Yongsan tteokbokki shop, weekend date with my husband: Hyeonseonine

Hyeonseonine Yongsan Main Branch: location, hours and parking

Hyeonseonine Yongsan Main Branch (현선이네 용산본점) is at 2-13 Hangang-daero 39-gil, Yongsan-gu, Seoul (lot-number address: Hangangno 2-ga 305-1). It is open daily 11:00–24:00, with last order at 22:40.

For parking, there is a paid lot, Bareum Gihoek parking lot, on the alley you drive in through.

How long is the weekend lunch wait at Hyeonseonine?

We hit the weekend lunch rush, so I think we waited more than 30 minutes at Hyeonseonine Yongsan Main Branch T_T

Do you know Hyeonseonine? It started as a street food stall in 2004, now runs 8 company-owned shops, and is called one of Seoul's top 3 tteokbokki (spicy rice cakes) places. Whenever I went to IFC Mall in Yeouido or The Hyundai, the basement shop was always packed, and I thought, it must be good, I have to try it once! I finally made it to the main branch!!

How to order at Hyeonseonine and what's on the menu

At Hyeonseonine Yongsan Main Branch, you put your name on the waitlist with your phone number at the kiosk, and they call you in order. After you're guided in, you order at the kiosk at the front of the shop, which was convenient.

The Hyeonseonine menu is split mainly into regular tteokbokki and instant (cook-at-the-table) tteokbokki.

Pickled radish, tempura flakes, soy sauce, salt and more are at the self-bar next to the front kiosk. We took only as much as we'd eat and set it up on the table.

Hyeonseonine Combo Set, ₩25,000: what's in it?

The Hyeonseonine Combo Set is ₩25,000 and comes with tteokbokki (you choose the spice level), mixed fritters, mini gimbap (seaweed rice rolls), sundae (Korean blood sausage), and 3 long fish cake skewers. It's the regular Hyeonseon set with the long fish cake added.

The difference is only ₩2,000, and you get 3 big fish cakes extra, so I think the combo set is the better deal if you can manage it!

Medium-spice tteokbokki: how hot is it?

We ordered the Hyeonseonine tteokbokki at medium. The menu says it's slightly spicier than Shin Ramyun, and it seems to be the level most people prefer!

The first bite was pretty spicy, but it was sweet too, so I kept reaching for more haha

They say the hot level is extreme even for spice lovers, and even though I like spicy food, medium felt just right at Hyeonseonine. I could spoon up the broth and only get a slightly runny nose, a tasty kind of spicy?! If I have a child someday, I might try the mild level too, the sweet nostalgic flavor even little kids can enjoy haha

4 mini gimbap rolls

The Hyeonseonine Combo Set comes with 4 mini gimbap rolls, and eaten together with everything else, it was pretty filling!

Inside, like regular gimbap, there's pickled radish, egg strips, cucumber, crab stick, ham and more, so it's enough for a meal by itself. They're sprinkled with sesame seeds and pleasantly sweet, which I was totally happy with too.

Sundae with liver

I loved that Hyeonseonine lets you pick your sundae setup to taste: sundae only, sundae + liver, or sundae + liver + lung. We went with liver and sundae.

There was no gamey smell at all and it was nutty, so I kept dipping it in salt~ It was also excellent dipped in the sweet and spicy tteokbokki sauce 👍🏼

Mixed fritters, a good size for 2

The Hyeonseonine mixed fritters come with 2 of each so two people can try everything, which I liked. Squid, dumpling, gimmari (glass noodle roll), sweet potato and vegetable fritters were all generously included.

They were fried ahead of time, so they weren't hot, but dipped in soy sauce or the tteokbokki sauce, they tasted great.

3 long fish cake skewers, only in the combo set

The Hyeonseonine Combo Set adds exactly these 3 long fish cake skewers, and wow... they were seriously filling haha (gulp)

They're very long, as the name says, and somehow they felt even bigger than the ones at street stalls..! Just one and I was nearly full. They come with hot broth, so they'd be perfect on a cold winter day!

Try dipping Hyeonseonine tteokbokki in tempura flakes

Dipping the self-bar tempura flakes onto the rice cakes and fish cakes of the regular tteokbokki is a real treat. My husband brought some flakes from the self-bar, and I wasn't eating them, thinking they'd be better sprinkled on instant tteokbokki, but when I tried dipping the tteokbokki fish cake and rice cake in them, wow..! A revolutionary new world!!!

The nuttiness really comes up, a treat among treats haha If you come to Hyeonseonine, please do try it this way!!

A lunch date near Yongridan-gil?

Hyeonseonine Yongsan Main Branch is close to both Yongsan Station and Samgakji Station, so it's great for a date around IPark Mall or Yongridan-gil. There are plenty of places to walk around after a big meal, which made lunch even more satisfying :)

Hyeonseonine near Sinyongsan Station does delivery and takeout too! I was so happy to find a spicy tteokbokki place I keep thinking about haha