Yongsan tteokbokki restaurant packed on a weekday night: Hyeonseonine

I was so happy with the bunsik (Korean snack food) combo set I had at another Hyeonseonine branch last time!! I wanted to try the jeukseok-tteokbokki (instant tteokbokki) too, so this time I went to the main branch in Yongsan haha

Location and exterior of Hyeonseonine Yongsan Main Branch near Sinyongsan Station

A tteokbokki (spicy rice cake) restaurant super close to Sinyongsan Station! There's an entrance from the back alley too, but I'd recommend going in through the front door lol. The front had that street-cart vibe with red and yellow everywhere, and it was great. The little string lights were so cute

How was the wait at 8:30pm on a weekday?

Being a Yongridan-gil favorite, they had both a Catch Table waitlist and waiting seats. It was around 8:30pm on a weekday and there were still so many people. The place was nearly full..! And it's not even a small restaurant

Interior seating and the self-serve bar

So many people.. Inside, it's a big hall with rows of tables, split into sections by level changes, which gave a nice sense of separation. Every table has its own induction burner!

You can see straight into the kitchen haha. There are photos on the wall showing Hyeonseonine's history at a glance. Hyeonseonine has been on TV multiple times!! And they even have meal kits!! It's a famous restaurant. This Yongsan spot is the main branch, and apparently they started as a street cart in 2004 — and now they somehow have eight branches..!!! The owner is amazing

The self-serve bar up front has aprons, small plates, utensils, a ladle, sundae salt, soy sauce, and pickled radish. What I really loved was that yellow thing on the far left next to the pickled radish — crispy fried crumbs!! They were nice and crunchy, easy to eat like a snack

Menu and how to order

You order through a kiosk. There's also a paper menu list on one side of the restaurant, so I took a photo of it! I love that Hyeonseonine has set menus — it makes choosing easy. There's also a wide variety of à la carte items. I really wanted the butter garlic fries, but they were sold out because it was late.. sob

Jeukseok-tteokbokki set for two, mild spice

It arrived so generously loaded~~ sob, I was so hungry at this point that I was watching intently, wide-eyed, waiting for it to boil. But the induction burner must be good quality because it boiled pretty fast hehe

I love jjolmyeon so I was so excited >< And the really great part — two eggs come included as standard. No fighting over who gets it lol

Each table has instructions on how to cook the jeukseok-tteokbokki. I love little details like this. Following the instructions, adjusting the heat and stirring away, it cooks up delicious~~

I ordered mild, and it really was the textbook version of that sweet tteokbokki flavor you get from stalls near schools, sob. So good. The rice cakes were really soft and chewy — someone once told me tteokbokki lives and dies by the rice cakes, and honestly, so true. And you all know the yakki-mandu dumplings are meant to be dipped in the broth, right? But I only dipped some and kept some crispy lol — crispy is good too haha

Cracking the egg into the tteokbokki broth is basically the law. You have to pour the broth over it and mash it all up

I didn't add anything extra, but the extra ingredients were already so generous. Loaded up in there ><. The cabbage was good, the fish cake was good, the jjolmyeon was good sob — even better since it had been a while since I had it

Finishing off with self-cooked fried rice

The essential finale of jeukseok-tteokbokki — the true main event(?) — fried rice!! You have to make the self-serve fried rice, no exceptions. Set aside the leftover ingredients, leave just the broth in the pot, add rice and mix it in, then turn on the burner following the table instructions~~

Fried rice complete!!! Kimchi, corn kernels, seaweed flakes, all fried up with the tteokbokki broth — how could that not be delicious. So good~~

Final verdict

Both the pan-fried tteokbokki and the instant tteokbokki are amazing at Hyeonseonine, a restaurant you can trust~! Old favorites really do earn their reputation. The service was also great, so even though I was starving, it turned into a really enjoyable meal haha