Marestar in Hongdae: Pet-Friendly & Corkage-Free
If you love wine, you always face the dilemma of "where should we open this bottle?" Especially for group gatherings, corkage fees of 10,000 or 20,000 won per bottle quickly add up to the cost of the meal itself. And what if they don't even change your wine glasses?
You might also want to dine out with your dog or cat, but most restaurants ban pets. Because shedding fur can bother other customers, it's hard to find a pet-friendly restaurant.
The perfect solution to these problems is Marestar in Hongdae (a lively area in Seoul), which I'm introducing today.
It is advertised as corkage-free, but there is one rule: you must order at least one item from the "corkage menu." It might be a bit pricey if you're eating alone, but it's very reasonable for a group. I highly recommend the Mare Plate and Manzo Funghi, which are signature dishes that pair wonderfully with wine. Since we are meat lovers rather than mushroom fans, we went with the Mare Plate.
If there's one downside, it's that most of the menu pairs best with red wine, leaving few options for white wine or champagne. Therefore, it's best to build your wine lineup around reds.
I'm not sure why the owner uses so many mushrooms, but the people I drank wine with had a lot of good things to say about the mushroom dishes. Because of that, the Funghi Pizza is a must-order when we come here. They also have a Gorgonzola pizza that you dip in honey, so I still don't understand why they insist on ordering this one. (For the record, I have the palate of a child.)
Because I focused on the free corkage, I introduced the heavier dishes first, but the dish this restaurant is most confident in—and what others praise most—is the pasta. There's a vibe these days that pasta is an easy dish to make, kind of like the Korean equivalent of cooking instant ramen. However, as someone who can't cook at all, I want to eat even that "ramen" properly. This is a pasta place where you'll scrape the bottom of your plate clean, so I think it's definitely worth ordering even if people treat it like everyday ramen.
They have group seating, and despite being pet-friendly, the floor isn't dirty or covered in flying fur. The food is quite good (though it's hard to judge since almost everyone loves this type of food), and it's great that you can drink as much wine as you want. Occasionally, a dog at the next table will shoot laser beams from its eyes begging for a bite, which makes me a little self-conscious while eating.
If you dislike dogs or cats, I wouldn't recommend this place. Since there are dogs in the restaurant, an untrained one might bark a lot and interrupt your meal. They might also get excited seeing another dog—anything can happen. None of this happened during my two visits, but just in case, I suggest going somewhere else for an important meeting or a date.
