Izakaya in Sadang, Seoul with mara hot pot and gara-age: Hiku

I was looking for a good restaurant near Sadang Station and heard this spot had a great date-night vibe, so I checked out 'Hiku' in Sadang!!

Exterior of Hiku, a Sadang izakaya with a midnight-diner feel

Even the exterior gives off midnight-diner vibes, and it's decorated so well it genuinely feels like you're in Japan. The name Hiku is cute too — I think it means "to pull/attract" in Japanese... so is it pulling you in?

Sadang has a lot of places with big menu boards posted outside, and how are you supposed to walk past after seeing this menu...

Large Hiku menu board displayed outside the restaurant

What's the vibe inside Hiku like?

The inside isn't huge, but it's cozy and the tables are wide, so it was comfortable to use. Even with a lot of people, it wasn't loud, which I liked! All kinds of gatherings were happening — friends, dates, work meetups, you name it lol.

Wall inside Hiku decorated in a Japanese style

Cat character curtain on the way to the restroom

You could tell every corner had been decorated with care. There are lots of cute gacha figurines, and on the way to the bathroom there's this cat character curtain that's just too cute ㅠ_ㅠ (the bathroom was kept clean too).

Hiku's set menu, dish, and soup menu board

<Set Menus> Hiku Hansang A ₩49,900 (salmon, sweet shrimp, yukhoe, potato salad, sweet potato chips) Hiku Hansang B ₩65,800 (salmon, sweet shrimp, yukhoe, potato salad, sweet potato chips + Hanoi nabe) Hiku Hansang C ₩107,000 (salmon, sweet shrimp, yukhoe, potato salad, sweet potato chips + Hanoi nabe, yurinchi, mango sherbet) <Dishes> Chilled hanwoo yukhoe mulhoe ₩31,900 Hiku hanwoo tobu-plus yukhoe ₩28,900 Fresh salmon sashimi ₩28,900 Sweet and tangy yurinchi ₩27,900 Bazaar chadol stir-fried udon ₩21,900 Hiku sweet shrimp ₩19,900 <Soups> Chadol eomuk mara jeongol ₩31,900 Sichuan chadol mara jeongol ₩29,900 Spicy jjamppong soup ₩27,900 Nagasaki jjamppong soup ₩27,900 Hot eomuk tang ₩25,900 Hanoi nabe ₩24,900

The set menu visuals are insane. You can't order individual items from the set menu on the side! Also, it says cooking starts the moment you order so it may take a bit — but it didn't feel like that long a wait.

There were so many kinds of alcohol — there were two more pages beyond this one lol. But honestly, this menu really makes you want to drink~

Complimentary corn snack served at the table

They give you this corn snack (?) as a starter to snack on while you chat, whetting your appetite~ and before you know it!

Generous portion of Hiku's chicken gara-age

Chicken gara-age ₩17,900

I was surprised there was more than I expected. Enough to have leftovers!! Crispy on the outside, juicy on the inside gara-age!!! A lot of Hiku's soups are spicy, so eating them with gara-age is honestly the best combo...

Chili sauce and mustard sauce served with the gara-age

It comes with chili sauce and mustard sauce, and I'm always Team Mustard ~.~

A piece of gara-age dipped in mustard sauce

They suddenly got excited and put a piece on my plate saying it was heart-shaped lol. And it really was exactly heart-shaped.

Heart-shaped piece of gara-age on a side plate

And then~ the chadol eomuk mara jeongol, which seemed like the perfect partner for the gara-age, arrived!!

Hiku's chadol eomuk mara jeongol served at the table

Chadol eomuk mara jeongol ₩31,900 — how spicy is it?

As soon as it arrived, the mala scent was strong, and it really felt like something between mala tang and hot pot. Mildly numbing but delicious, so even people who haven't had much mala could enjoy it comfortably.

Broth of the chadol eomuk mara jeongol starting to boil

Once the broth starts boiling, wait about 2 minutes before digging in. There's bean sprouts, bok choy, and napa cabbage in there too — for me, these are the best once they've soaked up all the broth and wilted down...

Bean sprouts, bok choy, and napa cabbage soaked in broth

Especially satisfying if you're an eomuk killer

The skewered fishcake wasn't just ordinary skewered fishcake — it was thick and high quality!! Folded in two layers and twisted. So, so good...

Thick skewered fishcake folded and twisted in two layers

Skewered fishcake lifted out of the mala broth

Above all, what I liked most was how much fishcake there was. As someone who's normally an eomuk killer... I was happy. There was even a variety of fishcake types — triangle, round, big, small.

Mara jeongol full of various shapes of fishcake

There's also chadolbagi (beef brisket) in there, and since it's chadol it cooks fast, so eat it right away — before the fishcake, eat this first!!

Overall

If you're looking for an izakaya with good atmosphere in Sadang, I recommend Hiku! With its cozy Japanese vibe, it works well for a date, of course, but also for drinks with friends or a work gathering, and overall the food was so good I left satisfied. It seems especially suited for people who want to have a drink while trying a variety of dishes! Great for mala jeongol fans, but the sashimi is fresh too and there are crowd-pleasing dishes, so it's also good for going with people who have different tastes. If you're looking for a Sadang izakaya that doesn't compromise on either atmosphere or food, Hiku is highly, highly recommended!!