Seafood bar in Yongin for Bacha seafood boil: Bacha Suji

A rare day off from mom duty! I headed out the moment my husband got home from work, so I was pretty excited to enjoy dinner on my own?>< You need little moments like this to keep powering through childcare!

I was meeting a friend who loves seafood, so I looked around for somewhere to go and heard the seafood boil at Bacha Suji was that good? We arrived right when they opened—the first customers!

Bacha Suji, where a bar meets a pocha

They say Bacha Suji was created by an eighth-year developer and UX designer who had spent years looking forward only to after-work drinks and company dinners, then finally left the company after a long period of planning.

Bacha refers to a space that offers a cross-over experience: the drinks and atmosphere of a bar, plus the approachable menu of a pocha (casual Korean drinking spot). Its name combines VARCHAR—the programming term for storage that can hold various data types regardless of size—with “Bar.” Apparently, it carries the hope of becoming a place that holds the everyday lives and memories of many different people! Bacha Suji really shows the owner’s flair; even the name feels different.

The atmosphere inside Bacha Suji passed immediately! A perfect 100 in my book. It was moody, and those bottles on the tables really caught my eye—it genuinely had that bar feel. They have all kinds of alcohol ready, so I think anyone could find something to suit their taste.

Once it got dark, the atmosphere inside became even better. It wasn’t Friday night, so why did this day feel like Friday night?><

What we ordered with my seafood-obsessed friend

My friend and I are people who are crazy about seafood. We’d actually been chanting “Bacha seafood boil!” even before going to Bacha Suji. Honestly, it’s such a good deal for the price.

• Bacha seafood boil ₩35,000
• Extra kalguksu noodles ₩3,000
• Grilled scallops ₩11,000
• 2 bottles of soju

Bacha seafood boil ₩35,000

How are the seafood pieces this fresh and plump? Is this really a bar? I thought it was a raw-fish restaurant... And how amazing was the broth..? A signature dish really is on another level. I approve!

The Bacha seafood boil came loaded with squid, shrimp, giant scallops, scallops, and shellfish, all fully cooked and ready to eat right away.

Inside were bok choy, bean sprouts, and eomuk (Korean fish cake), too! The broth base was the kind of flavor that just calls for soju, and once the vegetables cooked, it became even more refreshing.... The two of us could easily have finished three bottles of soju, but we suffered from hangovers together last time, so we held back since we were thinking of going somewhere else after..

My friend cut a scallop in half for me—look at this! So plump, right? I make steamed scallops at home now and then, and with the weather turning cool, I should order some again soon.

Kalguksu noodles added to the seafood-boil broth

Kalguksu (knife-cut noodles) that my noodle-loving friend approved of! The seafood was great, of course, but my friend says she’ll come back just for the kalguksu haha. The broth was refreshing and rich on its own, but adding noodles made it even more incredible? Extra broth is a must.

After we had fished out and eaten a fair amount of the seafood, they cooked the kalguksu noodles in the broth—it felt like we were having a whole new dish!

The seafood’s clean, refreshing flavor had soaked thoroughly into the broth, so the noodles absorbed it beautifully. The springy cooked noodles with the broth were great with a drink and also perfect as the final dish of the meal.

Grilled scallops ₩11,000

The scallops arrived hot off the grill, with plump, chewy flesh and a subtle sweetness. They have a different appeal from the seafood boil, so if you love seafood, I recommend ordering both together!

We enjoyed refreshing broth and a variety of seafood with the seafood boil, then got that chewy texture from the grilled scallops too—such a thumbs-up combination for wrapping up the drinks!

Seafood and drinks in a softly lit setting

More than anything, I loved Bacha Suji for the atmosphere as much as the food. It didn’t have that overly hectic bar feeling; the lighting was soft and the mood was lovely, making it a great place to have a drink while chatting with friends. If you’re looking around Suji District Office for a bar with a nice atmosphere or great seafood drinking food, I reallyyyy recommend it!