Jonggak date bar: yukhoe with hammer-cracked nurungji, Ari Gyegok

I want to recommend a bar near Jonggak Station where the food really stands out. It's Ari Gyegok Jonggak (아리계곡 종각점). You can enjoy highballs and other drinks with hearty dishes, from roast duck brushed with mud mustard sauce to yukhoe, and the atmosphere is so good it's perfect for a date too.

Where is Ari Gyegok Jonggak, and what are its hours?

Ari Gyegok Jonggak is at 41 Ujeongguk-ro 2-gil, Jongno-gu, Seoul, 188 m from Exit 4 of Jonggak Station on Line 1. It's open from 16:30 to 02:00, last order is at 01:30, and you can reserve through Naver.

On Jonggak Youth Street, a 4-minute walk from the station

Ari Gyegok sits inside Jonggak Youth Street, and it took us roughly 4 minutes on foot from the bus stop and the subway station.

Atmosphere on the 1st and 2nd floors

The bar has two floors, and the atmosphere was so good that it works great as a date spot too.

Here and there were groups out for company dinners or a second round, and the restrooms are on the 1st floor, one for women and one for men.

Ari Gyegok menu and how to order

You order with the QR code attached to the table, and both contactless and in-person ordering were possible. Below is the menu of this Jonggak Station bar.

The menu had a wide range of hearty anju (food to go with drinks), from chicken hot pot to potato jeon (savory pancake), yurinki (Korean-style fried chicken in sauce), and fried chicken.

The drinks list was also really varied, with highballs, makgeolli (rice wine), traditional liquors and more.

For the basic side dish they served tangy pickled radish wraps (musam), and they went great with the anju.

What does a bottle of omija infused-liquor highball look like?

If you order the omija (five-flavor berry) infused liquor by the bottle at Ari Gyegok, it comes in a big container, which felt pretty unusual. We chose the highball as our drink.

Ice and lemon came in separate glasses, one each, and you pour it yourself. It made about 4 to 5 glasses.

And honestly, I'm not a big highball fan, but it was pleasantly sweet and tasty, so it went down smoothly.

It's such a good highball place that we also ordered the raspberry watermelon highball and the yagwanmun highball, which you can get by the glass.

How does the mud duck jeonbyeong (limited) roast duck taste?

The first anju we picked at Ari Gyegok was roast duck, listed on the menu as mud duck jeonbyeong (limited sale).

The duck was cut into bite-size pieces, and you can wrap it in crispy dumpling wrappers and lettuce.

The whole fried duck was brushed with mud mustard sauce, and the look of it was honestly overwhelming.

There was also no gamey duck smell or off-flavor, so it was easy to eat.

We tried all sorts of combinations, wrapping it in cabbage, eating it with the dumpling wrappers, and so on.

Ari Gyegok yukhoe: it comes with ankimo and nurungji?

This Jonggak Station bar also had yukhoe (Korean beef tartare). What made it unique is that it came with monkfish liver (ankimo) and nurungji (scorched rice).

The fried nurungji is something you crack yourself with a hammer.

The yukhoe was soaked in a sweet-and-salty seasoning, and it was fresh with no gamey smell, so it was easy to eat.

Verdict: a Jonggak Station bar with standout anju and a great vibe

A few days ago I went to Ari Gyegok Jonggak and had roast duck, highballs, and yukhoe. The anju are unusual and the atmosphere is great too, so I hope you'll give it a visit!