Bar for 5 near Jonggak Station: cheese potato pancake, Ari Gyegok
In short
Ari Gyegok Jonggak is a Korean bar in Jongno, Seoul, a 2-minute walk from Jonggak Station Exit 4, specializing in chicken and duck dishes. A group of 5 ordered spicy hangover chicken hot pot with udon noodles, the bubbling cheese potato pancake, nurungji monkfish liver hoe and an omija liqueur highball, and the staff pouring melted cheese over the pancake at the table was the highlight. With seating spread across both floors, Ari Gyegok Jonggak works well for a second-round group night out.
Good to know
- Location
- 2-minute walk from Jonggak Station Exit 4
- Hours
- 16:30–02:00 (last call 3am Fri & Sat)
- Size
- Uses both the 1st and 2nd floors, plenty of tables
- Restrooms
- Inside; men's on the 2nd floor, women's on the 1st floor
- Signature dishes
- Original chicken hot pot, spicy hangover chicken hot pot, perilla chicken hot pot
- Ordered this visit
- Spicy hangover chicken hot pot (+udon noodles), cheese potato pancake, nurungji monkfish liver hoe, omija liqueur highball
as written by the visitor on Sep 20, 2026
What kind of bar is Ari Gyegok Jonggak?
I went to Ari Gyegok Jonggak, a Korean bar specializing in chicken and duck dishes that's been hot on Instagram lately. Turns out Ari Gyegok is a franchise — there are branches in Yeoksam, Isu, Konkuk, and more! Anyway, let's get into the honest review.
Which Jonggak Station exit? Ari Gyegok Jonggak basics
- 2-minute walk from Jonggak Station Exit 4
- Hours: 16:30–02:00 (closes at 3am Fri & Sat)
The location is great too — it's about a 1-minute walk from Jonggak Station Exit 4! Right near the hot spot street.
Inside Ari Gyegok Jonggak: seating across two floors
Ari Gyegok Jonggak uses both the 1st and 2nd floors. It's spacious with plenty of tables, so even if there's a wait, it seems to move fast!
The restroom is inside too. Men's restroom is on the 2nd floor, women's on the 1st!
Ari Gyegok menu and drinks
[Signature menu] ✔️ Original chicken hot pot ✔️ Spicy hangover chicken hot pot ✔️ Perilla chicken hot pot. It seems like the chicken hot pot and the mud duck pancake are the famous anju (drinking snacks) here! Since it's a traditional Korean bar, there's also a variety of yakju, traditional liquor, and makgeolli, so you can drink to your taste~!
Spicy hangover chicken hot pot (+udon noodles) / cheese-pour potato pancake / nurungji monkfish liver hoe / omija liqueur highball. We ordered a variety of anju from the signature dishes to potato pancake and hoe (raw fish/meat). Everything looked delicious so I had a hard time choosing!
How spicy is the hangover chicken hot pot, with udon noodles?
The spicy hangover chicken hot pot lets you cook the chicken shabu-shabu style, and there's already a lot of chicken in the broth. Visually it looked super spicy, but even my friends who can't handle spice ate it well — it was about Shin Ramyun level of heat.
There was a generous amount of chicken too, good for sharing among a big group. There was even a little bit of samgyeopsal-style pork on top haha.
Round 1, we ate the chicken already in the pot cut up; round 2, we added more chicken shabu-shabu style; round 3, we added udon noodles and ate the noodles too! They'll add more broth if you ask, so I recommend finishing with a combo of extra broth plus udon noodles!!!
Cheese potato pancake: the tableside cheese pour
The cheese-pour potato pancake had great visuals from the start! There was a side of extra potato topping served like ice cream, and the staff did a performance of pouring cheese over it for us.
The cheese was super tasty, like Ppoppo cheese, and above all the potato pancake was extremely crispy — my top pick of the day 👍🏻👍🏻
The cheese was the kicker on the crispy potato pancake! Scoop up the extra potato topping and eat it in one big bite!!!!
How was the nurungji monkfish liver hoe?
The nurungji (crispy scorched rice) monkfish liver hoe is a combo of nurungji + monkfish liver + hoe (raw meat), which was a first for me. The monkfish liver wasn't fishy at all, and paired with the crispy nurungji it was a fresh, surprisingly delicious combo!!! 🤤🤤 They gave a generous amount of monkfish liver too, which I loved~~
Cracking the nurungji and topping it with hoe and a bit of monkfish liver worked so well together and was genuinely amazing!! The hoe was also super fresh, which I loved.
Omija liqueur highball: a bottle pours 4 glasses
The omija (schisandra berry) liqueur highball is made with omija and pear combined, and since there were 5 of us, we ordered it by the bottle! One bottle pours about 4 glasses, so ordering by the bottle turned out to be the better deal!!!
The highball was sweet, and the omija flavor wasn't too strong, more subtle, so it went down really easily!! They also had a bokbunja watermelon highball, so I'm curious and will have to try that on a future visit~
Is Ari Gyegok Jonggak worth it as a Jongno bar?
Ari Gyegok has lots of distinctive anju and great flavor too!! The seats are spacious and the interior is clean, so I think it'd make a great spot for a second-round get-together. Confirmed Jongno bar worth visiting 🤤🤤
Where it is
41 Ujeongguk-ro 2-gil, 1st floor, Jongno-gu, Seoul, South Korea서울특별시 종로구 우정국로2길 41 1층
