Suyu izakaya with a 32,000-won 5-course set and counter seats: Bunko

Today I want to introduce a great spot in Suyu for a good drink with a nice vibe. This time I visited Bunko Suyu! I wanted a drink with tasty food, so I went to check it out haha

Bunko Suyu has plenty of regular à la carte dishes, but it also has a course menu with 5 dishes for ₩32,000 per person, which is great for anyone who wants to enjoy a variety of food at once 😽

We ordered the course menu and tried each dish one by one! Tasting a little of many dishes rather than just one was great for pairing with drinks haha. Today I'll walk you through Bunko Suyu's atmosphere and the course menu we ordered, one dish at a time!

Where is Bunko Suyu, and what are the hours?

• Address: 34-4 Dobong-ro 87-gil, 2nd floor, Gangbuk-gu, Seoul, South Korea
• Hours: Tue-Thu 18:00-02:00 / Fri-Sat 17:00-02:00 / Sun 17:00-01:00
• Closed Mondays
• Parking: use the public parking lot

Bunko Suyu is on the 2nd floor, so you climb a set of stairs to get in! At the 1st floor entrance there's a menu board out front, so you can check what's on offer before heading up. Since you can preview the menu and prices before going in, it's an easy way for anyone curious about the place to check it out without pressure haha. We browsed the menu on the 1st floor first, then went up to the 2nd floor and inside.

Counter seats or a table: can you drink alone at Bunko Suyu?

Going further inside Bunko Suyu, I found not just counter (dachi) seats but table seating too :) When I visited there were people eating at the tables inside, so to avoid disturbing them I didn't take many interior photos — mostly photographed the empty counter seats!

With the counter seats, it's good for solo drinking or for two people, and with separate tables too, groups of two or more can also use the space without worry haha.

The Bunko Suyu menu and the sake discount

Now let's take a look at Bunko Suyu's menu board. Bunko Suyu has everything from set menus to a variety of à la carte side dishes! Like the one we ordered, there's a set menu where you can enjoy several dishes as a course, and also plenty of à la carte options where you can just order whatever you're craving haha.

They also have soju, beer, and various types of sake, so it's great for choosing a drink to match your taste 🍶 And if you order sake, you get a whopping ₩10,000 off the sashimi included in the set menu! If you love the sake-and-sashimi combo, this perk is worth grabbing.

You can enjoy several dishes as a course, or pick à la carte dishes you want individually — a place that's easy to use however suits your taste 🫶🏻

The starters: bean sprout salad and sweet pumpkin salad

We ordered the 2-person set menu. My friend couldn't drink today, so they ordered a Coke, and I ordered a highball 🥃🥤 After ordering, the bean sprout salad came out first as a default side! The bean sprouts were crisp and dressed cleanly, making it a nice light bite before the courses started haha.

It wasn't listed on the menu board, but they also brought out a sweet pumpkin salad! 🎃 It caught my eye with how prettily it was plated. Tasting it, the sweet, soft flavor of the pumpkin really came through — better than I expected haha.

First in the 32,000-won course: menchi katsu

Then the menchi katsu included in the set came out. It looked crispy fried, so I was curious how it'd taste, and I was surprised at how juicy it was inside! Taking a bite, the juices came through moist and savory — really delicious haha. I thought menchi katsu was just crispy fried food, but it was more juicy and flavorful inside than I expected, and I really enjoyed it.

The centrepiece: seasonal aged sashimi

And then finally, the sashimi — the real main of the set menu — arrived! 🐟✨ At Bunko Suyu, they apparently age their seasonal sashimi before serving. I actually prefer aged raw fish over regular, so I was really happy the moment this came out haha.

I love the distinctive umami of aged sashimi, and the sashimi itself was plated beautifully, so it was a pleasure to look at too! The neat, elegant presentation was so pretty that I took several photos. As you'd expect from the main of the course, this sashimi was satisfying in both looks and taste 🤍

Seeing everything laid out together like this made it look even more appetizing! 🤭 Each dish looked good coming out one at a time, but laid out as a full spread like this, the food looked even more generous haha.

We had a highball alongside the delicious side dishes. With a table full of good food and a cold highball to go with it, the mood really came together. Sipping the highball between bites of each dish, the atmosphere felt really good 💝

Six pieces of sushi served omakase-style

While we were still enjoying ourselves, the 6-piece sushi included in the set arrived next! 🍣 With each dish coming out one after another, it really felt like we were experiencing a proper course haha. After the sashimi, having the sushi arrive too made it start to feel like an omakase, which was fun lol. Having the dishes come out in sequence like this feels like another charm of the set menu.

By this point I was already starting to feel a bit full lol. But then my friend suddenly said, "We still have pasta and jjamppong left!!!" lol. Oh right... there was still more to eat 😂 Having already had sashimi and sushi, I was a little full, but with pasta and jjamppong still to come... well, in front of good food, there's always room haha.

Crab-guts pasta, then jjamppong to finish

Next up was the crab guts pasta! 🦀🍝 I'm usually a fan of organ meats, so I was really happy to see this dish. It had that rich, deep flavor unique to crab guts, and it was really my kind of thing! The savory, intense flavor of the crab guts paired well with the pasta — delicious.

And now the last dish — jjamppong (spicy seafood noodle soup)!!! The smell as soon as it came out was so good that I blurted out, "Oh, that smells amazing...!" lol. Even with my stomach fairly full, one sip of the broth was so delicious! Being a spicy, rich jjamppong, my spoon kept going back for more even while I was full haha.

After finishing the jjamppong, all 5 courses were finally done! At ₩32,000 per person, going through sashimi, menchi katsu, sushi, crab guts pasta, and jjamppong in sequence really felt like a solid, well-rounded lineup.

Is Bunko Suyu better for a date or a solo drink?

Overall, Bunko Suyu was a great place to enjoy good food and drinks together :) It's good for visiting with two or more people for tasty side dishes and a drink, and since there are counter seats as well as tables, it seemed like a solid spot for solo drinking too!

Personally, I'd want to come back here on a Friday evening after work. After a tiring week, having delicious dishes come out one by one on a Friday night, paired with a drink, feels like properly treating myself for a hard week's work 🥹

Getting 6 courses(five dishes) for ₩32,000 per person is really solid value too! Going through sashimi, sushi, menchi katsu, crab guts pasta, and jjamppong in sequence, I got to keep looking forward to what would come out next, right to the end haha. If you're looking for a place for a date with a nice vibe in Suyu, or just want a casual solo drink, I'd recommend Bunko Suyu! 🥰