As you know I’m generally found eating in the Itaewon area, however since I started taking Korean classes, I have been spending more and more time down in Gangnam. As my class is in Yeoksam, and finishes at lunchtime, I often find myself looking for something to eat when I’m done. So when I found out there was a food court that houses a Motor City Pizza I was really eager to give it a try.
The food court is in the basement of a building just by Exit 3 of Yeoksam station, so it is really easy to find. I think it is still quite new, judging by the fact that they still seem to be building it; but they had a decent selection of individual restaurants. When I visited they had a Motor City (Detroit Pizza), Nori Table (Sushi Rolls), Bao Mian Guan (Chinese Noodles), a Sandwich Place and Topokki Pub (Twigim), with a couple other restaurants still being built.
509 Coffee Shop - Urban Court
Nori Table - Urban Court
Motor City - Urban Court
Bao Mian Guan - Urban Court
Bao Mian Guan - Urban Court
Topokki & Pub - Urban Court
Topokki & Pub - Urban Court
The first time I visited I was with my hubby and his coworker and they wanted to eat at Motor City. It has been a while since my last visit to Motor City despite me living just across the street from the Itaewon branch. The menu is pretty similar to the main branch. There is a selection of their Detroit style pizzas, plus some side dishes. I really enjoy this style of pizza, the dough is thick and spongy, almost like a focaccia. We ordered the Manimal BBQ (22,900) which comes topped with a blend of smoked cheese, grilled chicken, bacon, Manimal’s honey BBQ sauce, red pepper flakes, green paprika and red onions. BBQ chicken is my absolute favourite kind of pizza, so this certainly did the trick for me. We also ordered a side of the Mega Crunch Fries (7,900) which come with a delicious herb ranch dip, and the Crispy Mushrooms (9,000) which we were less enthused by. Overall if you are a Detroit style pizza lover and live South of the river, then it is well worth stopping by.
After finding it such a convenient location to have lunch, I went again to check out some of the other restaurants. This time we ended up at Bao Mian Guan which seems to have the longest queue (though it moves quite quickly). At lunch time they offer several sets for 12,000. We got two kinds – one with Wanton Noodle Soup, and one with Shrimp Fried Rice and both came with three soup dumplings and a soft drink of your choice. I thought this was fairly good value. I was really full afterwords. We enjoyed both the dumplings and the main dishes, though I preferred the fried rice over the noodles. Overall I wouldn’t say it was the best Chinese food I have ever had, but for the price and convenience it hit the spot.
Urban Court is located at 142 Teheran-ro, Yeoksam-dong, Gangnam-gu, Seoul. To get there take a train to Yeoksam Station (line 2) and come out of exit 3. Walk straight and you will see Urban’s Court in the basement of the building to your left hand side. For more information on Motor City you an call them on 02-2051-8877 or check out their facebook page.