Seomyeon bar for a huge chicken stew with scorched rice: Yuumangju

There've been so many new hotspots popping up on Seomyeon's Manchwi-gil (drunken street) lately. Honestly, I feel like there's an invisible age cutoff in Seomyeon now, haha — every time I go, it drains my energy because everyone there is so young it's hard to blend in. But I can't resist a hotspot, so when I heard the hottest bar in Seomyeon had opened, I had to check it out. Let me introduce Yuumangju, a Seomyeon bar.

Is Yuumangju Seomyeon Branch on Manchwi-gil good for a second round?

Yuumangju Seomyeon Branch is a cooking bar on the 2nd floor of 31 Dongcheon-ro 85beon-gil, Busanjin-gu, Busan, right on Seomyeon's Manchwi-gil. Judging from Instagram, it's supposedly the biggest hotspot in Seomyeon among the younger crowd (?).

We were looking for somewhere to go for round two and wondered if we could even pull it off, but we walked in confidently anyway, haha.

They'd written the cool meaning behind the shop's name on the way up the stairs.

There's a photo zone right in front of the 2nd-floor entrance too... and it's two drunk monkeys with shaky hands, haha. I heard taking mirror selfies is considered kind of cringe-old now, and yeah, we're definitely cringe-old.

Inside the open second-floor hall and its group tables

Heading up to the 2nd floor of Yuumangju Seomyeon Branch, there was a wide-open, lively space with no barriers. It looked great for a second round or a group gathering. The day I visited, tables of 4 were the standard, but there were plenty of bigger groups too — 6, even 8 people.

Yuumangju Seomyeon Branch was also running a review event. We couldn't take part because we were already too drunk — I wonder what the freebie would've been?!

Yuumangju Seomyeon Branch menu: O-Dae-Bal and house-made makgeolli

Here are Yuumangju's main menu items. The side dish going viral on Instagram is O.Dae.Bal!! It's cuttlefish + beef intestine + chicken feet stir-fry — if my stomach hadn't already been full from round one, I'd have picked this without a second thought. I really wanted chicken feet too, but I was already stuffed and just couldn't manage it. There were so many other side dishes too. We went with the boiled pork nurungji chicken stew.

The drink selection was huge too. Soju and beer of course, but also fruit soju, highball, and even house-made makgeolli?! The house-made makgeolli especially came in so many fruit flavors that I really wanted to try one. This is a Seomyeon bar where even people who don't like soju can comfortably drop by and enjoy tasty side dishes.

And why are there so many side menu items too?! Can you see how reasonable the prices are, haha. I think that's why there are so many group customers — the more people you go with, the more dishes you get to split among everyone. Next time I'll definitely go with a bigger group and try a variety of dishes.

First up, the complimentary garlic bread

After ordering, they gave us crispy garlic bread as a basic side dish. I thought it would pair especially well if we'd ordered a spicy side dish.

Boiled pork nurungji chicken stew: a portion big enough for three

Finally, the chicken stew we ordered, packed full of nurungji (scorched rice)!! The portion is huge, haha. We wanted to eat light, but with a serving this generous, we ended up being the kids who overate on round two.

You just simmer it a bit more, and the savory broth is insane. With the nurungji mixed in, the broth's umami came through even deeper. A tabletop full of favorite-plus-favorite, a total combo overload.

I especially loved how loaded it was with nurungji, which I'm a huge fan of. With hot broth as a soju side, the soju just kept going down smoothly. The magic of still drinking more soju even though we were already wasted when we got there.

The portion was so big we called over a close friend who happened to be nearby, haha. This was exactly the part where I got why Yuumangju is famous as a Seomyeon hotspot — both the taste and the quantity backed it up.

After trying just one dish, I'm curious about everything else on the menu. Being a 2nd-floor bar, it's the kind of hidden gem on Seomyeon's Manchwi-gil you could easily walk right past. If you're looking for a proper Seomyeon bar with genuinely good side dishes, I recommend this Seomyeon hotspot, Yuumangju, haha.