Medium-spice tteokbokki restaurant by Sinyongsan Exit 6: Hyeonseonine

Finally, finally I made it to Hyeonseonine Yongsan Main Branch, one of the best tteokbokki spots in Seoul and a Yongsan favorite. I'd been to other branches but never the main one, which always bugged me — so when I suddenly had a reason to be in Yongsan, I quickly made time to visit this Yongridan-gil favorite, this Yongsan tteokbokki favorite, and here's how it went.

Where is Hyeonseonine Yongsan Main Branch? 2 minutes from Sinyongsan Station Exit 6

Hyeonseonine Yongsan Main Branch sits about 180m from Exit 6 of Sinyongsan Station on Line 4, so it's an easy 2-minute walk. It's also close to Yongsan Station and IPARK Mall, making it a convenient Yongsan spot to remember.

The storefront with its striking red sign is hard to miss, and there are waiting seats set up right next to the entrance.

Inside Hyeonseonine: wide tables, baby chairs and the fried-flake self-serve bar

Once you step inside, Hyeonseonine Yongsan Main Branch opens up into a really spacious dining room, with generous space between tables that makes for a comfortable meal. Eating spicy tteokbokki tends to heat you up, but this place blasts the AC nice and cold, so even sweaty heat-averse people like me could enjoy the tteokbokki in comfort.

There's a self-serve bar where you can help yourself to as much pickled radish and fried flour flakes as you want, and aprons are provided too. Baby chairs are also available, so families with kids can dine without hassle.

Menu and spice levels at Hyeonseonine: medium-spice instant tteokbokki for two

Hyeonseonine Yongsan Main Branch has everything from beer sets to bunsik-style set menus with tteokbokki, sundae (Korean blood sausage), fried snacks, and small gimbap. I'd already tried the set menus before, so this time I came specifically for the instant tteokbokki. There are three spice levels — mild, medium, spicy — and for me, ordering medium already felt like a big challenge.

What I ordered was instant tteokbokki for two, along with 4 pieces of yakimandu (fried dumplings) and fried rice. They also gave us fish cake broth, and I grabbed pickled radish and fried flour flakes from the self-serve bar.

How to control the burner, and the Naver review event at Hyeonseonine

Next to the table there's a note with instant tteokbokki tips — a step-by-step guide for adjusting the flame, plus heat settings for making the fried rice taste its best. There's also a Naver Place receipt review event going on: leave a review on Naver and save the location, and you can get a slushie or a size-up on your tteokbokki, so be sure to grab that benefit too.

As the tteokbokki bubbled away deliciously, I went straight for the jjolmyeon before it could stick together, and the sauce had soaked in so well — the noodles were wonderfully chewy too.

What medium-spice tteokbokki tastes like: old-school sweet-and-spicy sauce

The star of the show at Hyeonseonine Yongsan Main Branch, the tteokbokki itself, is nicely thick and chewy — great texture. It has that slightly old-school tteokbokki flavor with a sweetness to it, and going medium meant the sauce came out both spicy and sweet, which is basically impossible not to love.

I personally love fish cake, and at Hyeonseonine Yongsan Main Branch it was delicious both on its own and paired with the jjolmyeon.

Dipping fried flour flakes into the tteokbokki broth

What made Hyeonseonine Yongsan Main Branch even better was being able to grab fried flour flakes yourself, and dipping them into the tteokbokki broth with the tteokbokki and fish cake turned into a total delicacy — great for both texture and flavor.

The egg also comes whole per serving, not just half, so you mash it up and dip it into the tteokbokki broth — anyone who loves instant tteokbokki knows that's the move, haha!

When to add the yakimandu to the tteokbokki pan

If you throw the yakimandu in right from the start, they get soggy and lose their appeal — but adding them in partway through, whenever you feel like it, keeps them crisp and lets them pick up the tteokbokki sauce, making them even better.

Finishing with fried rice at Hyeonseonine: save the boiled egg for the end

Finally, finishing with the much-anticipated fried rice completes a perfect instant tteokbokki meal. Save the boiled egg and eat it together with the fried rice — absolutely delicious, highly recommend. I'd heard about this Yongridan-gil favorite, Hyeonseonine Yongsan Main Branch, from so many places over the years and really wanted to visit, and trying it in person, I could see exactly why it's such a popular spot and why so many people seek it out. If you're looking for tteokbokki in Yongsan, I recommend Hyeonseonine Yongsan Main Branch.