Hapjeong bar for autumn skewers and beer: Soottori

An autumn evening when it felt too early to go straight home

After doing an escape room, it was a pleasantly cool autumn evening 🍂—not hot, not cold—and you know how it feels a little sad to head straight home on a day like that. We were peckish, but not starving. So we started thinking about having a light drink. “Should we have a drink in the cool breeze?” That is how we ended up at Soottori Hongdae Hapjeong (숯토리 홍대합정점).

Soottori is a chain, so this was not actually my first visit. I went when I was in Chuncheon too, and every time I go, I think, “For a chain, they have done the interior so well.”

As it happened, Soottori had its doors thrown wide open that day, so the cool autumn breeze wafted right into the dining room.

A Soottori Omakase set you can choose to suit your taste

Look at the menu! Soottori's menu is reasonably priced to begin with, and a big plus is its wide range of set menus, which you can choose according to your taste. Even within a set, you pick one of several soba options and choose the skewers in the combination you want, so you can put together exactly what you feel like eating. I guess that is why it is called Soottori Omakase!

The mood created by open doors and low dividers

The dining room is not huge, but I liked how each table had low partition walls, naturally separating you from the next table. It is not a stuffy, fully enclosed layout—just private enough to enjoy a drink. (The older I get, the more I like places like this. Dark, with just the right amount of privacy, haha.) Rather than a loud drinking spot, I loved that we could talk comfortably without worrying about the table next to us. Even though it was not an outdoor terrace, the open doors gave it the airy feeling of sitting at an outdoor pocha. It made picking at skewers one by one with a drink even nicer.

Sitting under the dim, soft lighting with the cool breeze coming in from outside—it was exactly the right atmosphere for a drink on an autumn evening, right? (I wanted a window seat, but they were so popular that we could not get one..)

Icy draft beer and the Soottori Omakase Japan Pasta Set

We had icy draft beer and the “Soottori Omakase Japan Pasta Set” (₩38,900). It comes with your choice of crab canapés or mashed potatoes, 11 assorted skewers, and your choice of hamburger steak Napolitan, takoyaki soba, or spicy beef brisket soba!! This is why, when you cannot decide where to go, it is Soottori. Haha.

The crab canapés and skewers just kept comiiiiing out~

A canapé with cheese and cherry tomatoes on an Ivy cracker, which I absolutely, absolutely love the most. I make these at home often too, haha.

There was a bacon-wrapped sausage skewer and a shishito pepper? That shishito pepper was seriously spicy and delicious.

The knee cartilage skewer had a nice crunchy-chewy bite too.

Cheers~ I had icy draft beer, and my boyfriend had non-alcoholic beer.

Chewy chicken-heart and cheese skewers

My favorite among the skewers: chicken hearts!! They were clean and nutty without that distinctive off smell, and because they were grilled over charcoal, they had a gentle smoky aroma too—they were much tastier than I expected. Best of all, they were not overly tough and had such a pleasantly chewy texture.

The nicely browned exterior had a pronounced charcoal aroma, and when I tried it, it was lean yet nutty, with a fairly rich meaty flavor.

Can you see that moist, bouncy look? Honestly, Soottori's bar food is such good quality and such great value!

My boyfriend's pick was a skewer loaded with cheese!

A total success for our Hapjeong date

Every time I visit Soottori, whichever branch I go to, it never disappoints. The menu is thoughtfully put together, it is good value, and the interior is so nicely done that I am happy every time. I think our Hongdae-Hapjeong date was a total success today!

Next time, I want to sit at this window seat, look outside, and have a drink with the breeze drifting in. Haha. We had a delicious light drink, then went for a walk.

A mid-thirties night-time aerial shot? A top-of-the-head shot? Anyway, apparently this is how people take them, so I gave it a try. Is this right? All I can see is my sparse-looking crown.