I inch closer and closer to being done with my Seoul restaurant reports from our five week stay there this past spring. There are still a bunch to come after this one but I think I should be able to get them all out by the end of October. It is nice to relive these meals, in a manner of speaking, months later in the process of writing them up. In the case of the meal I am reporting on today, it is one we had tried and failed to eat on three separate occasions, first during our sojourn in Seoul in early 2024 and again earlier on this trip. This was a particularly annoying/amusing situation as of all the Seoul restaurants I’ve yet reported on, it’s the one that’s closest to the place we put up at on these longer trips. It’s literally located at the head of the alley right behind the building. And yet, we’d been rebuffed on every prior attempt to eat there. This is partly because it’s a popular spot for young people and office workers to stop in at on the way home from work; and because on the third occasion we tried eating there right after the lantern festival at the Jogyessa Temple down the street and there were roughly 5000 people waiting (on that occasion we ended up at Chicken House and had a very nice dinner). So, we were very glad that we finally made it in one night not too long before the end of this trip. I am pleased to report that after all the anticipation it wasn’t a letdown.

It’s a much larger restaurant than Chicken House and much fancier on the inside.This is not to say that it’s super fancy, just a little more formal of a space. Indeed, there’s no outdoor seating here at all. There’s a large dining room on the ground floor and another upstairs. The restaurant was once again full when we arrived, at around 7.15 pm on a Friday evening, but this time we managed to get a table upstairs after waiting for less than 10 minutes. The upstairs was jammed with young people, including one very large group of young women having a grand time. We had a four-top a little away from the mayhem and quickly got down to business.

As this area is next to some of Seoul’s major tourist sites, it’s no surprise that the menu has a fair bit of English on it. Indeed, there’s also a second shorter menu with pictures that features their greatest hits and describes them (the other menu has no detail and doesn’t translate the names of every dish). They have quite a few options for their fried chicken, from the “original” crispy chicken (on the bone) with minimal added seasoning to various boneless sauced options. To please the various constituencies at the table we ordered three of the fried chicken variations: the original, the sweet and sour (for which you can further specify mild, spicy or soy sauce sub-variation) and the mala-flavoured. As this was obviously not enough fried food we also got an order of french fries (with fried tteok/rice cakes in there as well). And as we were approaching the end of the stay and would soon no longer have high quality tteokbokki within reach whenever we crave it, we also got a casserole of their special tteokbokki with fried gimbap. And, of course, some beer to wash it down.

The tteokbokki, the two boneless fried chickens and the fries came out first. We got stuck into it all pretty quickly. Just as it was dawning on us that these dishes alone were going to be more than we could finish, the original fried chicken showed up as well. We made a very good effort and took the leftovers home for the next day.

How was it? Pretty good. The original fried chicken was the consensus favorite and we liked the mala-flavoured over the sweet and sour among the two boneless sauced versions. And the tteokbokki was rather good as well.

For a look at the restaurant and everything we ate, launch the slideshow below. Scroll down to see how much it all cost and to see what’s coming next.

Despite the crush, service was efficient and on top of things. Cost? 120,500 won or just about $89 at the current exchange rate. For reference, we paid $53 at Chicken House but we ordered a little more food here. Still a good value by any measure but I’m not sure we’ll feel any urgency to return on our next visit (which is scheduled for the spring of 2028) over exploring more of the city’s fried chicken scene. But if you’re in Seoul and touristing in the area, it’s a very good option.

Alright, I hope to get another Delhi report up tomorrow. After that, I’ll have my last Bombay report on Tuesday and a Twin Cities report on Wednesday (from Demi, where we’re scheduled to eat in just about two hours). And on Monday I’ll have another booze review.