Ansan tteokbokki restaurant for family meals: Yum Bbokki

My wife said she wanted tteokbokki (spicy stir-fried rice cakes) over the weekend, so we visited Yum Bbokki, a popular tteokbokki spot in Gojan-dong, Ansan. Yum Bbokki also sells cream tteokbokki and jjajang tteokbokki that children can eat, so it was easy to visit with a child.

Visiting Yum Bbokki in Gojan-dong, Ansan

Yum Bbokki (얌볶이)

We arrived close to 1 PM, and there were quite a lot of people. We waited a little before getting in, which showed just how well established it is as a great tteokbokki place.

We visited just before 1 PM, and it was full.

Menu and ordering

You can refer to the Yum Bbokki menu above. While waiting, we thought over what to eat and decided on Value Yum Set 2, jjajang tteokbokki, and sweet cheese fries.

For reference, Yum Bbokki lets you choose between wheat rice cakes and rice cakes. I personally like rice cakes, so we ordered everything with rice cakes.

Hours are from 11 AM to 10 PM, and the restaurant is closed on Mondays.

Yum Bbokki uses freshly made rice cakes. That gives the tteokbokki a really nice chewy texture.

Prices start at ₩3,900 per serving. There are also four spice levels, so you can enjoy it according to your preference. Since servings are sold individually, there were lots of students at Yum Bbokki choosing the tteokbokki flavor each of them wanted.

How was the self-bar broth?

The self-bar has tongs, scissors, tableware, and broth. Most other tteokbokki places use tsuyu, but Yum Bbokki's broth is genuinely different. Our child tried it and liked it so much that they had two bowls all by themselves.

Our one-person, one-tteokbokki meal

Our food came out. We each had one tteokbokki. My wife ordered rose tteokbokki, I had classic tteokbokki, and our child ordered jjajang tteokbokki.

Rose tteokbokki

First, I tried the rose tteokbokki. My wife only eats rose tteokbokki at restaurants she likes, and she said Yum Bbokki's was exactly to her taste. The rice cakes were really tender and soft, too. One bite and they felt like rice cakes made fresh that day. The rose tteokbokki was wonderfully smooth, with a lightly spicy kick coming through.

Sweet cheese fries

The fries came topped with a seasoning like Purinkle. Dipped lightly into the sauce, they were sweet and had that moreish flavor that kept you reaching for another.

Medium-spicy classic tteokbokki

This was the classic tteokbokki, ordered at the medium spice level. It was about as spicy as Shin Ramyun. It had a tteokbokki flavor unique to Yum Bbokki that you cannot get elsewhere. Tteokbokki from other chains often tastes artificial, but Yum Bbokki has its own distinct flavor. That may be why so many children seemed to come here, too.

DIY rice balls and jjajang tteokbokki

The DIY rice balls were a very generous portion. They were also packed with tuna; after putting on the plastic gloves and mixing everything together, they went so well with the tteokbokki sauce.

This was the jjajang tteokbokki our child ate. It suited their taste so well that they finished it alone. It is jjajang tteokbokki that adults can enjoy, too.

The fish cake used a radish-based broth, so the soup tasted wonderfully refreshing. Our child absolutely loved this fish-cake broth. The fried items were hot, probably because they had just been fried, and dipping them in the tteokbokki sauce meant no other sauce was needed.

We scraped it all clean without leaving a thing behind.

A Gojan-dong tteokbokki restaurant we visited with our child

Yum Bbokki is a great tteokbokki restaurant in Gojan-dong, Ansan. It is located at 25si Square, and because it is a popular spot, many students and families came by. Best of all, we could order separate single servings. That meant we could enjoy different kinds of tteokbokki, and with cream tteokbokki and jjajang tteokbokki for young children on the menu, visiting with a child did not feel like a burden. The rice cakes felt especially fresh. We ordered rice-cake tteokbokki, and their tender, soft texture was excellent. If you are looking for a good tteokbokki place around 25si Square in Gojan-dong, Ansan, I recommend giving Yum Bbokki a visit.