Pancone, Sinyongsan: Italian Done Right for a Team Lunch, and the Lamb Steak Wins

Monday lunchtime, near Sinyongsan Station.

The plate rims are printed with Pancone and a P monogram.

This was a hoesik (a Korean team meal with coworkers), and we did Italian properly. Pancone is a pasta place, but the best thing here is something else: the lamb steak. It's good every time I go.

Exposed concrete and a red poster

We arrived around 11:40. The ceiling is bare concrete with exposed ducts, and milky glass pendant lamps hang on cords. The windows are big enough that the shop signs across the street show right through.

On a black vertical-plank wall hangs a single frame: a red poster of a woman in a dress, labelled ANNA HELD. Round wooden tables, chairs with cane backs. On the counter, two bottles of pinkish sparkling wine labelled VILLA JOLANDA, a CatchTable (Korean reservation app) stand and a terminal. The kitchen is open to the dining room.

Focaccia and burrata to start

First, focaccia: three square pieces in a wooden bowl with a small dish of olive oil and pepper. Golden tops, big holes in the crumb.

With it, burrata: a generous pool of green olive oil on a P-monogram plate, swirled with black balsamic. In the middle sits a round white burrata, crowned with dark red semi-dried tomatoes arranged like petals.

A salad in a wooden bowl

Next, a salad in a wooden bowl: diced cucumber, black olives, thin red onion and small white pieces, tossed in dressing. Behind it, a pale yellow drink with a dried orange slice and a sprig of herbs.

Risotto and pastas, all at once

Five plates arrived within a few minutes. Each had a serving spoon or perforated tongs resting on it, with side plates for everyone: a share-from-the-middle team-lunch setup.

The risotto is spread flat on the plate, brown, with a mound of finely grated cheese in the centre and chopped parsley.

A deep plate holds cream sauce and round pieces browned on top, scattered with chopped nuts. They look like gnocchi.

Then, true to a pasta spot, three pastas in a row.

Tomato spaghetti: noodles coiled up in a thick tomato sauce, with grated cheese and basil leaves on top and blistered roasted cherry tomatoes around the edge.

Vongole: oil-dressed noodles with open clams in their shells covering one side of the plate, halved cherry tomatoes, chopped parsley and garlic bits scattered through.

Carbonara: spaghetti in a yellow sauce, topped with crisp pieces of cured meat, with coarse black pepper scattered all the way to the rim.

The best of the day: lamb steak

Last came Pancone's lamb steak, listed on the menu as the French rack: a bed of yellow purée with four pieces of lamb on long bones leaning against each other, seared dark brown on the outside.

In front are a dark paste that looks like chopped mushrooms and a green sauce of chopped herbs and vegetables, with a streak of red sauce on the right.

The pasta was good, but the lamb steak is the best thing at this place.

Gelato for dessert: Potto and pistachio

After lunch we walked a little way toward Hangang-daero 48-gil and bought gelato at a gelato shop for dessert.

At the bottom of the paper cup, light green pistachio flecked with dark bits; on top, cream-coloured Potto flavour, named after Potto, a Korean cheese-cream sandwich cracker. Potto is my all-time favourite, and pistachio is always a must.

The order that day

Order	Plate
1	Focaccia with olive oil; burrata
2	Cucumber, olive and red onion salad
3	Risotto; cream-sauce gnocchi gratin
4	Tomato spaghetti; vongole; carbonara
5	Lamb steak (French rack)
Dessert	Potto and pistachio gelato from a nearby shop

Practical info

📍 Pancone (판코네) · 1F, 7 Hangang-daero 40ga-gil, Yongsan-gu, Seoul (Hangangno 2-ga)

• 📅 Visited: Monday, August 10, 2026, lunch
• 🚇 Getting there: under 400 m from Sinyongsan Station (Line 4).
• 📲 Booking: there's a CatchTable stand and terminal on the counter.
• 🗺️ Map: View on Google Maps

Jayden's verdict

It's a pasta place, but the lamb steak is the best thing here. Good every time I go.

• Order this: the lamb steak (French rack). For pasta, we had tomato, vongole and carbonara.
• Who with: coworkers, a lunchtime hoesik. Everything shared from the middle.
• Dessert: gelato from a nearby shop. Potto flavour (my favourite) and pistachio (always a must).
• Tip: first plate to the lamb takes under 30 minutes. For a team lunch inside a one-hour break, be seated by about 11:40. For another weekday lunch in Yongsan, see Bâton.