Jade & Water, the most popular brunch restaurant at Oksu hill road

Ever since my family moved into Oksu-dong in Seoul from Suwon, I hadn't visited the brunch cafe near our apartment. Due to Covid19,  we had to make the Bamin delivery order for a box of fried chicken and chinese dishes when guests were visiting our new home. Last week, my husband's friend-couple from Suwon stopped by here before they went to the national museum for the Lee-Gunhee collection exhibition. I was very cautious about choosing the restaurant for lunch because I didn't want them to be disappointed. I wanted to choose the famous and acclaimed one for this gathering.

 

I looked up local information from Naver with a keyword "맛집" (Mat-Jib). The nearest and most popular one was Jade & water that is located at the entry point of Oksu Hill Road (Hallimmal 3 gil). 

제이드앤워터(JADE&WATER)
Address: Seoul, Seongdong-gu, Oksu-dong, 285-8 2층
Open: 10AM–3PM, 5–10PM

 

 

Hallimmal 3(sam)-gil. You have to literally climb up from Oksu station exit 4 to get here.

I walked through this street so many times but I had never seen the signboard of it. I finally found the menu on the front door of the old building.

Surprisingly, this restaurant doesn't take any advance booking but only walk-in visitors, so there is no phone number. Instead it has a Smart waiting kiosk system called Tabling that notifies through kakaotalk how many people are waiting before me.  As you can see from the picture above, this hip restaurant is located on the second floor of a very old building. I had to spend quite a long time persuading my kids to get in there. They were reluctant to go up there, because there was a smell of sewage on the first floor and its exterior was so old and dirty looking. 

Oksu (玉水) means Jade and Water in Chinese characters. Interestingly, this restaurant uses rough jade stone as a napkin holder. What a clever idea! My kids who like Mincraft were so excited about seeing and touching real jade stones. BTW, was it really real jade or just limestones dyed green?

Chicken Caesar Sandwitch (15), Jade&Water Full house (22), Scrambled Eggs with sausage (19)

They don't offer set menu, so people have to order a cup of coffee or a bowl of soup additionally. I saw several people were having a soup of the day menu (7), I want to try a bowl of soup next time.  At first I was about to order the brunch menu with sausages but changed to Full house which sounds more like a signature menu item. Once I tasted a bite of sausage from my husband's dish, and it was spicy. Kids might not eat these sausages. I recommend the chicken sandwich dish because its crusty bread and small potatoes tasted like potato chips. It would be perfect with a bowl of soup. 

Jade&Water Full house (22), Scrambled Eggs with sausage (19), Coffee of the Day (Hot: 4)

 

In contrast to the somber gray of the facade and its doorway, the restaurant was properly renovated and its large windows were creating a bright atmosphere. 

Full of youngsters kept visiting and filled tables even though the menu was not cheap. As you can see below, we ate the dishes up all completely. :)