Sinjung-dong patio bar with spicy clam stir-fry, honey soju: Yeongpo

What kind of bar is Yeongpo? Cook-to-order food on Sinjung-dong's patio street

Yeongpo is a cooking-focused bar on the Sinjung-dong patio street, located at 46 Jomaru-ro 291beon-gil, Wonmi-gu, Bucheon-si, Gyeonggi-do, 1st floor. It's open Sun–Fri 18:00–06:00 and Fri–Sat 18:00–07:00, so it stays open till dawn.

It had been a while since I had a proper dinner date with my girlfriend, so we came to Sinjung-dong wanting to combine dinner with a patio date. The weather's been cool lately, so I really wanted to sit at a patio table and have a drink. Even though it was a weekday, the weather was nice and the street was packed with people.

The Sinjung-dong patio street is lined with countless bars. Among them, Yeongpo caught our eye because it had a lot of dishes that looked delicious.

Outside Yeongpo: 5 patio tables and a window wall that opens fully

There are 5 patio tables set up in front of Yeongpo. The owner had a banner hanging up saying everything is cooked to order, with no meal kits used. That really got my expectations up for the taste.

Because the window wall opens up completely, even if you sit inside you can still catch the free-spirited patio-bar vibe, night air and all, almost like sitting on an outdoor terrace.

Inside Yeongpo: seating that also works for group dinners

Step inside and a different kind of character hits you compared to the openness outside — Yeongpo's own distinct interior style. You could tell the owner puts care into keeping the inside clean and tidy.

The tables and chairs can all be moved around, so it looked great for group dinners or gatherings too. With the nice weather lately, everyone seemed to be sitting out on the patio.

Table setting and menu at Yeongpo: a honey twist doughnut starter

Since it happened to be a nice cool evening, we sat at a patio table. The water wasn't plain — it had more of a barley tea feel to it, and honestly I prefer that over plain water. The starter is honey twist bread, and munching on those one by one, they were sweet and nutty — really nice.

Yeongpo has a bunch of great-looking dishes on the menu. My girlfriend and I both had so many favorites it was hard to decide haha. Honestly I was a little in the mood for chicken feet, but the boneless chicken feet was sold out that day, so sadly we had to order something else, argh.

How was Yeongpo's spicy fire clam stir-fry?

The first dish we picked was the spicy fire clam stir-fry. The clams were well de-sanded and stir-fried nicely in green onion chili oil, haha. They were perfectly cooked — chewy and delicious. My girlfriend said it was great, so I'm thinking of trying to make it at home sometime!

Crispy squid-and-shrimp pancake with onion soy sauce

The next dish was the crispy squid-shrimp pancake. It was a pancake loaded with all kinds of vegetables — kind of like the vegetable fritters I've had before, but with shrimp and squid added in haha. Naturally, it tasted amazing. I'm a fan of vegetable fritters, so paired with the onion soy sauce that came alongside, it was the best drinking snack.

How to mix honey soju with Saero soju and Cloud beer

Turns out Yeongpo sells Cloud beer. My girlfriend suggested we make honey soju, so we mixed Chum Churum soju with Cloud beer. You all know honey soju, right? It's made at roughly a 9:1 ratio of soju to beer, and it finishes sweet. Maybe because of that, we ended up drinking faster than usual and got tipsy pretty quick...

Is Yeongpo worth it for a patio date in Sinjung-dong?

It had been a while, but we had a fun, atmospheric evening date with my girlfriend on the patio. With the nice weather these days, where's everyone else going on dates? If you're visiting Sinjung-dong's patio bar street, why not check out Yeongpo, a go-to spot for great drinking snacks in the area?