Guro highball bar with window seats and cheese okonomiyaki: Hoyo Gudi

It's the start of autumn, the season when everyone's supposed to get healthy and full of energy, but I seem to be the only one gaining weight, haha. The place I'm introducing today serves teppan dishes like okonomiyaki and yakisoba that are plenty delicious on their own, but it's also one of the Santory highball spots that keeps getting selected for Highball Myeongga 100, an honor only given to places ranked in Korea's top 100 for highballs. I'd visited once before for a work dinner and remembered it being great, so this time I came back with Milssi to check it out again — here's my review of this Gudi restaurant, Gudi izakaya, Gudi bar.

Where is Hoyo Gudi Branch and what are its hours?

Hoyo Gudi Branch is on the 2nd floor of a building near Exit 3 of Gudi Station. The sign is easy to spot from outside, so even first-time visitors shouldn't have trouble finding it. Just keep in mind there's no dedicated parking lot — but Naver Reservations is available!

• Mon–Fri 17:00 – 01:50 (last order 00:40)
• Saturday 15:00 – 01:50 (last order 00:40)
• Sunday 15:00 – 00:50 (last order 23:40)

Inside Hoyo Gudi Branch: the open window seats

Besides Santory highballs, this highball specialist also serves highballs made with premium Japanese whiskies like Hibiki and Yamazaki. Honestly, it's not easy to find Hibiki or Yamazaki highballs at a typical izakaya...!

Seating is broadly split into three types: window seats, booth seats, and regular 4-person tables. The window seats in particular have a full glass wall that can be opened completely, giving that refreshing outdoor-drinking feel even though you're indoors. We visited early on a weekend evening, so no one else was there yet, which made it even better.

As a spot selected for Highball Myeongga 100, the owner is clearly serious about highballs. Displayed in front of the booth seats are Hibiki, Yamazaki, Hakushu, and Chita — a lineup of high-end Japanese whiskies. If I ever get the chance, I'd love to try them straight, just as shots...

Hoyo Gudi Branch menu and what we ordered

The Hoyo Gudi Branch menu is broadly divided into teppan dishes, fried items, soups, and others. Since this is a teppan-focused spot, we went with Hiroshima-style okonomiyaki (extra cheese) and one roll of futomaki.

A draft beer before the meal is basic etiquette and respect for the food. Writing this blog post, I'm starting to get a rough idea of why I keep gaining weight.

The free starter: silken tofu with bonito flakes

Silken tofu topped generously with sesame sauce and bonito flakes (gatsuobushi). The mild flavor of the tofu, the sweetness of the sesame sauce, and the umami of the bonito flakes came together into a great starter.

Jim Beam highball: sparkling water, ginger ale or tonic?

We also ordered a highball each. At most other izakayas, the highball is almost always mixed with tonic water, so all the whisky aroma disappears and you're basically just tasting strong tonic water. I'm personally not a fan of that. Hoyo Gudi Branch, though, is truly serious about highballs, living up to its Highball Myeongga reputation...! What I liked most was being able to choose sparkling water, ginger ale, or tonic water depending on your preference.

Hiroshima-style okonomiyaki with extra cheese

These dishes are cooked to order right there, so there's inevitably a bit of a wait, but one bite and you forget all about the waiting.

Vegetables, seafood, meat, soba noodles — and cheese melting into every layer in between, making it rich yet soft. Then the sweet flavor of the teriyaki sauce on top of it all. If you want something a bit lighter, go without the cheese and keep it basic. But if you're really in the mood for a heavy, deeply rich, truly delicious okonomiyaki today? Adding cheese is a must! This was one of the best izakaya dishes I've had in a while.

Futomaki roll and its crisp shrimp tempura

A fist-sized futomaki packed with raw salmon, egg, and fried shrimp.

The salmon, cucumber, and other ingredients were all satisfying overall, but as I noticed back when I came here for a work dinner, Hoyo Gudi Branch really knows how to fry things well. The shrimp tempura tucked inside the futomaki wasn't just crispy — you could genuinely feel that rough, alive texture of the batter.

The complimentary vegetable tempura

And here's where their frying skills really showed off: the complimentary vegetable tempura. Having eaten countless soggy vegetable tempuras from school cafeteria lunches, I generally don't like vegetable tempura at all — so the crispy texture here genuinely surprised me.

Is Hoyo Gudi Branch worth a visit?

Overall, my good memory of this place from a previous work dinner wasn't just nostalgia talking — Hoyo Gudi Branch delivers. The okonomiyaki, made fresh on the teppan, was properly rich and gooey once you added cheese, and the frying skills, from the futomaki to the complimentary vegetable tempura, were just as satisfying. Above all, as a place consistently selected for Highball Myeongga 100, you can pick sparkling water, ginger ale, or tonic water to get a highball made exactly to your taste — perfect for teppan dishes and a highball at the fully-opened window seats on a cool day...! That's it for this Gudi Station restaurant, Gudi Station izakaya, Gudi Station Japanese food spot, "Hoyo Gudi Branch," haha.