Haengdang-dong bar for groups: cheese potato nurungji at Rainbow Pocha

Where is Rainbow Pocha near Wangsimni Station?

Rainbow Pocha (레인보우포차) is a bar just inside Exit 10 of Wangsimni Station, and it's great for group gatherings. There's a menu posted outside, and one glance tells you the choices are huge, so picking is half the fun. From a first-round meal to light late-night snacks before the last train, there's plenty to choose from, right?

Rainbow Pocha opening hours and drinks

Rainbow Pocha is open 12:00 to 05:00, and you take the stairs up to the 2nd floor. With hours running from daytime until dawn, you can drop in whenever without any pressure.

There's a smoking room and group seating, and they carry a wide range of drinks, including soju, beer, makgeolli and highballs.

Is Rainbow Pocha good for group gatherings?

The inside is dimly lit, so it's pretty hip, isn't it? There's plenty of space for company dinners, banquets and all kinds of group gatherings. I'd also happily recommend it for dates, blind dates and other get-togethers.

Along the side there are three private room-style spaces, and the smoking room was super clean too.

Mirror photo spot, punching machine and aged draft beer

There's a big mirror at the entrance and photos come out really well there, haha. It's a photo spot, so snap one each! There's a punching machine for some light fun with friends, and you can charge your phone the whole time.

The draft beer is kept in an aging cooler and comes out really cold. It definitely felt like the taste was different!

You order on a kiosk at the table. There are lots of dishes, but the picture descriptions made it easy. Sweet potato sticks come as the complimentary side, and while you nibble on them, the food arrives before you know it.

What does Rainbow Pocha's cheese potato nurungji taste like?

Rainbow Pocha's cheese potato nurungji is an upgraded potato pancake (gamjajeon) with the crunch of nurungji (scorched rice). Cheese potato pancake alone would have been plenty tasty, you know.

It comes with a seasoned sauce, but it's good enough to eat on its own. It feels like a special treat and would go great with beer. Crispy and salty, which I loved.

Is the dakdoritang + giant pork cutlet set worth ordering?

In Rainbow Pocha's chicken stew (dakdoritang) + giant pork cutlet set, the giant pork cutlet (wang donkkaseu) arrives as one whole piece. They snipped it into bite-size pieces with scissors, and the meat was quite thick.

Dip it in the sauce and it's a proper pork cutlet! It works as a light meal and also as a snack with beer. The cutlet is included in the set, so if you're getting the signature chicken stew anyway, I'd recommend ordering the set.

Rainbow Pocha's signature dakdoritang: spice levels and portion size

Rainbow Pocha's chicken stew comes in a whole cauldron-style pot. You can adjust the spice in 4 levels, and level 2 is about the deliciously hot level of Shin Ramyun.

As the signature among lots of dishes, it shows off its flavor and quality. A whole chicken goes in, and you can switch to boneless.

It's packed with glass noodles, so the portion is huge. More a meal than a bar snack, haha. The broth is just right, savory and punchy, and the chicken pieces weren't small. It goes well with both soju and beer. For 4 or more people, ordering one as a default seems like good value!

Rainbow Pocha is a bar in Haengdang-dong with a great atmosphere, and with group seating it's wonderful as a gathering spot. The menu is so big that nobody's taste will be let down. It has a real pocha vibe and a hip space, so it seems good for meeting up with friends.

A palate-cleansing cone to finish, and the empty plates

For the last order at Rainbow Pocha I got a palate-cleansing corn, and I never expected a real World Cone to show up, haha. From meal to dessert, everything was covered.

The chicken stew was truly huge, so in the end I left some behind. T_T Still, I cleared the cheese potato nurungji and the pork cutlet down to the sauce. Next time I'd like to come back with friends for a gathering.