Jeongja Station bar for soda-water highballs & Matcha Moment: Bacha

What is Bacha Jeongja like on a weekday evening?

Bacha Jeongja (바차 정자점) is a recently opened pub near Jeongja Station in Jeongja-dong, and I went for an evening meetup with a friend. I arrived early on a weekday evening and it was more relaxed than I expected, but it filled up fast as time went on, so I could see why it's popular. The highball list is wide and the food was good, so I'm leaving this for anyone looking for a pub near Jeongja Station.

• 📍 Bacha Jeongja
• 🏠 6 Jeongjail-ro 156beon-gil, Bundang-gu, Seongnam, Gyeonggi, South Korea (Unit 110, 1st floor)
• ⏰ 17:00 – 02:00
• 🚗 Parking available

A Jeongja-dong pub with a modern interior

Bacha Jeongja has a modern interior mixing wood tones and indirect lighting. The exterior already looked neat, and I liked the inside even more. The soft lighting set a nice mood, and it has that Instagram-style look you see everywhere these days, so it's good for photos too.

I went a bit early on a weekday evening, and at first there were plenty of empty seats. But as closing time at the offices got closer, reservation guests started trickling in, and groups of coworkers from nearby kept arriving. There was even a wait later on, so if you're planning a visit, I'd book ahead.

Separate inner area for team dinners and group gatherings

What I especially liked was the separate area at the back. It's not a fully enclosed room, but it can be used like a private space, so it looked great for company dinners or group gatherings. It's reasonably separated from the neighboring tables, which makes talking easy.

Terrace seating with blankets provided

Besides the indoor seats, Bacha Jeongja also has terrace seating. On a nice evening like we've been having lately, a highball outdoors would be wonderful. Blankets are provided, so it seemed fine even once night falls. It felt like they'd thought about the little details.

What is the Bacha Jeongja review event?

If you write a Naver review, Bacha Jeongja gives you a cocktail, a Kkachi pear highball or a blueberry Yoajeong (yogurt-based treat). The blueberry Yoajeong isn't sold separately, so you can only get it through a review.

What we ordered at Bacha Jeongja

• Cream draft beer
• Kkachi pear highball
• Earl Grey highball
• Matcha Moment
• Handmade fish cake hot pot (oden nabe)

Free pretzels and hovenia tea water

Once you sit down, Bacha Jeongja brings pretzel snacks as the basic side. They're nice to nibble on before the drinks arrive, and the salty taste goes well with beer. Besides plain water, they also had hut-gaecha (hovenia tea) water, which was great to sip between drinks, and I was personally happy about that. That kind of thoughtfulness stood out.

Is the handmade fish cake hot pot good with drinks?

The handmade fish cake hot pot we ordered as the main dish had plenty of pepper and cheongyang chili (spicy green chili) in the broth, so it was spicier than I expected. That made it a really good dish to eat while drinking.

The pot had a variety of fish cakes: skewered ones, square ones, round ones, and even ones filled with rice cake and crab meat, so picking through them was fun. There was plenty of bean sprouts too, which added a crunchy texture with the broth, and the crown daisy (ssukgat) added a subtle fragrance that worked as the flavor accent. With the spicy broth, the variety of fish cakes and the generous sprouts, it was a great match for draft beer or highballs.

Cream draft beer with a smooth finish

Most people at Bacha Jeongja seemed to be drinking the cream draft beer, so I ordered it too. The cream foam on top makes it much smoother than regular draft beer. It was a nice light way to start, and it went well with the pretzels. The price is fairly easy on the wallet too, so if you like draft beer, it's worth trying once.

What is the Kkachi pear highball like with soda water?

The Kkachi pear highball was my personal favorite that day. It's a highball made by mixing in Kkachi pear liquor (까치돌배주, 47% ABV), a Korean traditional liquor, and it has a charm clearly different from ordinary fruit highballs. I swapped the mixer to soda water. With soda water, the sweetness drops and it gets much cleaner, so you taste more of the liquor itself. If you prefer a clean style over a sweet highball, I recommend the soda water switch.

Earl Grey highball, also switched to soda water

I ordered the Earl Grey highball because I like Earl Grey aroma, and it tasted just as I'd hoped. The aroma isn't overpowering and comes through cleanly, so it was easy to drink and went well with the food. Each highball has its own personality, so next time I'd like to come with several people, order a variety and share.

What does the Matcha Moment taste like?

Matcha Moment is a highball with deep matcha aroma, the refreshing feel of whiskey and the creamy texture of milk. The name was unusual so I was curious, and it was even better than I expected. At first the matcha aroma rises gently, and toward the end you feel the whiskey's flavor. It isn't just sweet; the matcha's characteristic bitterness stays, so it's nice to sip slowly. It felt like a matcha latte for grown-ups, and it went down easily and deliciously.

Bacha Jeongja menu overview

Bacha Jeongja isn't just a place for drinking; it felt more like a cooking pub where you can enjoy lots of dishes. Signature items include Bacha seafood steam pot, brisket and seafood rice cake steam pot, sous-vide pork jowl boiled pork (suyuk), and onion chicken, all good as a meal or as side dishes. There are also red seafood gambas, grilled scallops and dried seafood snacks, which suit a second round or a light drink, so there's a wide choice.

For drinks, there's draft beer and highballs, plus whiskey, wine and cocktails, so you can drink to your taste, and with so many unusual highballs, reading the menu was fun in itself.

Verdict: a good highball bar near Jeongja Station

Bacha Jeongja was a Jeongja-dong pub where the atmosphere, drinks and food all satisfied me. It was popular enough to have reservation and company-dinner guests even on a weekday evening, and with the modern interior and terrace seats it looked good for a date or a group meetup too. The wide highball list makes choosing fun. I'd order the Kkachi pear highball and Matcha Moment again if I go back. If you're looking for a pub around Jeongja Station or Jeongja-dong, I recommend a visit.