Jung-gu Chinese restaurant with mala mapo tofu rice: Huhugwan, Seoul

I went to check out a new spot near City Hall Station called Huhugwan. Visiting newly opened places is basically a rule of nature for me haha! Even the sign is flashy — it already feels like a place with foreign flair.

Inside Huhugwan: why it feels like a trip to Hong Kong

The moment I stepped into Huhugwan, a well-known City Hall Station spot, I got a distinct feeling from the entrance. The knick-knacks scattered around and the decorations on the walls made me feel like I'd landed in Hong Kong or Taiwan.

The space feels clean yet exotic, and since it's an open kitchen, you can see how tidy everything is kept back there too. The bar table lined with liquor bottles and the '福' (fortune) character on display gave off real China/Hong Kong energy.

Besides the bar table, there are also these larger seats — the tables are spaced well apart and the chairs are tall enough to give a clear sense of separation from neighboring seats, so it feels nicely private.

The waiting area walls had food photos hung up nicely. On weekday lunches or weekends there's probably a wait, but looking at the photos should keep you from getting bored while you wait.

On the waiting area wall, the Hong Kong film 'In the Mood for Love' was playing on a screen.

Black-battered yurinchi at Huhugwan, 23,000 won

Huhugwan's yurinchi (crispy fried chicken topped with sauce) is ₩23,000. While browsing the menu, the unusual color of the yurinchi caught my curiosity. So I ordered it.

Yurinchi usually has a white or yellow batter, but here the batter was black, which surprised me. The sauce seemed special too. I ordered it out of curiosity, and it was visually overwhelming from the start.

I picked up a piece and the batter was crispy and nutty. The sweet-and-sour sauce paired perfectly with the chicken. The yurinchi comes with onion, tomato, and chili on the side, and eating it together with those vegetables cut the richness and made the flavor outstanding. The outside was crispy while the chicken stayed tender inside, and it was especially good paired with the red chili.

Mapo tofu rice, 18,000 won: real mala, not ketchup

Huhugwan's mapo tofu rice is ₩18,000 and comes with a side of plain white rice. I liked that the tofu wasn't already mixed into the rice — they give you the rice separately.

The mapo tofu rice is mouthwatering just from the visuals. A big chunk of tofu anchors the center, surrounded by smaller pieces of tofu. The sauce color was deep and looked incredibly appetizing.

I scooped up a spoonful and was genuinely shocked. Mapo tofu is a pretty familiar dish in Korea — it used to show up sometimes in school lunches when I was a kid. That Korean-style mapo tofu often tastes like ketchup, but Huhugwan's mapo tofu rice had a clear, authentic mala (numbing-spicy) flavor. Spicy yet tingling sensations spread through my whole mouth, and it was such a refreshing kind of kick — I loved it. The tofu was soft too, and the sauce paired so well with the rice that I kept eating spoonful after spoonful. The kind of flavor that makes you want to mix in a second bowl of rice.

What comes free: egg soup, peanuts and fried dumplings

The egg soup that comes standard was a perfect match with the mapo tofu rice. The soup has a clean flavor, so eating it alongside the spicy mapo tofu rice cleansed the palate and balanced everything out perfectly.

The peanuts that come standard were also a nice touch. They're delicious mixed into the mapo tofu rice too. Salty yet nutty, great for snacking on between bites.

And the fried dumplings (gunmandu) were crispy with a well-packed filling, also delicious. Eating them alongside the spicy mapo tofu rice worked really well together. Hong Kong music kept playing in the background too. Eating while listening to the music expanded the whole experience — it really felt like being on an overseas trip. The food was great, and the atmosphere was perfect too.

Is Huhugwan worth going back to?

With movie posters visible and Hong Kong flair everywhere, it was a treat for both eyes and ears. The staff were kind too. The food was excellent and the atmosphere was so good. Next time I'm near City Hall Station, I'm definitely going back to Huhugwan. 100% revisit intent, seriously! If you want to try something different in Chinese food, I highly recommend giving it a visit. You really won't regret it!