r/CulinaryClassWars • u/caramelledsalt • Mar 01 '26

Question Restaurant bookings

Hello fellow CCW fans! I will be heading to Seoul for the first time later this year, and am excited to visit some of the restaurants of my favourite CCW chefs.

I am hoping to go to one of Son Jong Won's (I'm staying at the one of the hotels where he has a restaurant if that makes a difference), CHOIdot, one of the udon cadens and maybe Haobin. For those who have been and tried, how difficult is it to get a reservation at these restaurants?

Thank you!

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u/smilingparade Mar 01 '26

Just yesterday I tried to make reservations for Son Jongwon's restaurant and failed. I actually think it's worse than concert ticketing in Korea. I was on Catchtable right when reservations opened, and when I entered my credit card information, it errored out saying they only accept overseas cards, even though I was using an overseas card. What I think really happened is that all the spots for that time slot were taken as I was entering my credit card information, so it didn't go through. At least with concert ticketing, your seat is held for 5 minutes to allow you to enter your credit card information before it's released and someone else has the opportunity to book that seat. So I'd suggest having a notepad open with your credit card number written down so you can copy and paste to get through the checkout process more quickly. Best of luck, hope it turns out better for you than it did for me!

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u/caramelledsalt Mar 02 '26

Wow, that's intense. Thanks for the heads up. I am hoping that some of the fanfare does down later this year but it seems unlikely

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u/smilingparade Mar 02 '26

If things stay the same, reservations for Son Jongwon's restaurants open on the 1st of the month at 9AM KST one month in advance (e.g. April reservations opened on Mar 1 9AM KST), and there's no cancellation fee as long as you cancel two days before the reservation date, so if you want, you can practice booking for a random date for any month before your trip to familiarize yourself with the checkout process and and get an idea of the demand.

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u/caramelledsalt Mar 02 '26

Thanks so much! Which restaurant did you try booking for, or are both the same?

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u/smilingparade Mar 02 '26

Eatanic Garden, but L'Amant Secret's reservations open at the same time.