Hongdae cocktail bar with gambas and a bookshelf entrance: Bitters

When people in their twenties make dinner plans in Hongdae, there is one quietly difficult problem. You can eat anywhere, but what comes next is the issue. A bar that is too loud makes conversation impossible, while somewhere overly hushed has you weirdly monitoring the volume of your own voice. That day, even if I was only having one drink, I wanted to take it slow somewhere with a properly good atmosphere.

That brought me to Bitters, a Hongdae cocktail bar. Its address is B1, 3-30 Hongik-ro, Mapo-gu, Seoul, South Korea. It is about 440 m from Exit 9 of Hongik University Station, so it does not look far on a map. In reality, allow roughly six to seven minutes on foot.

How do you find the entrance to Bitters in Hongdae?

But arriving at the destination is not where things end here. If anything, that is where they begin.

The search for the entrance starts in the middle of Hongdae

It is fairly easy to find if you use Hongdae Mulgalbi on the building's first floor as your landmark. Bitters is on B1 of that building. I took the elevator down and pressed B1. The doors opened. Then I paused for a moment.

I had come to a bar, but there was no bar entrance in sight. There was a bookshelf in front of me instead. First-time visitors may start questioning their map-reading skills here. I checked the map on my phone once more. It clearly said I had arrived, but there was no door. For a moment, I wondered whether I had come for cocktails or an escape room.

The answer was hidden in the bookshelf. Press the brown book marked “Bitters.” I pressed one book, and the bookshelf door opened.

It is fun even when you know about it beforehand! The speakeasy-bar concept is fully carried through from the entrance. It stays with you much longer than a sign simply hung beside a door. It feels a little like performing a ritual before going in. I thought I had been to quite a few bars in Hongdae, but it is unusual to find one that becomes a story from the instant you enter.

The bar atmosphere beyond the bookshelf

Once you step through the door, the feel is different from the Hongdae alley outside. The high ceiling and long back bar catch your eye first, while the lighting picks out only the places that need it rather than brightening the whole room. Your gaze naturally goes toward the bar lined with bottles, while the tables retain just enough light to see each other's faces and talk.

There is jazz playing, too. You only go down a few steps from Hongdae's bustling streets, but the density of the sound feels different. Especially at the bar counter, you can watch the bartender make cocktails up close. Choosing bottles, setting out glasses, handling ice—the whole sequence unfolds right in front of you. Here, the bartender is something of a master. I was studying the menu for ages, while they already knew every next step and moved accordingly.

Signature cocktails inspired by books

Choosing from the menu was not easy either. Bitters serves signature cocktails inspired by books, so quite a few of the names make the flavor difficult to imagine immediately. Instead of choosing a familiar drink as usual, it is fun to read the descriptions and choose according to your taste.

That day, I chose Fox’s Grapes and Sherry Colada.

Fox’s Grapes was ₩22,000, and Sherry Colada was ₩19,000.

I also ordered gambas (Spanish-style garlic shrimp) for ₩25,000 and added baguette for ₩3,000.

My idea of having just one light drink tonight was quietly discarded the moment I chose from the menu.

Fox’s Grapes made me look twice because of its name

First up was Fox’s Grapes. The name catches your eye from the start. It was also where I could feel how Bitters connects its “book” concept to cocktails. Rather than being a place to drink quickly, this space suited setting down a glass and slowly following its flavor and aroma.

First, you notice the aroma as it touches your mouth; then, after a sip, you check the flavor that remains. It was a little different from absentmindedly emptying a glass while talking at a regular bar. Am I normally someone who drinks one cocktail this seriously? But looking around, everyone seemed similar. They looked at the glass once, drank, then looked at it again. At Bitters, that behavior did not feel awkward at all.

I ordered Sherry Colada as well and enjoyed two contrasting styles. With distinct names and visuals, the two glasses also photograph nicely together. More than anything, the difference between each drink came through more clearly than it would have with just one.

Should you add baguette to the gambas?

The gambas story is not complete until you add baguette. Dinner is a long time to drink only cocktails, so I ordered the ₩25,000 gambas. And I added the ₩3,000 baguette, too.

That choice was quite important.

With gambas, oil remains if you simply pick out the shrimp and finish. Take a piece of baguette and lightly soak it in the oil. At first, the crisp outside comes through; after a bite or two, the oil soaked into the inside softens the texture. Eat it with shrimp, and its springy bite joins in.

Crisp → moist → the spring of shrimp. There is an order within one bite.

At first, I wondered if extra baguette was really necessary, but I changed my mind after we had cleared a fair amount of the plate. Its ₩3,000 role is very clear.

If I ordered gambas again, I think I would add it again.

Kiosk ordering and seating

For a Hongdae cocktail bar, the ordering method is unexpectedly comfortable. The first time you visit a bar with this sort of atmosphere, ordering can make you oddly nervous. Cocktail names are unfamiliar, and asking the bartender lots of questions can make you feel as though you are revealing that you do not know much about drinks.

At Bitters, you can order from a kiosk at your seat, so there is less of that pressure. Having time to look through the menu slowly and choose is more comfortable than expected.

Of course, if you do not know cocktails well, you can also tell the bartender what you like and ask for a recommendation. Even simply saying whether you prefer something sweet or want a strongly aromatic drink narrows the options considerably.

Hours are 7:00 p.m. to 2:00 a.m. daily, with last orders at 1:30 a.m. It suits stopping by after dinner for a second venue, or making cocktails the focus of your evening plans rather than arriving early for dinner. There are not only bar seats but also tables suited to two or four people, plus a group space for up to 15, so the options are broad for dates, drinking alone, and small gatherings.

The entry process stayed with me more than the drinks

There are so many places serving cocktails in Hongdae. So the mere fact that a place has cocktails does not make it easy to find a reason to seek it out.

What made Bitters fun was everything before and after. You walk about 440 m from Hongik University Station, go down to the building's basement floor, feel briefly confused in front of an invisible entrance, and find and press the brown book. Inside, you see the long line of bottles and the bar counter, order cocktails, then carry on your conversation while dipping baguette into gambas.

Even those few seconds when I did not immediately recognize the entrance on my first visit later became part of the memory of this place. The atmosphere was good, and I was happy with both the food and cocktails, but one scene still comes to mind first whenever I think of Bitters. I pressed a brown book in the middle of Hongdae, and the night began.