Dangsan izakaya bar seats, chicken skin and tsukune skewers: Kaken

Dangsan Station bar recommendation, an izakaya famous for skewers: KAKEN

Came out to Dangsan Station for a date with my husband after a while! It was my first time drinking around Dangsan Station, and wow, there are so many bars here~~ I was really craving skewers and grilled fish, so I visited Kaken, a bar that just opened recently.

Sun–Thu 17:00–02:00 (last order 01:00) / Fri, Sat 17:00–04:00 (last order 03:00)

Inside Kaken near Dangsan Station: seating and bar counter seats for two

The interior vibe at this Dangsan Station bar, Kaken, is quiet and cozy. It's a great spot for 2–4 people rather than groups. Totally recommend it as a date bar 🤍 There are table seats and a bar counter (dachi seok), and since it was just the two of us, we sat at the counter. Personally I don't love loud bars, so the quiet atmosphere was great for talking (though it's not dead silent either!!!)

Kaken's menu and what we ordered for a second round

This Dangsan Station bar, Kaken, is an izakaya~ They sell sashimi, grilled fish, and a variety of skewers. On top of that there's a wide range of fried food, hot pots, cooked dishes, and side dishes, and drinks-wise they have soju, beer, highballs, and even sake 🍶 Since this was our second round, we were already pretty full. Personally I loved that there were a lot of dishes that were easy to eat lightly even on a full stomach 👏🏻 (it's rough drinking when you're stuffed haha;)

• Grilled rockfish 2ea ₩18,000
• Negima 2pcs ₩6,000
• Chicken skin 2pcs ₩5,000
• Tsukune 2pcs ₩6,000
• Soju ₩5,500
• *Skewers-only first order requires at least 3 kinds

The free side dish: warm quail eggs and konjac braised in soy sauce

Kaken, this Dangsan bar and restaurant, gives you quail eggs and konjac soy-braise as the basic side dish. And it's even warm....! 🥹 Usually places give you crackers as the basic side, but here it's braised quail eggs, which is a lot more effort than a dry snack.. This basic side dish alone could take down a whole bottle of soju 👍🏻 And they even refill it 👏🏻 I was already excited from just this heartfelt little side dish

We ordered soju Saero. It was fun drinking with my husband at a bar after so long haha

Chicken skin skewers, crisp off the charcoal grill

After a short wait, the chicken skin skewers came out first. The crispy-looking chicken skin came out with sauce brushed on, and it looked delicious even before I took a bite 😊

As expected, it was crispy and salty, which paired so well with soju. I bet it'd go great with beer too 👍🏻 Since it's grilled over charcoal, the slightly charred bits had a nice smoky flavor and were delicious

What do Kaken's negima and tsukune skewers taste like?

Next, negima and tsukune came out together. Negima is a skewer dish grilling scallion and chicken together~ Tsukune is ground meat shaped into a round meatball form!

I love both chicken and scallions so much~~ the chicken was tender and the scallion was cooked perfectly, so it was delicious

It's not too heavy and pairs so well as a drinking snack. The chicken was good, but let's talk about the grilled scallion ~ you could really taste the sweetness of the scallion, so good. I recommend the negima skewer!

Tsukune is also one of my favorite skewers personally — it had a strong charcoal smell, moist inside and sweet-salty outside, so I kept wanting more! I wanted to eat it as a side dish with rice too haha; Taking a sip of soju and a bite of tsukune was pure heaven. I want to live my whole life just eating delicious things~~

Can't resist soju, right? It'd been ages since I drank too, and I feel like soju you drink after a long break always tastes better than the soju you drink every day. At Kaken, this izakaya bar near Dangsan Station, the soju just goes down smoothly 〰️❤️ The kind of atmosphere and taste that would bring a date or a budding couple even closer over a drink ☺️

Grilled rockfish, 2 fish for 18,000 won: izakaya grilled fish prices

Skewers aside, I was really craving grilled fish so I ordered the grilled rockfish. Grilled fish for only eighteen thousand won! 👏🏻 A lot of izakayas charge steep prices for grilled fish, but Kaken is so reasonable

The grilled fish was also charcoal-grilled, so the skin came out crispy and looked even more appetizing

This one also came in twos, so my husband and I got to share one each nicely haha Grilled fish and soju go so well together, right~? The salting was just right, savory and clean, so I ate it very happily.

Kaken, this bar near Dangsan Station, had side-dish quality good enough to call it a Dangsan Station restaurant too. I recommend it as a date bar, so if you're near Dangsan Station, give it a visit 😊