Six-seat table pizza night in Hapjeong: Hongdae Hwadeok Pizza

With a name that plain, you already know Hongdae Hwadeok Pizza near Sangsu Station is going to be a solid spot. Here's my review of this Neapolitan pizza and Italian pasta place — let's go!

Where is Hongdae Hwadeok Pizza, and when is it open?

5 Dokmak-ro 7-gil, 1st floor, Mapo-gu, Seoul, South Korea

• Hours: 11:30-22:00
• Weekday break time: 15:30-16:30
• Closed every Tuesday
• Closed on Chuseok Day

Hongdae Hwadeok Pizza is an easy walk from Hapjeong or Sangsu Station. In the ever-changing commercial streets of Hongdae, this place has stuck around for a good long while — that's no small feat. I've been a few times before, and it's clearly a place that sticks to the fundamentals of good pizza rather than chasing trends.

A log-cabin interior with a table for six

The interior feels like a log cabin, or maybe a storeroom deep inside a castle.

Hanging lights and card garlands make the space feel even more antique. It's a nice stop for a Hongdae date, and with a table for six, it also works well for a group of friends.

The Vesuvius stone oven and 72-hour cold-fermented dough

To the right of the entrance is the oven — and it's not just for looks, it's actually built from Italian Vesuvius volcanic stone. It hits 400°C at peak, cooking the pizza beautifully.

The dough uses just five pure ingredients, cold-fermented for 72 hours, then shaped by hand rather than machine — you can see the extra care that goes into this Sangsu Station favorite.

Choosing the menu: half-and-half or Quattro Stagioni

There are a bunch of pizzas with different toppings, and each one is marked with a spice level. If you can't decide, you can go half-and-half so there's less of an argument (haha) — you get two flavors on one pizza.

And the most popular pick is the Quattro Stagioni pizza, which lets you try four flavors at once! So I went straight for that, and paired it with vongole pasta.

Here comes the Quattro Stagioni pizza and the vongole pasta! I ordered one Coke and they thoughtfully brought two cups of ice — nice touch.

Quattro Stagioni pizza, kept warm by a candle burner

The oven-baked Quattro Stagioni pizza arrived on a stand with a candle burner underneath, so it stayed warm the whole time we ate.

Baked at high heat in the wood-fired oven, the flavor really came through, and the crust developed those distinctive char marks. The edge was chewy too, so there was nothing left to leave behind. It's leavened with yeast alone, so it's easy on digestion as well!

They use premium natural cheese, so the mozzarella and Italian cheeses had this amazing rich aroma and texture. I think margherita is the true test of a wood-fired pizza — the balance of ingredients was great, and the sauce, made in-house, had that homemade quality.

Vongole pasta with plenty of briny broth

The vongole pasta, packed with clams and mussels, had great savory depth! There was plenty of broth to soak the noodles in, which made it deliciously moist.

The zucchini added a familiar note, and the noodles were cooked just right! Picking through the plump mussels and clams was half the fun.

Four flavors on a single pizza

The Quattro Formaggi pizza, with gorgonzola, cream cheese, reggiano and mozzarella, is a dream for cheese lovers — drizzled with syrup for a great sweet-and-salty balance.

There was also the Croccante with shrimp and garlic chips, and the spicy Diavola with spicy chorizo — all four flavors were so good it was hard to pick a favorite.

If you're craving pizza in Hongdae, I fully recommend this Sangsu Station favorite, Hongdae Hwadeok Pizza!