Yeongdong Pochana, Nonhyeon-dong — Thai cooking, weekdays only

Nonhyeon-dong in Gangnam, one lane off Eonju-ro, on the second floor of a building. The sign is not loud, so you go up by the address.

Open the door and there are yellow walls, green seats, and shelves of bottles stacked to the ceiling. Less a place imitating a Thai street stall (pochana) than one with a kitchen right in front of you cooking Thai food properly.

The menu is a single long sheet. Numbered dishes run for thirty-odd lines. First-timers give up before finishing the list and ask a member of staff.

And the most important fact about this place: it does not open at weekends. Monday to Friday only, with a break from 3pm to 5pm.

The place — a Thai restaurant that closes at weekends

The address is Room 208, 2nd floor, Building Na, 14 Eonju-ro 148-gil, Gangnam-gu, Seoul. It sits roughly between Hakdong and Nonhyeon stations, and since the sign is hard to spot from street level, it is quicker to go up by the building number. The phone number is 02-518-5130 (as listed on Google Maps).

Hours are Monday to Friday 11:30~22:00, with a break from 15:00~17:00, last order 21:00, closed Saturday and Sunday (per DiningCode). If you had this place in mind for Thai food in Gangnam at the weekend, that plan does not work.

DiningCode notes that the restaurant has appeared in the Blue Ribbon Survey and at Seoul Food Week. Which is to say there is a reason it has become a name that comes up whenever Thai food in Gangnam does.

Yeongdong Pochana at a glance (checked 2026-09-19)

Item	Details
Address	Room 208, 2nd floor, Building Na, 14 Eonju-ro 148-gil, Gangnam-gu, Seoul
Phone	02-518-5130 (Google Maps) · 0507-1355-4883 (DiningCode)
Hours	Mon~Fri 11:30~22:00 (break 15:00~17:00, last order 21:00)
Closed	Saturday and Sunday
Signature dishes	Poo pad pong curry 35,000 won · crispy pork & som tam set 33,000 won · tom yum goong 23,000 won
Lighter dishes	Pad thai korat 16,000 won · grilled beef rice noodles 16,000 won · som tam 13,000 won
Per person	20,000~50,000 won range (as listed on Google Maps)
Rating	Google Maps ★4.8 (64 reviews) — the score clears the threshold, the review count is under 100

Two soups — tom yum goong 23,000 won, and green curry

Tom yum goong is 23,000 won. Whole prawns sit in an orange-tinted broth, with a handful of coriander on top.

Sourness arrives first, then heat, and finally the lemongrass and galangal lift into your nose. This is not a tom yum sweetened to Korean taste; it leans sour, so the first spoonful moves your face.

The green curry is far gentler. Coconut milk lies thick underneath, with aubergine, lotus root, broccoli and red chilli. The colour suggests heat, but sweetness comes first. If you have ordered a bowl of tom yum, putting this at the other end of the table balances the meal.

The house signature — poo pad pong curry 35,000 won

Poo pad pong curry is 35,000 won. A red crab shell sits in the middle of a large plate, with yellow curry and egg folded together beneath it.

How the egg is handled is the whole dish. Cook it through into lumps and it turns dry; undercook it and it goes slack. Here it stops between the two, so lifting a spoonful brings the curry up clinging to the egg.

The crab meat is under the shell. The legs go in shell and all and have to be pulled apart by hand, so you want a wet wipe. The curry is sweet and heavy, so without rice you stop after three spoonfuls.

So the fried rice follows. It is not heavily seasoned and the grains stay separate — rice made to have curry spooned over it.

Salads and grills — yam woon sen, crispy pork, and raw prawns

In Thai cooking a salad is not a side but a dish in its own right. Yam woon sen tosses glass noodles with prawns, squid, onion and coriander, dressed with fish sauce and lime. It is cold, sour and hot. Set between the hot dishes, it resets your palate.

The crispy pork & som tam set is 33,000 won. Pork belly with the skin fried hard is sliced onto a green plate, with a fish sauce dip floating chilli and spring onion alongside.

The skin is hard enough to make a sound, and the fat layer beneath it has melted. The dip is salty, sour and hot. That combination tastes close to a Thai hangover cure, which is why people here start talking about a daytime drink.

There is also a plate of raw prawns steeped in fish sauce with garlic, chilli and coriander. Peeled prawns are laid in a circle with coriander piled in the middle. It is cold, sweet and hot. The menu name could not be confirmed for certain, so it goes unnamed here.

Vegetables and shellfish — stir-fried morning glory, clams with basil

When you order several Thai dishes, the one you always need is a stir-fried vegetable. Morning glory taken over high heat leaves the stems crisp and the leaves wilted. Seasoned with garlic and oyster sauce, the salt is unmistakable.

The plate of clams stir-fried with basil is good too. The clam liquor pools at the bottom and the basil rises off the top. Put one clam in your mouth and the sweet scent of basil follows the salt. The liquor is too good to waste, so you end up mixing in rice.

For two people, one soup (tom yum goong 23,000 won), one main (poo pad pong curry 35,000 won) and one vegetable is a comfortable spread. For four, add the salad and the crispy pork.

Map and practicalities — getting there, the break, and the rating

Address Room 208, 2nd floor, Building Na, 14 Eonju-ro 148-gil, Gangnam-gu, Seoul
Phone 02-518-5130 (Google Maps) · 0507-1355-4883 (DiningCode)
Hours Mon~Fri 11:30~22:00 · break 15:00~17:00 · last order 21:00 / Closed Sat and Sun

By subway, the stretch between Hakdong and Gangnam-gu Office stations on Line 7 is closest. It is on the second floor and the sign is hard to see from the street, so it is quicker to open a map and check the building number. Parking depends on the building, so call ahead if you plan to drive.

The rating gets stated honestly. This site uses Google Maps ★4.5 with 100 or more reviews as its threshold for a recommendation. As of September 2026, Yeongdong Pochana has ★4.8 with 64 reviews. The score clears the bar, but the review count falls short of 100.

The reason is easy enough to guess. It opens only for weekday lunch and dinner, it is on the second floor, and it sits inside a Gangnam office district. It fills with people who work nearby rather than tourists, so reviews do not pile up quickly. That the ★4.8 has held across 64 reviews says more about the place than the number itself.

FAQ

Is it open at weekends?

No. It opens Monday to Friday only and closes Saturday and Sunday. On weekdays there is also a break from 3pm to 5pm.

What should two of us order?

One soup, one main and one vegetable works comfortably. For example tom yum goong 23,000 won + poo pad pong curry 35,000 won + a stir-fried vegetable. If you order a curry, add a fried rice.

Is it very spicy?

Tom yum goong is distinctly sour and hot, while the green curry is mild thanks to the coconut milk. If heat is difficult for you, build the meal around the green curry, the fried rice and the stir-fried morning glory.

Is it hard to find?

It is on the second floor, so the sign is hard to see from street level. It is quicker to put the address — Room 208, Building Na, 14 Eonju-ro 148-gil — into a map and check the building number.

Why does it say the rating falls short?

The score of ★4.8 clears the threshold, but there are 64 reviews, under the 100 this site uses. As a weekday-only restaurant on a second floor, it is the kind of place where reviews accumulate slowly.