Seomyeon bar in Busan for beef tendon fish cake hot pot: Yuumangju

Yuumangju (유망주)

Let me introduce Yuumangju, a great anju spot in Seomyeon with a wide range of Korean drinking snacks and a garlic baguette that comes free with your table.

Yuumangju Seomyeon Branch: location, parking and hours

Yuumangju Seomyeon Branch is on the 2nd floor at 31 Dongcheon-ro 85beon-gil, Busanjin-gu, Busan, South Korea. There's no parking at the bar, but you can use the nearby Angel parking lot (₩1,500 per 30 minutes).

Opening hours are 17:00–03:00 Sunday to Thursday and 17:00–04:00 Friday and Saturday.

What we ordered: beef tendon fish cake hot pot (seuji odeng-tang) ₩29,000

Why I picked the tendon fish cake hot pot for a second round in Seomyeon

We came to Yuumangju Seomyeon Branch for our second round and ordered just one dish, the beef tendon fish cake hot pot. We'd already had a pretty heavy first round, so we were fairly full, but weirdly I still wanted one more drink, haha.

So the plan was nothing too heavy, just a soup anju and a glass of soju. But the menu had so many tasty-looking dishes, way more than I expected. There were lots of Korean anju options, and I actually struggled to choose. After all that agonizing, I went with the tendon fish cake hot pot.

What does Yuumangju's free honey garlic baguette taste like?

At Yuumangju Seomyeon Branch, the complimentary side is a garlic baguette brushed with honey. Honey on top of the baguette adds a sweet note.

It's crisp on the outside, with a subtle garlic aroma inside, and the sweetness of the honey on top kept me reaching for more. It was better than I expected, and honestly, they could sell it as a separate side dish. If I could add it to the order, I'd get another one while drinking.

Is Yuumangju's tendon fish cake hot pot a light anju?

Yuumangju's tendon fish cake hot pot was not as light as I expected. At first I figured it's a second round, so a fish cake hot pot would be easy to put away, but when it arrived it was no small snack, haha.

Beef-bone broth with domestic tendon and fish cakes

The hot pot has not just fish cakes but beef tendon too. The broth is beef-bone based, and with the fish cakes and tendon in it, the broth felt quite rich. The tendon is reportedly domestic, and I liked its chewy bite.

Fish cakes simmered in the pot

Instead of eating the fish cakes right away, I let them simmer in the pot bit by bit, and as they cooked through they got softer than at first. You can keep the broth hot as you go, which pairs nicely with sips of soju. When the weather gets a little cooler like now, you sometimes crave the steaming fish cakes you'd eat at a Korean snack bar, right?

For a soup anju and a drink in Seomyeon on a cool evening

Yuumangju Seomyeon Branch's tendon fish cake hot pot was a soup anju that goes well with soju in cool weather. I can imagine that on a cold day, a spoonful of warm broth, a piece of fish cake, then a shot of soju would set the mood all by itself.

With a beef-bone broth plus domestic tendon and fish cakes, it suits a pot you keep simmering for a long while. It's also an easy order for a second round with soju and conversation like ours, and the cooler it gets, the more I think I'll crave warm soup anju like this.

Best of all, even though we were full that day, the menu looked good enough that I'm already curious what to try next. Next time I want to come for the first round and order the other Korean anju I missed, one by one.

From the garlic baguette to the warm tendon fish cake hot pot, it was a comfortable place for a second round of drinks and chat. There's real fun in picking from the many Korean anju at this Seomyeon anju favorite, Yuumangju. This time I came full and tried just one dish, but I'd like to return and eat other anju properly.