Seongbuk bar with live baseball and 9pm weekend waits: Yesulgwan

Today I'm bringing you my review of Yesulgwan, a bar near Sungshin Women's University that I loved so much the first time I went back for round two, haha.

You can already spot the patio seats there — I'm so jealous of that spot!! The outside is covered in promo posters that catch your eye lol, and they just make you want that patio seat even more.

Why you need a 9pm reservation at Yesulgwan on weekends

Yesulgwan Sungshin Women's University Branch is the kind of bar where you have to write your name on a waitlist if you show up at 9pm on a weekend. I had a reservation, but there were so many people waiting — maybe because it was 9pm on a weekend!! You can probably tell from the photos how hectic it was, haha. A bar with an actual waitlist sign-up sheet — I haven't seen that in a while. Thank goodness I reserved ahead, phew ^^

My timing was insane — I managed to snap an interior shot with nobody in it, right as a wave of customers had just cleared out at once, apparently. There's also a second floor!! Isn't that so strange? Because I still haven't found the stairs leading up there lol. The staff looked way too busy for me to ask, so that mystery remains. Also, since this is right in the middle of a university district, they check IDs very strictly, so make sure you bring yours 😉

140 seats and a big screen showing baseball and soccer

Yesulgwan Sungshin Women's University Branch is huge, fitting 140 seats! They've also got this ridiculously massive screen, and apparently they broadcast baseball or soccer games when there's a match on, haha. I might go back once just for a soccer night 😁

What Yesulgwan pours and its signature dishes

The drink selection is huge!! Since a lot of young university students come here, there were tons of sweet drink options too! They even have bokbunja (black raspberry wine), the one my partner kept singing praises of last time lol. They even have a separate boksosa (mixed bokbunja soju drink) item on the menu 😶

Apparently their signature dishes are the sagol seuji jeongol (beef tendon hot pot) and the pork belly kimchi grill!! Last time I came I ordered the hot pot too, but back then it was spicy. It was seriously spicy and rich, absolutely perfect as a drinking snack — I highly, highly recommend it, hehe.

Besides the somewhat heavy main dishes, there are also fried items and refreshing second-round menu items like hwachae (sweet fruit punch) or sherbet, so it seems like a great place whether you're on round one or round two, haha. The sheer variety of drinks is insane — why is it so nice to have this many options instead of always drinking the same thing 🙄

Here's what we ordered!

• Beef tendon hot pot (mild)
• Kalguksu noodles (extra serving)
• Hot pot egg porridge
• Pork belly kimchi grill x2

This setup seems to be for wrapping the pork belly kimchi grill! Everything here is laid out so you can wrap up the kimchi grill and eat it right away.

How the mild hanwoo beef tendon hot pot tasted

The hot pot came out fast!! The plating was pretty solid too, haha. We also ordered the kalguksu noodle add-in, but I was too busy chugging drinks to get a photo of adding the noodles in — sorry about that 😶

There's also a video where you can see the patio-like vibe of the seating.

Bubble bubble, boil away, little hot pot.

There's glass noodles inside, and it's packed with tendon and lots of meat!! Seriously so generous ㅠㅠ The glass noodles soak up all the broth and it's honestly so, so good.

Grilled pork belly with kimchi, the dish that calls for another drink

Oh my, this ridiculously good-looking pork belly kimchi grill, what am I supposed to do with this??? Deliciously spicy, the pork belly is thick, and the umami of the kimchi takes the meat's flavor to another level — truly a dish that summons more drinks 😋

The visuals are seriously insane, right?!?! My friends who came with me kept asking what's going on with the portion size, whether we could actually finish it all lol. The portion is genuinely huge!!!

I love it when the enoki mushrooms are piled on generously ㅠㅠ If you order the mild version, you get the classic beef tendon hot pot flavor we all know! If you order it spicy, you get a rich broth that stays flavorful without ever feeling greasy, from start to finish, haha. They also have a mala version, which seemed to be popular too! My friends didn't like mala so I couldn't try it — someone eat the mala for me 😢

You dip the tendon into the sauce they give you, and for the kimchi grill you just pile the kimchi and pork belly together — the combo of the two is insane. Right when things start to feel a little greasy, the kimchi grill comes to the rescue.

My partner's friend, who's really into making reels, told me I had to shoot it a certain way and made me shake the camera lol, it was hilarious. Should I start doing reels too?!?!

The struggle to nail the perfect cheers shot lol. The full video is a whole minute long — a full minute of us struggling to time our glasses clinking together, and it's genuinely so funny ㅠㅠㅠ My friend said you have to keep doing it over and over to get even one usable shot... and told me I should start a blog 😲

Finishing the hot pot with egg porridge

After finishing everything, we asked for the egg porridge to wrap it up!! When you order it, they take the pot away and bring it back all cooked, haha.

The egg porridge entrance shot, hehe. There are bits of tendon mixed in as you eat, so the porridge never gets boring!! With a hint of sesame oil aroma and a nutty egg flavor, this was honestly the tastiest part for me!! Carbs really are the best, I guess.

This photo is funny too — I was trying to spread the porridge out nicely for a shot, but the middle kept getting a hole in it, and every time I tried to fill it in, an even bigger hole appeared. My hands panicking,,, so I just gave up on the shot ^^

Is Yesulgwan a good spot for a group dinner?

I blurred them out, but the people in this photo looked like university students!! They came as a big group and were having so much fun — the second I saw them I couldn't stop saying 'ah, those were the days,' while just sipping my drink, sip, sip. But honestly, with this many seats and this much space, it's a great bar for groups!!

One big plus: the restroom is inside the venue. It was also pretty clean, which I appreciated 😊

And that's how the four of us wrapped things up,, wait, I just noticed — whose glass is this?? Who left this behind? Feels like my partner's,, gotcha, you.

If you're looking for a bar for a group! A place that's great whether it's round one or round two! If you want that patio feeling! I really recommend this place, haha. I drank way, way too much here and completely crashed the next day.. that's how smoothly the drinks go down here, haha.