Guro bar for jjagyaechi and charcoal BBQ chicken: Monthly Beer

Going home after just one round always feels like a waste, haha. Since I live in Guro, there's a bar I've walked past countless times — Monthly Beer Guro Digital Complex Station Branch (월간맥주 구로디지털단지역점)!

I'd been to other branches before, but this was my first time at the Guro one. I'd been curious about it, and while looking for a second-round spot, I finally stopped by, haha.

What Monthly Beer in Guro feels like — quiet enough for a small work dinner?

Monthly Beer Guro Digital Complex Station Branch has generous spacing between tables and feels quite pleasant overall. Rather than a loud, chaotic bar atmosphere, it's the kind of place where friends or coworkers can chat comfortably over drinks, so it seemed fine for a small gathering or company dinner.

If you're looking for a Guro bar for a group, this isn't ideal for a huge crowd, but for a handful of people it feels just right! It wasn't awkward for a couple on a second date or for friends having a casual drink either.

Prices at Monthly Beer: 3,900 won Hoegaarden, 4,000 won soju

The most notable thing about Monthly Beer is definitely the beer prices🍺 They feature a different discounted imported beer every month, and that day it happened to be Hoegaarden at ₩3,900, so I ordered it immediately, haha. Given how much a glass of beer costs these days, ₩3,900 felt refreshingly light on the wallet. Being able to drink imported beer at this price was pretty great.

What's really impressive is that soju and beer here are both ₩4,000... A lot of places charge ₩5,000 for basic soju now, so ₩4,000 is genuinely easy to drink without worry. Imported beers start from ₩3,900 too, and the draft beer prices are decent, which felt fitting for a beer specialty bar.

The food menu overall was also reasonably priced. There's a wide range from chicken and pizza to pasta, simple bar snacks, and desserts, so it seemed easy to pick something for a second round. Above all, Monthly Beer apparently prepares its dishes fresh in the kitchen once an order comes in, rather than serving pre-packaged, one-pack meals. Because everything is made from scratch, the menu felt varied and substantial enough to eat as a real meal.

The free snack starter and the corn cheese you get for a review

As soon as we sat down, they brought out a basic side dish — a mix of various snacks. Why is it that Jjanggu crackers taste so good when you haven't had them in a while🤣 I kept picking at them one by one while drinking, and before I knew it my hand kept going back for more, haha.

They're also running a review event, so if you participate you can get corn cheese too! A bar without corn cheese just feels incomplete, haha. Getting a free extra snack like this through the event was a nice bonus.

Charcoal BBQ chicken piled with rice cakes and chicken skin

The first dish we ordered at Monthly Beer Guro was the charcoal BBQ chicken🔥 It came coated in a sweet barbecue sauce, packed with rice cakes and chicken thigh meat. And there was quite a lot of chicken skin too, which I love!! haha.

The chicken was tender and the sweet sauce paired well with beer, and with the chewy rice cakes mixed in, it was a perfect snack for drinking. Anyone who loves rice cakes can't resist this dish, haha.

Jjagyaechi: black bean noodles with egg and cheese, cooked just right

The second thing we ordered was jjagyaechi! The staff here clearly know how to handle instant noodles,,,🤣 The doneness of the noodles was exactly to my taste. Not overcooked, just the right texture, and with the soft-boiled egg and cheese mixed in, the richness was on point. When you mix it all together, the visual is genuinely something else, ugh... just thinking about it again while writing this makes me want more, haha.

The salty, rich flavor typical of jjajang instant noodles, combined with the savoriness of the cheese and the soft yolk of the egg, made this less of a bar snack and more of a dish you just keep eating.

It went especially well alongside the charcoal BBQ chicken — a bite of the sweet chicken followed by a bite of jjagyaechi was a great combo.

And the Hoegaarden, which I hadn't had in a while, was so good🍺 At ₩3,900 I ordered it without any hesitation, and maybe because it had been a while, it tasted even better, haha.

But after eating the BBQ chicken and jjagyaechi, I ended up way fuller than expected🤣 So I ended up switching from beer to soju, haha.

Turns out soju paired surprisingly well with the jjagyaechi and BBQ chicken too. And since the soju was ₩4,000, I could drink without worrying about the price — that day really felt like great value for money, haha.

Why Monthly Beer works for a second round in Guro

Monthly Beer changes its imported beer promotion every month, so there'd be some fun in checking out which beer is discounted each visit. You can enjoy imported beer at low prices, and with such a varied snack menu, it seems especially suited for a day when you just want a casual second round! It also stays open late on weekends as well as weekdays, so it seemed like a good option when you're looking for a second or third stop after starting your night out in Guro.

In particular, if you've had your first or second round at Guro Byeolbam and are wondering "where next?", moving over to Monthly Beer Guro branch seems like a good call. It's easy to reach from Guro's main commercial area, and since it operates late, timing works out well too, haha. Whether it's a date where you want to chat comfortably over drinks rather than sit somewhere too quiet, a small dinner with coworkers, or a casual second round with friends, the vibe fit all of those situations without issue.

Above all, without a heavy price tag, you can drink a wide range from imported beer to soju to draft beer, and the food ranges from chicken to jjagyaechi, so there's a wide choice of menu — that's another advantage! If you keep ending up at the same old bars while looking for a spot in Guro, a place like this might be worth trying. Especially for those looking for a good-value bar or a solid Guro bar recommendation, it's worth a visit at least once🍻 If you're like me and find it a shame to go home after just one round, haha... when you're looking for a second-round spot in Guro, I recommend Monthly Beer Guro branch!

If you're searching for a Guro bar and want somewhere reasonably calm rather than too loud and chaotic, or if you're looking for a group spot or small company dinner venue in Guro, this could work well. Today too, I ended up eating my fill and drinking properly before heading home🤣🍻 Already looking forward to the next second round... I'll definitely be back to Monthly Beer, haha.