Story & Review

Visited: 📅 20 April 2024; Weather: 16°C 🌧️🌧️; Consumption: Dinner Service; Group Size: Solo
Location: (What3Words) /// describe.haven.embedded
Address: 101 119, 50 Convensia-daero, Yeonsu-gu, Incheon, South Korea
Contact: +821099950310 (You can also reserve by sending a DM on IG, link at the bottom)

(Location) Zaneuk Wine Bar is a bar & diner located near Songdo Central Park in Incheon, South Korea. The bar is owned by YouTube & Instagram public figures Kang Hee Wong (thizisdan) and Yu In Jun (rural_jun). Although located relatively close by the Central Park of the international district in Incheon, it still took me about 45 minutes to get from Songdo Central Park Station to Zaneuk. This includes waiting times for buses and walking about 10 minutes, but I’m sure you can get there much quicker by taxi.

(Reception & Service) Upon entering the bar, I was immediately greeted by the staff and seated at the bar-counter. During the service, the staff was friendly and approachable, and we made small talk while I was there, enjoying the food and drinks. Upon hearing the country whence I came, the owner even got me a free dessert on the house, which was a lovely treat to have, even when I was already fully stuffed. I have nothing bad to say about the service of this bar. The bar welcomes foreigners and solo-travellers, and there are English-speaking staff at your service, ready to take your order.

(Interior & Cosiness) The bar has only recently opened, for only a few years now, but already is very established in this area and beyond. The popularity of the owners helps a lot to make it a go-to place for travellers from across the whole world, as well as many locals.

I can personally see that the owners have a great eye for detail, as the interior design and the design of the bar itself is very well thought of; making it a very cosy place to be at for an evening out. The warmth of the lightning in particularly made me feel at ease and welcoming, and complimented the food very well.

While talking to the owner, he mentioned to me that the bar-counter was a bit too large and that he will be redoing this in the future, making the area behind the counter – where the staff usually stands – smaller and reducing the width of the counter, allowing for more tables to be placed inside the restaurant.

Because I was solo, I was seated at the counter instead of a table, but despite that, I had no problems having my meal there, as there was more than enough space for me, and I got to meet the owner in person and heard his story about the bar, and his travels across Europe.

(Quality of Foods and Drinks) The food was nice and tasty. The pasta (Sondeulchan) was excellent, with quality ingredients, and the seasoning was well-balanced. I only managed to eat half of the side-dish (Buchimgae) I ordered, though, I think this dish is actually meant as a main dish for people with less apatite; however, because the dish was fried in oil and topped with a lot of cheese, it felt really heavy to eat… The dessert was sweet and goes nicely with the main dish. My compliments to the chef. My only suggestion is with the dessert: Either soften the cookie by dipping it in some coffee or milk, or use crumble instead of the whole cookie, or a combination of both; it makes it really tough to cut through otherwise. I also got a slab of tofu, garnished with some green onions and sesame seeds and oil as an appetiser for free, which was a nice addition to switch to, especially from the Buchimgae-dish.

I would also like to suggest to the owner to have a house wine on the menu, so that people can order just a glass of red, rosé, or white wine, instead of buying a whole bottle. Since I had to buy a whole bottle, I had to bring the remaining half of the bottle I didn’t got to finish with me back to my hotel, which was a bit of a faff to be honest.

(Pricing) The food was priced reasonably and competitive to other businesses in the area. Because you had to purchase a whole bottle instead of a glass, the wine came out a bit expensive, especially when you compare the same bottle to prices from home. The wine I ordered, in particular, was about €30 for the bottle, a steep price if you compare this to the price of the same bottle and year at a Carrefour Market back home, for about €5.60. Even with import, this is still considered very expensive; though to be fair, you would be paying about the same at a Belgian restaurant. However, Upon reviewing the menu, it states that you can only order bottles on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays; this condition doesn’t make a lot of sense to me. Then again, it is a “wine-bar”, and I have a feeling that this is where they get their profits from.

All in all, I had a pleasant evening, with great food and good drinks. If I were to be in the area again in the future, I would definitely come by and visit again.

My Order (Totalled ~€55~)

• (Main) Sondeulchan 손들찬 (€14.23)
  A Korean fusion pasta dish with green-onions, a raw egg-yoke, mushrooms, creamy/cheese sauce and some complementary spices;
• (Side) Buchimgae 부침개 (€10.17)
  A dish made from shredded potato at the bottom, fried in oil, and topped with (lots of) cheese.
• (Appetiser) Slab of tofu (free)
  A slab of tofu, garnished with green-onions, sesame seeds and sesame oil.
• (Drink) A bottle Costières de Nîmes from 2022 | Gallician Prestige (€30,50)
  You also get some water for free with your order.
• (Dessert) Dalbodre 달볻레 (€0.00, it was gifted)
  This is a traditional Korean-style fried pancake, aka “hotteok 혿덕”, topped with a Lotus speculoos (biscoff) based sauce and a whole Lotus speculoos cookie, sprinkled with powdered sugar.

Typically, I’d pay about €8 for a glass of wine, maybe an additional €4 for a soft drink like a cola, a sprite or sparkly water, for a regular dinner service at a restaurant in Antwerp; The side (Buchilgae) was too much to eat, combining it with the main-dish, and I wouldn’t have ordered it if I knew it was that much. €55 is somewhat an expensive dinner, but taking into account the wine and the extra side dish; I think the price is about right with what I would pay for a dinner service at home.

Review Scores (Total: ★★★★☆ 4.4/5)

Category: (Fast/Street-food, Casual, Niche, Fine-Dining, Michelin)

• Location: ★★★☆☆ (3.5)
• Reception & Service: ★★★★★ (5)
• Interior, Cosiness & Cleanliness: ★★★★★ (5)
• Quality of Foods and Drinks: ★★★★☆ (4.5)
• Pricing: ★★★★☆ (4)

My Verdict

Should you avoid this place? ,
Should you consider it? ,
Should you short-list this place? , or
Should you go right ahead and have dinner here?

I think you should short-list this place.
The fact that you can only order whole bottles of wine on weekends (Fri-Sun), makes it a less interesting choice for solo-visitors visiting this place. This, unfortunately, reflects the scoring for the pricing category, and therefore I can’t grant the top recommendation, even though the service and food was superb, and I would probably visit again if and when I ever return to Incheon.

Links and other sources

• Zaneuk Instagram: @Zaneuk.dining (To reserve: Send DM on Instagram)
• Costière de Nîmes | Gallician Prestige Blanc
• YouTube: This Is Dan
• YouTube: Opening my wine bar (…) Zaneuk
• Menu: https://shorthaired-kitchen-881.notion.site/zaneuk-d221eac4852e48dc84b395398e47efa3

Disclaimers

I declare that this review is an unbiased personal account, not influenced by the pub’s owner or local people. I received no sponsorship or affiliation rewards from any products, establishments, or brands featured in this post, images or associated videos.

All images are created by myself, all rights are reserved.