RFK Rankings · Seoul
Best Rooftop Restaurants in Seoul 2026
Rooftop & top-floor rooms · Seoul · 6 rooms ranked · Updated June 2026
Compiled by the Restaurants for Kings editorial team · Published June 21, 2026 · Updated June 21, 2026 · Reviewed by Fredrik Filipsson, Editor-in-Chief · How we rank · Corrections
Seoul does rooftop dining two ways. There are the open-air rooftops, herb gardens and terraces set on the roofs of downtown hotels with the old city laid out below; and there are the glass top-floor rooms most of a kilometre up the 555-metre Lotte World Tower, where the height does the work the open air cannot. The trap in both is the same: a kitchen that leans on the altitude and forgets the plate. These six are ranked on the setting and the cooking together, and a room earns its place only when you would book it again with the blinds down. Two hold a Michelin star, and the order rewards the rooms where the food matches the view.
1.L'Amant Secret
A one-star kitchen with a literal rooftop herb garden 26 floors over Myeongdong, chef Son Jong-won's Korean-French cooking; book it for the rooftop and the star together.
L'Amant Secret is the rare Seoul room that is genuinely a rooftop and a serious kitchen at once. On the 26th floor of the L'Escape Hotel in Jung-gu, chef Son Jong-won cooks a Korean-French menu fed in part by the restaurant's own rooftop herb garden, the downtown grid spread out beyond the glass and the open terrace. It holds one Michelin star in the 2026 Seoul guide.
The set dinner runs around KRW 150,000, the kind of price that buys both the star and the rooftop in one booking. This is the pick when you want the open air without giving up the cooking. Reserve the set dinner, ask for a table by the terrace, and time it for the light going down over the city.
Reserve through L'Escape Hotel; ask for a table by the rooftop terrace.
2.Bicena
Korean fine dining 81 floors up Lotte World Tower, dry-aged hanwoo and the widest river view of any Korean room; go for the beef and the height.
Bicena sits on the 81st floor of Signiel inside Lotte World Tower, most of a kilometre over the Han River and the spread of southeastern Seoul. Chef Kwangsik Jun's one-star kitchen is built around fire and ageing: hanwoo sirloin held a full month before it meets the grill, the jeoyukssam of week-aged pork loin, and a tasting that reads as modern Korean rather than museum-piece court food. It has held its star for years running.
The set Mother Nature lunch runs KRW 170,000, with dinner climbing from there, and the river view is the widest of any Korean room in the city. Take a window table at lunch for the value way in, and let the beef course lead the meal.
Book on the Signiel site; request a window table and the Mother Nature lunch.
3.La Yeon
Two-star royal Korean knife work on the 23rd floor of The Shilla with Namsan filling the window; reserve it weeks ahead.
La Yeon cooks the refined court tradition on the 23rd floor of The Shilla, the windows holding Namsan and the lit cone of N Seoul Tower. It held two stars again in the 2026 guide, and the technique is in the detail: the nine-section gujeolpan wrapped at the table, the brass sinseollo hot pot simmered over its own coals, hanwoo sirloin grilled to grade. The seasonal banchan and the jang aged in-house carry the meal.
Tasting menus open around KRW 200,000, with the set lunch the cheaper way into the kitchen. This is the top-floor room where the cooking would still rank with the curtains drawn. Reserve weeks ahead, ask for a Namsan-facing window, and take the evening seating for the tower lit up.
Reserve through The Shilla; ask for a Namsan-facing window.
4.STAY by Yannick Alléno
Yannick Alléno's extraction-sauce French 81 floors up Lotte World Tower; book it for a milestone with the river panorama.
STAY is Yannick Alléno's room at Signiel, sharing the tower's altitude over the Han with Bicena. Alléno built his name on extraction, sauces concentrated cold to hold the clean note of a single ingredient, and that method runs through the menu here, from the gels and reductions to a dessert library worked at the table. It is listed in the 2026 Seoul guide without a star after holding one earlier in its run.
Tasting menus run roughly KRW 200,000 to KRW 300,000, and the dining room is all glass and quiet light over the eastern city. Come for the sauce work and the precision rather than the panorama alone, then let the view close the night. Book a window table for a milestone evening.
Book on the Signiel site; request a window table over the river.
5.Pierre Gagnaire à Séoul
Gagnaire's restless high French on the 35th floor over downtown, Bukhansan beyond; time it for a long lunch.
Pierre Gagnaire's Seoul room runs along the 35th floor of Lotte Hotel in Sogong-dong, the windows taking in the downtown grid and the ridgeline of Bukhansan behind it rather than the river. It carried a Michelin star into the early 2020s and is listed without one in the 2026 Seoul guide, but keeps to Gagnaire's restless style: a single course arriving as several small plates that circle one idea, the quail ballotine among the signatures.
The lunch menu around KRW 180,000 is the smart way in, lighter and far kinder on the bill than the full dinner. Book a window table at midday and let the multi-plate courses unfold against the mountain skyline.
Book on the Lotte Hotel site; request a window table at lunch.
6.Smith & Wollensky Seoul
A New York steakhouse with a rooftop lounge in Hannam-dong, the Swinging Tomahawk and dry-aged Porterhouse; book it for a rooftop night over a tasting menu.
Smith & Wollensky brought its New York steakhouse to Hannam-dong in October 2024, spread across the seventh and eighth floors with an open rooftop lounge on top. The kitchen runs the brand's American steakhouse program, the Swinging Tomahawk carved at the table and a dry-aged Porterhouse the things to order, with the rooftop turning the meal into a night above the neighbourhood.
It is the rooftop booking for a long, loud dinner rather than a fine-dining tasting, premium-priced as steakhouses of this name run. Come for the rooftop lounge and the big cuts, take a group, and move up to the roof for a drink after the table.
Book on the Smith & Wollensky Seoul site; ask about the rooftop lounge.
Not for the food
A great roof, not a kitchen
The hotel rooftop pool bars. Banyan Tree's Moon Bar and the seasonal rooftop bars at the big downtown hotels give you a drink and a snack with a fine view, but they are bars rather than dining rooms, with no real kitchen behind the cocktails. Book them for sunset drinks and choose L'Amant Secret or Bicena when dinner is the point.
The Han River cruise buffets. The dinner cruises out of Yeouido glide past the bridges and the lit skyline beautifully, and the buffet served to a few hundred at once is exactly what you would expect. Take the boat for the river at night if you want it, and eat the real meal on a rooftop on land.
How to book a Seoul rooftop table
Decide first between the open air and the glass, because Seoul's rooftop dining splits between rooftop terraces on downtown hotels and top-floor rooms up Lotte World Tower, and they sit in different parts of town. L'Amant Secret's rooftop garden and Pierre Gagnaire's 35th floor are downtown in Jung-gu over the old city; Bicena and STAY are most of a kilometre up at Signiel in Jamsil over the river; Smith & Wollensky's roof is across the river in Hannam. Prime window and terrace tables go early, so book a couple of weeks out for a weekend and ask for the view side by name.
Match the room to the meal. For a rooftop and a Michelin star together, L'Amant Secret is the booking; for the widest river panorama with a serious kitchen, Bicena 81 floors up; for two-star royal Korean over Namsan, La Yeon. The set lunches at La Yeon, Bicena and Pierre Gagnaire are the value way into those kitchens. The open-air rooftops are at their best from late spring through autumn, so save L'Amant Secret's terrace and Smith & Wollensky's roof for the warm months.
Frequently asked
What is the best rooftop restaurant in Seoul?
L'Amant Secret is our top pick for a true rooftop paired with a serious kitchen: a one-star Korean-French room on the 26th floor of the L'Escape Hotel in Myeongdong, with its own rooftop herb garden and a set dinner around KRW 150,000. For the highest top-floor outlook, Bicena and STAY sit 81 floors up Lotte World Tower at Signiel, most of a kilometre over the Han River, both with kitchens that earn the height.
Which Seoul rooftop restaurant has a Michelin star?
Two rooms on this list hold a Michelin star in the 2026 Seoul guide. L'Amant Secret, the rooftop-garden room on the 26th floor of the L'Escape Hotel, holds one star for its Korean-French cooking, and Bicena, on the 81st floor of Signiel in Lotte World Tower, holds one star for its modern Korean menu built on dry-aged hanwoo. La Yeon at The Shilla holds two stars on the 23rd floor, a top-floor room rather than an open rooftop.
Where can you eat at the top of Lotte World Tower?
Two fine-dining rooms sit near the top of the 555-metre Lotte World Tower, both on the 81st floor of the Signiel hotel. Bicena cooks a one-star modern Korean menu around dry-aged hanwoo, with the Mother Nature lunch at KRW 170,000, and STAY by Yannick Alléno serves a modern French tasting built on the chef's extraction sauces, roughly KRW 200,000 to KRW 300,000. Both look out most of a kilometre over the Han River and the eastern city.
How much does a rooftop dinner in Seoul cost?
Plan on roughly KRW 150,000 to KRW 300,000 a head at the fine-dining rooms. L'Amant Secret's rooftop set dinner runs around KRW 150,000, Bicena's Mother Nature lunch is KRW 170,000, La Yeon's tasting opens near KRW 200,000, and STAY runs KRW 200,000 to KRW 300,000. The set lunches at La Yeon, Bicena and Pierre Gagnaire are the cheaper way into those kitchens, while a steakhouse night at Smith & Wollensky is priced by the cut.
Are Seoul rooftop restaurants open in winter?
The glass top-floor rooms run year-round, since Bicena, STAY, La Yeon and Pierre Gagnaire are enclosed dining rooms behind floor-to-ceiling windows rather than open terraces. The open-air rooftops are seasonal: L'Amant Secret's rooftop garden and Smith & Wollensky's roof terrace are at their best from late spring through autumn, and the terrace element closes or limits seating in the cold months. Book the enclosed towers for a winter rooftop view.
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Browse the full Seoul dining guide, compare the worldwide ranking of rooftop restaurants, see the best view restaurants in Seoul, read up on La Yeon and Bicena, or open the full RFK rankings index.
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