Hongdae Korean restaurant up a staircase with beer and gomtang: Anok

Today's post is about Anok, a Hongdae restaurant known for its gomtang (bone broth soup) and Pyongyang naengmyeon, and its great atmosphere! I used to go to Hongdae a lot in my twenties, but now that I'm in my thirties I tend to avoid the loud spots and look for places I can eat quietly — which is why I ended up hanging around Yeonnam-dong and Hapjeong so much. But in the middle of super-busy Hongdae, I found a clean hanok-style restaurant with a great atmosphere, quiet enough to bring your parents to!!

Anok's location and hours

It's right off an alley just as you're heading up toward Hongik University!

• Hours: Tue–Sun 11:00–22:00 (last order 21:00)
• Closed Mondays
• Parking: not available

The exterior — a hanok up a single staircase

Heading up toward Hongik University, you'll spot a staircase on the right — climb it and you're there!

In loud, bustling Hongdae... just one flight of stairs up and suddenly it's a quiet residential street, and then this hanok (traditional Korean house) just appears... what, what is this, it's so pretty

It's such a clean hanok-style place, I think it would be lovely to bring foreign friends here — the interior vibe is really nice... and it would be amazing if they set up tables outside like an open-air yajang (outdoor seating area)....T.T

The menu

Here's the menu! Gomtang and Pyongyang naengmyeon are the signature dishes

What are the seats inside like?

Here's the inside! The tables are spaced a bit close together. Most of the tables seat two, and there are about 12 tables in total!

What we ordered

We ordered the gomtang and the Pyongyang naengmyeon, and also got a pork tail jjim to share!

First, the side dishes!! The kimchi is delicious on its own, so it's great paired with the gomtang

Clear pork gomtang — ₩13,000

This is a broth simmered in-house at Anok, and it's incredibly clear with a deep flavor! The large size is ₩17,000. There's meat piled on top of a bowl of rice — a lot of meat, and a pretty generous amount of rice too. I usually load my soup up with salt and pepper, but with this kind of gomtang I wanted to enjoy the flavor as it was, so I deliberately skipped the seasoning! The broth is mildly seasoned and clear, so it's refreshing and delicious

I ate it with the meat piled on rice too... they also gave us a seasoned sauce, which goes really well with the meat when you put it on top. Usually other places give you fermented shrimp sauce, but here it doesn't have that strong fermented smell — it's more like ssamjang (seasoned soybean paste)??

Pyongyang naengmyeon (water broth) — ₩14,000

Pyongyang naengmyeon made light and refreshing with their own chilled broth... I'm the type who wonders what the point of Pyongyang naengmyeon even is, but my friend ordered it and I stole a few bites — oh... it's really distinctive. But I think people who already know the charm of Pyongyang naengmyeon would love it...

Pork tail jjim — ₩29,000

A braised dish made from chewy pork tail, cooked until tender! I'd never even seen pork tail jjim before, so I ordered it out of curiosity about what it would taste like!

It's kind of like fire jokbal (spicy braised pig's trotters)? It has that same spicy sauce as fire jokbal, and it feels like eating the skin part of jokbal! It's really chewy — I wouldn't recommend it to people who only like lean meat. But if you like the texture of jokbal skin specifically, you'll love this!

Who should you bring here?

The sauce on the pork tail jjim was exactly the kind of flavor that makes you want a drink, so we quickly ordered a bottle of beer. Overall the food is very clean and you can eat something healthy and delicious here! The atmosphere is great too, and since the menu leans toward plain, mild flavors, I think it would be great to bring parents here, and also great to bring foreign friends who can't handle spicy food!!