Where to eat in Hongdae
The university and nightlife district around Hongik University, with Yeonnam-dong's quiet lanes and Mangwon Market a short walk away. Between the bars and cafes are soup, noodle and barbecue places where locals line up.
10 places our guide covers in Hongdae, with what to order, how long the wait is and how to eat each dish.
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Darak-tu 다락투
Soups & stews · Hongdae · Since 1967
A chicken soup shop across from Hongik University's main gate, open since 1967 and still serving only two things: dak-gomtang, a clean chicken and rice soup, and dak-kalguksu, chicken noodle soup. Generations of Hongik students, professors and neighbors have eaten here.
Try: Dak-gomtang (chicken and rice soup)
Locals' pickShort wait - 🥟
Nambuk Tongil 남북통일
Noodles · Hongdae · Since 1994
A Pyongyang-style dumpling house open since 1994 in the lanes between Hapjeong and Hongdae; the name means "North-South Unification". Big, mild North Korean-style dumplings go into a shared hot pot, a knife-cut noodle soup or a rice cake soup, with famously good kimchi on the side.
Try: Mandu jeongol (dumpling hot pot)
Short wait - 🍜
Dongillu 동일루
Korean-Chinese · Hongdae
A small Korean-Chinese restaurant in Mangwon-dong run by an ethnic Chinese (hwagyo) family for over 30 years. Locals come for gan-jjajang, noodles with a dry-fried black bean sauce, and chapssal tangsuyuk, crisp and chewy sweet-and-sour pork in a sticky-rice batter. Korean-Chinese food is its own cuisine, and this is a good place to try it.
Try: Chapssal tangsuyuk (sticky-rice sweet-and-sour pork)
Locals' pickShort wait - 🍲
Idaejo Ppyeodagwi 이대조뼈다귀
Soups & stews · Hongdae
A long-running gamjatang house a few steps from Hongik University Station: a bubbling pot of spicy pork-backbone stew with potatoes and cabbage leaves, finished with fried rice in the same pot. It is one of the places in Hongdae where you will see as many foreign diners as Koreans, and the menu comes in four languages.
Try: Gamjatang (pork-bone stew)
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Okdongsik 옥동식
Soups & stews · Hongdae
A tiny bar-counter restaurant near Hapjeong Station that serves one thing: dwaeji-gomtang, a clear, delicate pork soup over rice, plus kimchi dumplings. It is a Michelin Bib Gourmand pick, and its chef appeared on Netflix's Culinary Class Wars, so expect a long wait.
Try: Dwaeji-gomtang (clear pork soup)
1 hr+ wait - 🥩
Pul Tteunneun Dwaeji 풀뜯는돼지
Korean BBQ · Hongdae
A Yeonnam-dong barbecue place whose name means "the pig that eats grass": thick pork belly grilled for you with heaps of minari (Korean water parsley), eaten wrapped in pickled radish instead of lettuce. Nearly everything on the short menu comes with minari, and it is a regular stop for foreign visitors exploring Yeonnam-dong.
Try: Minari samgyeopsal
30-60 min wait - 🍜
Seokyonanmyunbang 서교난면방
Noodles · Hongdae
A Michelin Bib Gourmand noodle house between Hapjeong and Mangwon that revives nanmyeon, an old Korean recipe for noodles made with egg and Korean wheat, and gives it an Italian touch. The chef also runs a well-known lasagna restaurant nearby, and you can watch the noodles being made by the door.
Try: Seogyo nanmyeon
Short wait - 🍲
Sigol Sundae 시골순대
Soups & stews · Hongdae
A no-frills sundae-gukbap house between Hapjeong and Hongik University stations, where office workers come for lunch and friends come for soju at night. Its makchang sundae, Korean blood sausage in a thick pork casing, earned it a spot on the TV show Master of Living. The bowls of pork and sausage soup cost about 10,000 won.
Try: Sundae-gukbap
Locals' pickNo wait - 🍗
Uri Dakgalbi 우리닭갈비
Korean BBQ · Hongdae
A small, old-school dakgalbi shop near Hongik University Station that has served one dish for about 15 years: spicy chicken stir-fried with cabbage and rice cakes on a big iron pan at your table, finished with fried rice. It is good value for Hongdae, and locals and foreign visitors fill it alike.
Try: Dakgalbi (spicy stir-fried chicken)
Short wait - 🌶️
Wooirak Mangwon 우이락 망원본점
Market food · Hongdae
The original shop of the Mangwon Market stall famous for gochu-twigim: giant mild green chilies stuffed with seasoned meat and deep-fried until crisp. Inside it is a Korean-style pub, with soupy tteokbokki, pancakes and creamy makgeolli to go with them, and many people take the fried chilies to the Han River park nearby.
Try: Gochu-twigim (stuffed fried chili)
Short wait