Jeongja Station bar for work dinners: free croquette, Bacha Jeongja

Was looking for a good spot to grab drinks with coworkers near Jeongja Station and ended up at Bacha. At first I thought it was just a regular bar, but the food menu turned out to be way more solid than expected, haha.

• Bacha Jeongja
• 6 Jeongja-illo 156beon-gil, 1st floor, Unit 110, Bundang-gu, Seongnam-si, Gyeonggi-do, South Korea
• 336m from Jeongja Station Exit 3
• 17:00-02:00

What is Bacha Jeongja, the bar near Jeongja Station, like inside?

Bacha Jeongja is bigger and cleaner than I expected. There's outdoor seating too, which looked great!! Inside there are several tables, so it works fine for a casual drink for two or a bigger group hangout.

One side of the bar has a whole lineup of different liquors on display, giving it a bit more of an upscale feel than a typical Korean-style bar.

It was pretty crowded that day too, which made me think it's a well-known spot for good food near Jeongja Station.

We made a reservation ahead of time! If you book, you also get a free croquette. Total win~~~~

Starting the night with cold draft beer

Since we're at a bar, gotta start with a cold draft beer, haha. Took a sip of the chilled draft and then dug into the food for real.

Pregnant friend went with sprite instead…

Mozzarella chili shrimp loaded with cheese

The chili sauce shrimp came out first. I'm a shrimp lover who eats shrimp as a drinking snack all the time, and this one was genuinely delicious.

The sweet-spicy chili sauce comes with mozzarella cheese piled on really thick — the cheese pull alone told me this was going to be good, haha.

So much cheese, so good.

The shrimp were plump too. So good.

There were fries too, so we got some carbs in alongside it haha.

Cheers~~!~!~!

Seafood jjim in a clean, fiery broth

And the main dish of the day: seafood jjim (spicy braised seafood)! It was loaded with seafood right from the first look, so it was pretty impressive visually too.

A coworker who came with us said this dish was really good, so we ordered it, and yeah, it's genuinely delicious. Total soju pairing!!

There's big chunky squid in there, plus red gari crab and shrimp — lots of variety, so we picked through it one by one.

There's even fish cake in there, so it's really hearty!!

The broth is on the soupier side, which is a bit different from the seafood jjim I usually picture, but this version is genuinely delicious!!!

Some people add kalguksu (knife-cut noodles) at the end and boil it in. We held off — saving room for round two!

Pick up a piece of seafood, take a spoonful of the broth, then take another sip of your drink — that's the combo.

If you're looking for drinking food near Jeongja Station, I'd recommend the seafood jjim!!!

Finishing with hoddeok ice cream

Warm, sweet hoddeok (Korean sweet pancake) with cold ice cream — hard for that combo to taste bad. After the cool, spicy seafood jjim and the spicy, savory mozzarella chili shrimp, ending on something sweet was perfect. This is seriously a dish that targets women's hearts. We all said we were full, then started eating and completely demolished it, haha.

A Jeongja Station bar with anju worth ordering

Bacha was a great spot for drinks near Jeongja Station. The atmosphere is clean and the food was pretty generous for a bar menu. Most of all, the seafood jjim we had that day had a good variety of seafood and I loved the cool, spicy broth. Good place to check out when meeting friends near Jeongja Station or when you want good food with your drinks!

Bacha Jeongja: the full recap

• Seafood jjim with a cool, spicy broth that's genuinely tasty
• Loaded with seafood, perfect drinking food
• Plump shrimp and cheese-loaded mozzarella chili shrimp
• Snack menu that pairs well with beer
• Hoddeok ice cream is a great sweet finish
• A solid Jeongja Station bar for drinks with friends