Junghwa Station bar with private rooms and fugu nabe: Gappo Ganbariya

This time I visited Gappo Ganbariya Cooking Bar Junghwa Branch, near Junghwa Station! I was looking for somewhere around Junghwa Station to have a drink with slightly more proper food than usual, and I ended up at Gappo Ganbariya, which I already knew as a well-regarded spot ♡ The menu range is pretty wide too — sashimi, nabe, grilled dishes, sushi, even pasta — so it's a great pick if you're looking for a bar near Junghwa Station or a restaurant in Junghwa-dong where you can handle a meal and drinks in one stop haha.

Gappo Ganbariya Cooking Bar Junghwa Branch

Gappo Ganbariya Junghwa Branch: seating, parking and how to order

• ✔️Building parking available (check ahead before visiting!)
• Seating: regular tables, bar counter, private room
• Solo dining: possible
• Reservations: possible
• Ordering: tablet ordering at the table
• Notable: quite a wide range of Japanese dishes — sashimi, nabe, sushi, grilled dishes, pasta and more!!

It's an easy walk from Junghwa Station, and at night the lit-up signboard made it easy to spot.

Bar seats at the open kitchen and the closable private room

The moment I walked into Gappo Ganbariya Junghwa Branch, what caught my eye was the open kitchen and bar counter! There's a bar seat facing the cooking area, which seemed great for coming in alone for a drink~

If you're looking for an izakaya near Junghwa Station where solo drinking works, keep this in mind~

There are also regular tables, and a separate room space further inside.

Since it can be closed off, it's much more private than the main hall, and the tables are generously sized, so it looked good for friend gatherings, family meals or small work dinners. (That day, some bank employees were having a work dinner there!)

What the room feels like, and the chef's background

Looking around the interior, I saw certificates and a diploma related to the chef's Japanese culinary training hanging on the wall. It's introduced as being run by a chef who graduated from Tsuji Culinary Institute in Japan.

Japanese sake bottles and decorations were placed throughout the store,

and there was even a knife display, so it felt less like an overdone Japanese-style theme and more like an actual cooking space!

The staff were also friendly, so even on a first visit I could eat comfortably :) (I tend to notice staff wherever I go, and here they kept scanning the customers with an eagle eye! Points for that!)

The in-store menu is bigger than the Naver listing

*It's quite different from the Naver menu! There are far more added items. Fair warning — lots of menu!!

What we ordered that day

• Fugu nabe (blowfish hot pot) ₩34,000
• Abalone intestine pasta ₩28,000
• Chamisul soju ₩5,000
• Zero-sugar cola ₩2,500

Gappo Ganbariya is a well-known spot in Jungnang mostly for its sashimi, but this time we skipped it and went for one soup dish and one pasta instead! With such a wide menu, it's great that you can come for sashimi, or come for a meal-plus-drinks combo.

The free starter: sweet potato chips

First, the starter snack — sweet potato chips! Thinly sliced sweet potato fried until crispy, with a slight sweetness, good for picking at while waiting for the food~

I'd noticed other reviews mentioning these chips a lot lately, and now I get why. Just a starter snack, but you keep reaching for it!!

Fugu nabe, 34,000 won, with seasoned fugu skin on the side

Gappo Ganbariya's fugu nabe (blowfish hot pot) is ₩34,000, and ordering it brings a side of seasoned fugu skin as well. It comes in a big pot generously loaded with fugu, bean sprouts, water dropwort and other vegetables — the portion alone was pretty substantial.

Once it starts bubbling, chunky pieces of fugu meat show up, and it's a clear-broth style that's great for spooning up alongside your drink.

Gappo Ganbariya's own menu description also introduces fugu nabe as a refreshing dish, and true to that, it comes generously loaded with vegetables and fugu, just like in the photo!!

The fugu meat wasn't just a token piece or two — there was enough to properly fish out, and dipping the meat lightly in soy sauce worked well too.

A shot of soju, then a warm spoonful of broth~ ahh~~~~ If you're looking for a bar near Junghwa Station and you love soupy side dishes, bookmark this one♥︎

Seasoned fugu skin (bokeo-kkeopjil-muchim)

Ordering the fugu soup also got us the seasoned fugu skin, more of a snack-style side dish~~ Perfect for casually pairing with soju!! It seemed like it would also go well shared alongside a cold dish like sashimi, so I ordered pasta on top!

What does the 28,000 won abalone intestine pasta taste like?

Gappo Ganbariya's abalone intestine pasta is ₩28,000. It definitely stands out visually haha.

The pasta noodles are tossed in a deep-colored sauce made with abalone intestines, topped with abalone and cheese. Baguette slices came alongside too, so you could dip them in the sauce!

The distinctive rich, savory flavor of the abalone intestines coats the noodles all the way through, so if you're expecting an ordinary cream or oil pasta, this is definitely a different experience~~

I ate the noodles plain for a while, then piled a piece of abalone on top, and adding a little wasabi gave it yet another flavor. The sauce was quite rich, so putting the leftover sauce on the baguette worked really well too.

If you search for restaurants in Junghwa-dong, you usually get a lot of meat places or raw fish restaurants, so being able to enjoy pasta alongside Japanese-style cooking like this was the fun part of Gappo Ganbariya💕✨️

Looking at Gappo Ganbariya's menu, there are quite a lot of options — five-color sashimi, aged sashimi, sea urchin and sweet shrimp perilla oil soba, nabe, grilled dishes, sushi, and more.

So it made me think that next time I should come specifically for the sashimi-plus-drinks combo haha.

Solo drinks or a group dinner: which seat to pick

• ✔️If you're coming alone, you can enjoy solo drinking near Junghwa Station at the bar counter facing the open kitchen; come as a pair and use a regular table; come with a group and use the private room.
• ✔️If it's a gathering where you need to talk quietly, booking the room in advance seems like a good idea~
• ✔️The staff were friendly and the store was fairly clean, so we sat and ate comfortably for a long time.
• ✔️Rather than a plain drinking spot in Junghwa-dong, this suited days when I wanted to properly order and eat real food alongside drinks.

If you're looking for a restaurant in Jungnang, a restaurant in Junghwa-dong, or a bar near Junghwa Station, this place has a wide menu range from sashimi lovers to fans of a hot, steaming nabe, plus everything from solo drinking to private room gatherings — worth a visit :)