Seomyeon pub highballs with a ₩30,000 dakdoritang set: Yetnal Tongdak

I was looking for somewhere to have a relaxed drink with a friend in Seomyeon, and we ended up at Yetnal Tongdak & Tang Seomyeon Branch. Yetnal Tongdak & Tang first got famous with its original Yeonsan-dong branch, which apparently gets busy enough to have a wait. This Seomyeon branch, though, we could walk right into without waiting, which was great. On weekends or during busy hours you start worrying about the wait before you even sit down, but here we got a table pretty comfortably.

What is Yetnal Tongdak & Tang Seomyeon Branch like inside?

The vibe at Yetnal Tongdak & Tang Seomyeon Branch leans into that hip retro feel that's trendy these days. It's a space that brings back an old-school mood, and I found it really charming.

It's a relaxed, natural atmosphere, which I liked. Good for a light chat with friends! That said, because of the nature of the space, you do hear other tables' conversations, so it might be a bit lacking if you want a quiet date spot. Personally I'd recommend it more for a friends' get-together or a work dinner than a date. This kind of lively, noisy atmosphere actually suits eating and drinking with a group much better.

The free starter snacks, and yes, they refill

The basic side dishes were cabbage salad, shrimp chips, and pickled radish. And they're refillable!

What comes in the ₩30,000 dakdoritang and gizzard fry set

What we ordered that day was the dakdoritang + gizzard fry set, priced at ₩30,000! I liked that the Yetnal Tongdak & Tang menu has a set where you can have dakdoritang together with chicken or gizzard fry, and it was interesting that they also sell a fruit-and-chicken set. It seemed like a good size for 2–3 people to share as drinking snacks.

Drink events and the retro look of the Seomyeon branch

If you leave a receipt review, there's a dalgona (honeycomb candy) draw event, and if you book through Naver Reservation you get a free gizzard side dish. Apparently Yetnal Tongdak & Tang uses 100% chicken thigh meat and domestic Harim chicken.

We casually ordered a grapefruit highball and a green apple highball each while waiting for the food.

The gizzard fry we kept reaching for

My friend and I ordered this because we wanted to relive the gizzard fry we used to eat back in college, and dipped fresh and crispy in the sauce it came with, the combination was so good. The crunch plus the sauce made it the kind of thing where you eat one piece and then reach for another. If you're someone who likes gizzards as a drinking snack, I think you'll really like this.

Dakdoritang that is sweet rather than spicy

The dakdoritang sauce at Yetnal Tongdak & Tang was less spicy and sweeter than I expected. Instead of an aggressively spicy style, the sweet-ish sauce went really well with the chicken. That made it easy to eat as a drinking snack, and personally I thought it'd also be great with a separate bowl of rice as a hangover meal. Soaking the glass noodles in the broth and eating them with the chicken was especially good.

It was packed with glass noodles, rice cake sticks, quail eggs, and thick-cut scallions.

Who should order the dakdoritang and gizzard fry combo?

These days there are so many new restaurants and bars opening up that a space keeping this kind of old-school feel actually felt refreshing. It brought back memories of eating gizzard fry as a late-night snack with friends while studying in college, and sitting there chatting about old times with a friend gave a comfortable feeling like time was passing a little slower.

• A day you want to meet up with old friends and just talk comfortably
• A day you're craving Korean food in an easygoing combo
• A day you want to eat fried chicken and dakdoritang together

I think I'll be thinking of Yetnal Tongdak & Tang Seomyeon Branch again.