Weekend Jonggak Station pub: mud duck jeonbyeong to go, Ari Gyegok

I was out in Jongno on a weekend evening after a long time and wanted a proper meal and a drink, so I headed to Ari Gyegok Jonggak (아리계곡 종각점)! I often look up good places near Jonggak Station, and this one had been getting a lot of buzz lately, so I was curious.

Where is Ari Gyegok Jonggak? Location, hours and parking

Ari Gyegok Jonggak is at 41 Ujeongguk-ro 2-gil, Jongno-gu, Seoul, on the 1st floor. It is open 16:30–02:00 Sunday to Thursday (last order 01:30) and 16:30–03:00 Friday and Saturday (last order 02:30). There is no parking, so you need to use the public roadside parking lot in front of Jonggak.

How long is the weekend evening wait at Ari Gyegok Jonggak?

The pub runs on two floors, but when I came on a weekend evening the 1st floor was already full. If you're worried about waiting, you can check the live queue and register on Catch Table, so I'd recommend checking before you go.

The atmosphere at this Jonggak Station pub

The first thing I noticed when I walked into Ari Gyegok Jonggak was the atmosphere. The softly dim lighting and moody interior make it a perfect spot for a drink. It works for a date near Jonggak Station, and it's just as good for relaxed chats with friends.

Ari Gyegok Jonggak menu and drinks

The signature dishes are the Original Chicken Hot Pot (wongi dakjeongol), the spicy hangover chicken hot pot and the perilla seed chicken hot pot. The menu is quite impressive, true to the name "Ari Gyegok" (valley), and I'd recommend it if you're looking for Korean chicken soup or chicken dishes near Jonggak.

Besides the hot pots, there are seasoned dishes, stir-fries, jeon (savory pancakes) and fried dishes, and set menus, so you can choose by taste, which is a plus! With such variety it also seems like a good spot for a Jonggak get-together or a wedding invitation meetup.

As a Jonggak Station pub, the drinks lineup is better than expected!! There's soju and beer, of course, plus yakju (refined rice wine), fruit wine, makgeolli and highballs. Even a group with different tastes can each pick what they like at this Jongno pub.

What we ordered: mud duck jeonbyeong and two highballs

At Ari Gyegok Jonggak we ordered the limited-run mud duck jeonbyeong, an omija highball and a bokbunja-watermelon highball!! Tasty food and tasty drinks ♥

How do the omija and bokbunja-watermelon highballs taste?

The highballs came out first, and they already looked delicious!!! The vivid colors and glasses packed with cold ice quenched my thirst just by looking. You can definitely smell the alcohol, but the fruit flavor blends in well, so even people who don't drink much can enjoy them without any burden~

What is the limited-run mud duck jeonbyeong?

Mud duck jeonbyeong (진흙오리전병) is a limited-run dish at Ari Gyegok Jonggak: a whole deep-fried duck coated in mustard sauce that looks like mud, served hanging. It arrived faster than I expected, and the unusual look had me staring.. I was so excited, because it's a presentation you don't see often.

Once I tried it, I immediately understood why it's a limited-run item. The duck is really crispy outside and juicy inside, and the texture is overwhelming!! It's textbook crispy-outside, moist-inside. On top of that, the mustard sauce brings out the duck's flavor while cutting the greasiness, so it's even more delicious.

Mud duck jeonbyeong with lettuce salad and fried dumpling wrappers

The mud duck jeonbyeong comes with a lettuce salad and crispy fried dumpling wrappers. Eating the duck with the salad adds a fresh note, so you never get tired of it!!

Add the crunch of the fried dumpling wrappers and the texture is just crazy good. I personally love crunchy food, so the mud duck jeonbyeong has become my all-time favorite.

How much is extra salad with the mud duck jeonbyeong?

At Ari Gyegok Jonggak you can order extra salad for the mud duck jeonbyeong for ₩2,000. Partway through the salad felt like too little, and since you can add more, I ordered it without a second thought~ The happiness of ₩2,000! I could enjoy it to the very end, so good good.

The food was so great that I added more drinks too~ The bokbunja-watermelon highball in particular, with its harmony of sweet and fresh, is a fantastic match for the mud duck jeonbyeong!!

Can you get mud duck jeonbyeong to go?

The mud duck jeonbyeong at Ari Gyegok Jonggak can be taken away, and it was so, so delicious that I got it to go too!! It's well made enough that it's good even reheated at home or cold. It's not your typical pub snack but a dish worthy of being called real cooking, so I'm happy to call this a great Jonggak Station spot.

It's a Jonggak Station place where you can enjoy tasty food and a variety of drinks in a nice atmosphere. If you want to try something different or need a special place to meet up, Ari Gyegok Jonggak is worth a visit.