If you're looking for good Korean snack food in Yongridan-gil, Hyeonseonine is a place you have to try at least once! I'd heard for a long time it was one of Yongsan's famous tteokbokki spots, and after visiting myself, I got exactly why it's been loved for so long. Let's start the review!

Where is Hyeonseonine Yongsan Main Branch and when is it open?

📍 Location: 2-13 Hangang-daero 39-gil, Yongsan-gu, Seoul
📍 Hours: 11:00 – 24:00 (last order 22:40)
📍 Also: Group seating available, takeout, delivery, separate men's/women's restrooms, high chairs, free Wi-Fi

Exterior: look for the yellow chimney sign

Exterior of Hyeonseonine Yongsan Main Branch tucked in an alley off Yongridan-gil, with yellow chimney sign

Hyeonseonine sits tucked inside an alley off Yongridan-gil! The Hyeonseonine sign on the yellow chimney out front is easy to spot, so it wasn't hard to find. There's no dedicated parking lot, so please use a nearby public or paid parking lot~

Inside Hyeonseonine: seating, waiting and the self-serve bar

Interior of Hyeonseonine Yongsan Main Branch with spacious table arrangement

Here's the interior! It was bigger and cleaner than I expected, and the tables had plenty of space between them, making it comfortable to eat.

Waiting registration tablet set up in the store

For waiting, you can register through the CatchTable remote waitlist or the waiting tablet set up inside the store!

Self-serve bar with sundae salt and soy sauce

The self-serve bar had sundae salt and soy sauce

Pickled radish and fry crumbs at the self-serve bar

pickled radish, and fry crumbs! This fry crumb was quite the kicker — I'll explain more later.

Hyeonseonine menu board listing tteokbokki, fritters, sundae, and jeukseok tteokbokki

Here's Hyeonseonine's menu! You could enjoy classic snack bar staples like tteokbokki, fritters, and sundae (Korean blood sausage) as single items, and they also had jeukseok tteokbokki (hot-pot style tteokbokki).

All orders go through the kiosk~ On this visit I ordered the ₩23,000 combo set and a ₩5,000 draft beer.

What's in the 23,000-won combo set?

Combo set spread with tteokbokki, fritters, sundae, mini gimbap, and eomuk

Hyeonseonine's combo set! It came with tteokbokki, fritters, sundae, mini gimbap, and eomuk (fish cake).

Tteokbokki: wheat rice cakes, mild spice

There was a choice between mild and spicy, and I went with mild.

Mild-flavored wheat tteokbokki ordered at Hyeonseonine

Hyeonseonine's rice cakes are wheat-based (miltteok), and the soft yet chewy texture unique to wheat rice cakes was really good.

Soft, chewy wheat rice cake picked up with chopsticks

It was tangy and rich in umami~ Apparently the mild is less spicy than Shin Ramyun and the spicy is spicier than Shin Ramyun.

Fry crumbs taken from the self-serve bar

Remember the fry crumbs I mentioned from the self-serve bar earlier!

I sprinkled them onto the tteokbokki! The nuttiness and crunch of the fry crumbs added to the texture of the tteokbokki! Highly recommend adding it in~~

Plate of Hyeonseonine's fully packed mixed fritters

Mixed fritters: from gimmari to yaki-mandu

The lineup was really packed?!

Mixed fritters including gimmari and fried squid

Mixed fritters including sweet potato, vegetable fritter, and yaki-mandu

Gimmari (seaweed noodle rolls), squid, sweet potato, vegetable fritters, and even yaki-mandu (pan-fried dumplings) — there was a nice variety, making picking through them fun. Crispy outside, moist inside, the texture was really good~~

Mini gimbap dipped in tteokbokki sauce

Small in size, but packed with pickled radish, egg, spinach, and imitation crab.

Cross-section of mini gimbap with pickled radish, egg, spinach, and imitation crab

It's good eaten plain, but even better dipped in the tteokbokki sauce.

Plate of Hyeonseonine's generously portioned sundae

Sundae: chewy sticky rice blood sausage and offal

The portion of sundae was quite substantial.

It seemed to be chapssal sundae (sticky rice sundae), given the chewy texture~

There was also offal included, which had a slightly gamey taste. But that's exactly the flavor offal is meant to have!!

Eomuk fish cake, served mul-tteok style

The broth was clear and clean, with a deep flavor drawn out.

Mul-tteok style eomuk skewer with rice cake

Rice cakes were included too, so you could eat it mul-tteok style (fish cake soup with rice cake).

A cold glass of draft beer paired with the snack food

Does draft beer go with Korean snack food?

Hyeonseonine also serves alcohol like soju, beer, and draft beer~ Snack food and alcohol went really well together! A sip of cold draft beer felt like paradise!!

Verdict: Hyeonseonine scores 4.29

Taste ★★★★
Portion ★★★★★
Price ★★★★★
Hygiene ★★★★
Service ★★★★☆
Atmosphere ★★★★
Would revisit ★★★★☆
TOTAL | 4.29(5)

After visiting in person, I understood why Hyeonseonine has been loved as one of Yongsan's representative snack bars for so long! The fundamentals-first tteokbokki and the variety of snack menu items were all satisfying. In particular, ordering just the combo set alone let me enjoy tteokbokki, sundae, fritters, mini gimbap, and eomuk all together, which was really satisfying.

The store was clean and the staff were friendly, so I had a pleasant meal. If you're looking for somewhere to eat in Yongridan-gil, I recommend Hyeonseonine. Thanks for the meal~

Yongsan snack bar with sticky rice sundae and draft beer: Hyeonseonine

Good to know

Where is Hyeonseonine Yongsan Main Branch and when is it open?

Exterior: look for the yellow chimney sign

Inside Hyeonseonine: seating, waiting and the self-serve bar

Hyeonseonine menu and how to order at the kiosk