6:15pm reservation at a Yeongdeungpo izakaya: seafood nabe, Nani

Today I'm posting about my visit to Nani Byeolgwan, a Japanese izakaya near Yeongdeungpo Station with really good bar food 🙂🙌🏻 It's about 3-4 minutes from Times Square — check the map for the exact spot! (Also about 5 minutes on foot from Yeongdeungpo Station.)

Nani Byeolgwan Yeongdeungpo Branch hours and how to reserve

Nani Byeolgwan Yeongdeungpo Branch is open Mon–Sat from 18:00 to 2am the next day, and closed every Sunday! (Also closed on Lunar New Year and Chuseok itself, so check ahead.) You can reserve via Naver Reservation, so I'd recommend booking in advance 🙌🏻

I booked ahead on Naver so I could walk straight in without waiting! It opens at 6pm, and even though I arrived around 6:15pm, the place was already nearly full — total popular-restaurant vibes right away!

What the interior and seating are like

Right when you walk in, there's counter (dachi) seating,

and further inside there are quiet table seats set up!

With liquor and beer bottles lined up all along the wall, it really felt like an izakaya 🍾🥃

Menu at Nani Byeolgwan and how to order by QR code

At Nani Byeolgwan Yeongdeungpo Branch, you check the menu via the QR code on the wall, then press the bell on the table to order!

There was a wide variety of anju (drinking snacks) — yakitori, grilled mentaiko (pollock roe), clams steamed in sake, beef tataki, takoyaki, salmon sashimi, and Nagasaki seafood nabe (hot pot), among others! If you're too full to eat much more, I'd recommend the semi-dried moist squid or the scallion cream cheese crackers as side dishes 👍🏻

True to an izakaya, there was a wide range of sake — mostly junmai varieties, and they even had my favorite, Polar Bear's Tears. But it was hot today, so I went with beer instead! 🍺

Besides sake, they have soju, Hwayo, highballs, and beer — draft is Asahi, and the only bottled beer is Cass.

Spicy Nagasaki seafood nabe: ask for the burner from the start

For anju I ordered pork belly scallion skewers and one Nagasaki seafood nabe, plus two bottles of Cass beer! The Nagasaki seafood nabe comes in mild or spicy — the staff said the spicy version is milder than Shin Ramyun, so I went spicy 😌 The Nagasaki seafood nabe came out first.

They said they'd bring a burner if it got cold while eating, but I wanted piping hot broth from start to finish, so I asked for the burner from the beginning 🔥

They piled on a generous amount of bean sprouts, which I loved — I think I like pretty much any dish with bean sprouts in it...🥰 That crisp, refreshing, clean flavor just gets better the more you eat 💚

There was plenty of seafood too — clams, squid, shrimp! The spicy Nagasaki jjamppong-style broth paired perfectly with a cold beer, so I kept alternating a sip of soup and a sip of beer, over and over haha.

Pork belly and scallion skewers, 15,000 won for six

Soon after, the pork belly scallion skewers arrived too 🤎🍢

For ₩15,000 you get six skewers total — the look was amazing, and the taste was even more amazing...

The combination of smoky pork belly and finely chopped scallions had a texture almost like enoki mushrooms, and it was so delicious. Each skewer was packed full in one bite, juicy, and the sauce was so good — perfect beer food 🍺

Here's a cross-section of the skewer 😌 The pork belly was thick, and the scallions weren't spicy and tasted great.

Why adding udon noodles to the nabe broth is a must

After eating for a while, something still felt like it was missing, so I added udon noodles to the Nagasaki seafood nabe.

This is real proof I'm not exaggerating haha — the udon comes pre-cooked, so you just add it in and simmer briefly, and the broth's seasoning soaks right into the noodles so you can eat it immediately.

Spicy broth plus chewy, springy udon noodles — a perfect combination ✨

Is Nani Byeolgwan Yeongdeungpo Branch worth a visit?

It had been a while since I went to an izakaya, and both the food and the drinks were so good. I really wanted good yakitori with cold beer, and that wish was properly fulfilled 😋 The beef tataki and stir-fried bean sprouts at the next table also looked so good that I think I'll have to come back soon. A very atmospheric izakaya near Yeongdeungpo Station — strongly recommend Nani Byeolgwan as a Japanese bar near Times Square with delicious anju.