Limited daily servings！Ihwa Lala Bear Curry Rice – A Japanese-style cartoon café loved by Korean girls!

▲Rilakkuma curry rice at Ewha, beloved by female customers. (Photo/Foodie Travel Companionprovided, all below)

Travel Center / Comprehensive Report

Near Ewha Womans University in Seoul, South Korea, there’s a casual and lively Japanese-style family restaurant. In Ewha, an area dominated by female customers, besides serving fresh and flavorful food, it also wins hearts with its cartoon-themed designs. Especially popular is the Rilakkuma curry series, whose cute shapes and creative ideas have earned high popularity among female customers and students.

Upon entering the restaurant, you feel as if you've stepped into a fairy tale world – soft lighting, wooden tables and chairs, paired with adorable plush toys and a cat-themed wall, where each cat is uniquely painted. The shop even gave each cat on the wall a name, which adds to the fun. In fact, this NiNa Kitchen is a sub-brand of a Japanese izakaya chain. The restaurant has 34 seats in total, and every table is a different color.

Beside the curry rice is a piece of white-colored soft tofu, said to be delicious. Tofu from Japan and Korea is quite famous due to the quality of the water, just like how you’ll often find tofu stew in Korea. Also, here, the curry and rice are both all-you-can-eat – very good value. This Rilakkuma pork cutlet curry rice is only 12,000 KRW.

Besides the Rilakkuma series, there are other cartoon-themed sets as well. Family meals, hot pot sets, pasta sets, pizza sets, salad sets, and more are all very popular. Their fruit makgeolli (rice wine) is especially recommended by netizens, and the rare strawberry makgeolli is especially tasty. Made with spring water from Jirisan Mountain in North Jeolla Province, it’s infused with fresh strawberries and bananas for a refreshing and unique flavor. It’s also made to order, so you can hear the machine blending the fruit right at your table!

NiNa Kitchen 踩?肖诬
Business Hours: 11:00–21:00
Closed: Lunar New Year & Chuseok holidays
Address: 54-6 B1, Daeheyon-dong, Seodaemun-gu, Seoul; Ewha Womans University Station Exit 3, a 2-minute walk away.