 12 October post found it entirely white and was told it had been renovated three weeks earlier. That is the only post describing the room as it is now.
- Opening hours are copied from listings, not observed. Three posts from August 2026 on give 12:00–22:00 with a 15:00–17:00 break, closed Mondays and Tuesdays. An April 2026 post listed Tuesday–Wednesday closing, a 15:00–18:00 break and last order at 19:30, which suggests a change in between, but that rests on one post. For a tasting menu, the booking slots matter more than the posted hours.
- Only the course prices are solid. Among posts by diners, three give lunch at 170,000 won and two give dinner at 270,000 won; the 50,000 won add-on is consistent across posts, and one paid 30,000 won more to swap the lunch main for the hanwoo bansang. No one gave the wine pairing price, and one writer's beer added about 30,000 won, so we don't know what a full meal with drinks costs.
- No diner's post gave a phone number; two information-only posts list 0507-1335-7685. Several posts say bookings go through Catchtable.
- We don't know about queues. No post mentions waiting in line — likely because it is booking-only, but that means no one wrote about it, not that there is none.
- The company is narrow: two posts went as a couple, one with family, none with friends or alone. Many went for a birthday or anniversary.
- No one went with children. An information-only post copied a listing that marks it no-kids, but no diner confirmed it.
- The menu turns with the seasons. February and April visits had a persimmon cold dish, a black-and-white dessert and a noodle gukbap; summer visits had mulhoe, a stone-fruit dessert and cold buckwheat noodles. Lunch mains were lamb tteokgalbi; dinners had duck and the hanwoo bansang. Check the current menu when booking.
Sources (8)
Every number above was counted from the posts below.
- 2608 식도락-서울(1): 소울 2026-10-13 · 기냥 모 이모저모 · via Daum
- [해방촌 맛집]소울 - 흑백요리사 김희은 셰프님의 코리안 컨템퍼러.... 2026-10-12 · ENTP 성형외과전문의의 일상, 공부, 낙서
- 해방촌 파인다이닝 소울, 한식을 새롭게 풀어낸 디너 코스 후기 2026-10-10 · unknown
- [해방촌 미슐랭 소울] 디너코스 내돈내산 후기 2026-10-03 · ⠀⠀⠀ · via Daum
- [서울 용산] 소울 파인다이닝 | 미쉐린 1스타 | 흑백요리사 윤대현&김.... 2026-09-01 · 일상의 온도
- [소울] 서울 한식 파인다이닝 소울(SOUL) 디너 후기 | 김희은&윤대현 .... 2026-08-21 · ㅍㅇㄹ사는 이야기
- 이태원 한남 미슐랭 파인다이닝 소울 SOUL｜흑백요리사 김희은 셰프 .... 2026-07-06 · Mint
- 해방촌 소울 파인다이닝 - 흑백요리사2 김희은 셰프의 한식 파인다이닝 내돈내산 후기(2026.04.09) 2026-04-11 · 조금,느리게 많이 담기 · via Daum
Of 360 candidate posts we opened 113 and kept 8 as evidence. We stop once 30 are confirmed: beyond that the counts grow in proportion without changing the answer.