Sindang izakaya for Yantai draft beer and kuro-subuta: Lucky Dragon

As someone who loves Chinese food, I went out to Sindang and stumbled on a real gem of a bar... this place blurred the line between a Chinese restaurant and a bar for me, because the food tasted exactly like what I had in Chengdu, and the Yantai draft beer we drank with it was so good we each drank three glasses (1.5 liters) sitting right there. It was so delicious I had to write this up immediately.

Where is Lucky Dragon JCB Sindang, and what are the hours?

• 43-8, Dasan-ro 42-gil, Jung-gu, Seoul, South Korea, 1st floor
• 5-minute walk from Sindang Station Exit 4
• Hours: Mon–Sat 17:00–02:00 (last order 01:00)
• Sun 17:00–24:00 (last order 23:00)
• Closed September 24

Menu and prices at Lucky Dragon JCB: Yantai draft beer 5,900 won

The menu is quite varied! From basic bar snacks to full meal dishes to drinks, there's plenty to choose from depending on your taste. There are also set menus made for group visits, so if you have trouble deciding, ordering a set is a great option!

They also have meal options like fried rice and noodles, plus a huge drink lineup from soju and beer to sake, highballs, and cocktails. We came for round two, but next time I'm definitely coming for round one so I can try more dishes... ㅠㅠ

Here's what we ordered!

• Kuro-subuta (Japanese black vinegar sweet and sour pork) ₩16,900
• Mapo tofu ₩14,900
• Handmade yaki gyoza ₩6,900
• Yantai draft beer ₩5,900

Inside Lucky Dragon JCB Sindang: mood and group seating

The exterior radiates presence from far away, like something out of a Hong Kong film! It's a great spot for a date or a second stop after a blind date.

In China, they say the luck character (福) is hung upside down so that the luck pours out.

Inside there are group tables too, so it's a great spot for anyone in Sindang looking for a company dinner or a gathering with friends!

They even have a monitor showing footage of the street outside... that's a lot of atmosphere right there.

In front of the restroom they have cotton swabs, floss, a mirror, hand wash, and even Febreze — this is especially nice for female guests. I used the mirror a few times myself to check my makeup, haha.

Tea instead of water, and QR ordering at the table

Cute dishware and even tea. It was a tea I used to drink often in China, but I can't remember the name. Getting tea instead of plain water is a sign of how thoughtful the owner is.

There's a wide range of sauces available too, and ordering is easy through the QR code!

Yantai draft beer 5,900 won: why we had three glasses each

The Yantai draft beer arrived first while we waited for the food! This is truly... highly recommended. Even if you've never tried Yantai baijiu, I guarantee just about anyone will enjoy Yantai draft beer without much dividing opinion. If you come here, please order the Yantai draft beer without fail... and at just ₩5,900, the value is honestly ridiculous ㅠ I had no idea the fragrance of Yantai could pair this well with beer.

Sichuan-style mapo tofu 14,900 won, served with rice

While we were drinking our Yantai draft, the mapo tofu (₩14,900) arrived. Doesn't it look this incredible just from the color?

This is definitely Sichuan-style mapo tofu! It genuinely tasted like the mapo tofu I had in Chengdu, though slightly toned down for Korean palates. So it wasn't too hard on the stomach, and it still had that hot Sichuan pepper aroma rising up along with the spicy chili oil flavor. The tofu had that soft, melt-in-your-mouth texture I love, honestly floored me. Eating it quickly with the Yantai draft — I couldn't stop...

When you order the mapo tofu, they also give you nicely steamed, fluffy rice. Rice has to go with mapo tofu sauce, right?!?!

Honestly, even though we were already pretty full, we couldn't bring ourselves to give up on this gorgeous-looking mapo tofu rice. My boyfriend, who kept saying he was full, cleaned an entire bowl.

Kuro-subuta 16,900 won: the eggplant is the real kick

Next up: kuro-subuta, Japanese-style black vinegar sweet and sour pork! The name was unfamiliar, but the moment I saw it on the menu I could just smell how good it was going to be, so I had to order it.

I already love the sour, umami-rich flavor unique to black vinegar. But I'd never had the Japanese version before, so this was a bit of a challenge for me ㅜㅡㅜ. Wow, but it turned out even better than I expected... perfectly cooked bell peppers and vegetables together with crisp-fried sweet and sour pork, all soaked moist in this incredible black vinegar sauce — sweet and sour with real umami depth. This is the kind of dish that demands you slam a draft beer right after!!!!

And there's fried eggplant mixed in too, and this eggplant is honestly the kick of the whole dish! Perfectly fried, well-seasoned eggplant that practically rivals the meat. Even if eggplant were the main event, I'd order this again.

The moment we ordered the kuro-subuta, we immediately ordered another Yantai draft. There's no way to make the beer last with food like this...

Finishing with handmade yaki gyoza 6,900 won

For the finale, we ordered handmade yaki gyoza! The cycle with drinking goes: food disappears — order more food — draft runs low — order more draft — food's left over — order more food. It's like that cycle of eating Corn Flakes with milk. That's how good both the food and the Yantai draft were~

Just from the look of it, the yaki gyoza were perfectly fried. You know how rare properly handmade dumplings are these days. This crushes Bibigo. Crispy on the outside, juicy filling bursting inside — genuinely impressive... ㅠㅠ

Is Lucky Dragon JCB Sindang worth a drink in Sindang?

This time I truly discovered a legit Chinese-Japanese fusion bar in Sindang..! Every single dish was so delicious, and that combination of Yantai draft beer plus food...

We came for round two and even though we were already pretty full, we still polished off the mapo tofu with rice and kept ordering more kuro-subuta and yaki gyoza... Seriously, you have to try the Yantai draft beer! It's so good that I couldn't believe the fragrance of Yantai pairs this well with beer — we ended up drinking three glasses each sitting right there ㅠㅠ

With such a varied menu and set options, it's great for visiting with a group of friends and ordering a bit of everything, and it's perfect for a date, a second stop after a blind date, or just finding somewhere for a drink in Sindang! Next time I'm definitely coming for round one so I can try everything I missed this time!!!!