Hapjeong pub for grilled rockfish and mini kimchi pancake: Bako Jumak

Dinner and a drink tonight!! Met up with my ride-or-die friend near Hapjeong Station for a round at Bako Jumak.

We both get off work pretty early so we're always doing opening runs haha. Their hours here are 5 PM to 4 AM the next day (last order 3 AM).

Inside Bako Jumak near Hapjeong Station: graffiti on every wall

Bako Jumak is a Korean bar sitting between Hapjeong and Sangsu stations, and honestly the exterior alone tells you exactly what you're walking into lol

Every wall that is a wall is packed with graffiti, and the ceiling even has these lantern-style lights on top of it.

It's kind of fun trying to figure out who wrote what and when. But even the hallway to the bathroom is covered in graffiti lol finding a clean wall here is honestly the harder task 🤣 There are window-side tables that give off outdoor-tent vibes too haha.

Oh and, the bathroom here was pretty ordinary but it smelled amazing! The women's bathroom is inside, the men's is outside — separate like that, which I like lol

Does Bako Jumak serve Hanmaek and zero-alcohol beer?

First we ordered beer. They had Hanmaek bottled beer, which my friend loves. Not that many places carry Hanmaek actually, but my friend's team switches to soju after one beer anyway, so she usually just drinks whatever beer I'm having — meanwhile I'm a lightweight by default so beer is just beer to me lol lol. I ordered Hanmaek in her honor though. I'm still not enough of a beer person to fully get the fine points of Hanmaek-team taste 🤣

I also drive a lot, so when I go to bars I always check if they have zero-alcohol beer. Bako Jumak has it too!

Oh I love this kind of thing ♡ Even on nights I can't drink, I can still eat the food and vibe with everyone. Not that it applied tonight though. Tonight was a 'we're drinking!!' night, so I just checked the zero beer on the menu and quietly drank my Hanmaek lol

Beef sashimi (small): two textures on one plate

Today's main was Bako Jumak's beef sashimi, small size.

The portion was pretty generous, and I liked that one plate came with cuts of different textures. The part with tendon gets chewier the more you chew it. Yeah, this is exactly what eating beef sashimi is about!! On the flip side, the fattier cut was way softer and nuttier. Chewy team eats, soft team eats.

Felt like getting two flavors out of one order haha. And it's not just plain beef sashimi dropped on the table — it comes with a bunch of things to pair it with, like gamtae (seasoned laver), chives, onion, and garlic.

Put a piece of beef sashimi on the gamtae, add chives and veggies, a touch of wasabi. Pop it in your mouth all at once and — wham — the gamtae aroma with the nutty beef sashimi flavor ♡ Totally different from eating the beef sashimi plain, and I loved that.

Grilled rockfish at Bako Jumak: why the dipping sauce is worth it

And then the grilled bollak (rockfish).

Not that many bars these days serve grilled bollak, right? When I see a menu item like this I can't just walk past it lol. It came out grilled to a nice golden brown, and the flesh was clean-tasting and nutty. Only thing personally, I wished the salt seasoning had been just a touch stronger.

But then... seeing that they also serve a separate seasoned dipping sauce, I figured maybe they intentionally kept the seasoning lighter expecting you to dip it. And salt sensitivity really varies person to person, so this is purely my own palate talking! If you're on team salty like me, eat it with the sauce lol

Mini kimchi pancakes, 2 for ₩8,000: the carb refill

So there we were, eating beef sashimi and working through the grilled bollak... and I wasn't exactly hungry, but something felt missing. What was it? Ah. Carbs.🤣 That sudden carb-transfusion moment that hits mid-drinking lol. So we ordered the mini kimchi pancake.

I love places that have side menu options like this. You know how it is — when you're craving kimchijeon or buchujeon and check the menu, one order is usually giant and priced around ₩20,000. If you've already eaten your bar snacks, ordering it feels like too much, but skipping it feels like a waste... and after agonizing you usually end up going 'ugh... never mind... let's not' — that's what jeon does to you lol

But here it's ₩8,000 for two mini kimchi pancakes! This is exactly what I wanted ♡ Not an overwhelming portion, and perfect for splitting between two people for a carb refill. No need to feel stuffed just to get your pancake fix lol

Bako Jumak in Hapjeong: the kind of night it suits

Starting with beef sashimi, tearing into the grilled bollak, filling up on carbs with the kimchi pancake, and a beer to wash it all down — the menu lineup at this Hapjeong Bako Jumak was surprisingly satisfying. There's a proper main dish like the beef sashimi, grilled items, and sides perfect for when you want just a little more — good for a group ordering a bit of everything.

And above all... I'm usually the lightweight who loves places with zero beer, but tonight was a 'I'm drinking tonight' kind of night and I had actual beer lol lol Gotta have those days too 🤣 If you're in Hapjeong craving beef sashimi with a drink, or looking for somewhere to lay out a spread of Korean-style bar food, this place is worth a visit ♡