Yeonnam-dong Singaporean restaurant: chili clams with fried mantou

I went looking for something a little different to eat in Yeonnam-dong and ended up at Ttasijia Yeonnam. I'd been curious about it because it's supposedly the first official Korean location of a Daesikga restaurant that's been on the Michelin Guide in Singapore for six years straight. It's famous for shrimp noodles, but in the evening you can also enjoy a whole range of hawker bite menu items alongside the regular dishes.

I usually prefer unusual Asian food over the more familiar stuff, so I picked this place for a Yeonnam-dong date dinner.

Where is Ttasijia Yeonnam, and what are its hours?

Ttasijia Yeonnam is on the 1st floor of 13-1 Donggyo-ro 38-gil, Mapo-gu, Seoul, tucked into a Yeonnam-dong alley near Exit 3 of Hongik University Station. It's open from 11:30 AM to 11:00 PM, with a break time from 3:00 PM to 5:00 PM and last order at 10:00 PM. No parking available.

• 🕖 Hours: 11:30 AM – 11:00 PM
• Break time 3:00 PM – 5:00 PM
• Last order 10:00 PM
• 🅿️ Parking: Not available

Walking through the Yeonnam-dong alleys, the orange lighting and bamboo decor of Ttasijia Yeonnam catch your eye right away. There's even a Merlion statue near the entrance, representing Singapore, which gave it a distinctly different vibe from the usual Yeonnam-dong eatery.

Patio seating and atmosphere at Ttasijia Yeonnam

Ttasijia Yeonnam leans into that Singapore feel even from the outside, so you get a sense of being somewhere exotic before you even sit down. On a nice-weather evening like this one, you can eat at the patio seats, which seemed like a good setup for casually pairing dinner with beer or drinks.

Stepping inside, the interior carried that same Singaporean atmosphere as the exterior. Orange accents, bamboo decorations, and little Singapore-themed props were scattered throughout, giving it quite an exotic feel while still looking clean and well put together. There's also an annex space to one side, so there were more seating options than I expected, plus the outdoor seats.

Ttasijia Yeonnam menu and prices

Ttasijia Yeonnam's menu features a variety of meal options including its signature shrimp noodles, shrimp gukbap (rice soup), shrimp broth fried noodles, and shrimp fried rice. But while looking over the menu, what really caught my eye was a section called hawker bites.

What is a hawker bite?

Hawker bites aren't just full-meal dishes — they're food meant to be ordered a little at a time and shared among the table. So at Ttasijia Yeonnam, you can pair a meal item like shrimp noodles or shrimp gukbap with hawker bite dishes and try a bunch of different things at once.

Good hawker bites for an evening out include chili clams with fried mantou, black vinegar sweet and sour pork, mala chicken, and cereal shrimp, among others.

Here's what we ordered this time — three dishes:

• ✔️ Shrimp broth fried noodles with large shrimp ₩16,500
• ✔️ Chili clams with fried mantou ₩16,000
• ✔️ Black vinegar sweet and sour pork (small) ₩18,000

We ordered one meal dish plus two hawker bites so we could split several things between us.

Shrimp broth fried noodles with large shrimp, 16,500 won

First up, the dish I was most looking forward to — the shrimp broth fried noodles. People usually think of shrimp noodles when they think of Ttasijia Yeonnam, but this time I went for the fried noodles instead. Big chunky shrimp made it look delicious right off the bat, and the umami from the shrimp had really soaked into the noodles.

Unlike a typical dry fried noodle dish, this one had a deep shrimp broth flavor running through it, so you got that soup-like richness even while eating the noodles. The shrimp meat was plump too, giving a nice texture alongside the noodles, and it wasn't overloaded with spice, so it was easier to eat than I expected for Singaporean food.

Not sure if this is the 'correct' way to pair it, but I ate it with the sambal sauce on the table and it gave off real seafood boil vibes — even more delicious that way, honestly 🤤

Chili clams with fried mantou (steamed bun), 16,000 won

Second was the hawker bite dish, chili clams with fried mantou. True to its hawker bite nature, it was a great dish for a group to order and share. The clams came in a spicy-sweet chili sauce, paired with fried mantou (steamed bun) on the side, so it was fun dipping the bread into the sauce.

Eating the clams alone versus with the fried mantou gave a totally different feel, so it was nice to switch it up in between bites — and it felt especially suited as a drinking snack. If the shrimp broth fried noodles was the hearty meal dish, the chili clams were more of a light, shareable dish to enjoy the flavor in true hawker bite style.

Black vinegar sweet and sour pork, small, 18,000 won

Last up was the black vinegar sweet and sour pork. This was another hawker bite, so with three dishes on the table it ended up being a mix of meal and shareable dishes. The crispy fried pork came coated in a black vinegar sauce, giving it a tangy-sweet flavor that was a completely different direction from the shrimp fried noodles or chili clams — I was glad we ordered it alongside the others.

The distinct tanginess of the black vinegar really reset the palate between bites of the other dishes. It also had a bit of a chunjang (black bean sauce) kind of flavor to it, interestingly enough.

Is Ttasijia Yeonnam worth a visit?

I used to think Ttasijia Yeonnam was just a shrimp noodle place, but visiting in person showed me there are way more menu options than I expected, which made it fun to explore. This time I ordered the shrimp broth fried noodles as the main and paired it with the chili clams and black vinegar sweet and sour pork hawker bites — each of the three dishes had its own distinct flavor and texture, making it great for sharing a variety of food.

The hawker bites in particular are great for casually experiencing that Singaporean food vibe while drinking, which made them a good fit for an evening visit. Ttasijia Yeonnam is a solid pick if you're craving something different from the usual Yeonnam-dong fare, or if you want to handle both dinner and drinks in one spot on a Yeonnam-dong date.