Late-night Jeju City pojangmacha with whelk hot pot: Golbaengi Pocha

A hearty whelk hot pot with real pojangmacha vibes — the bar near Jeju City Hall I go back to now and then.

Where is Golbaengi Pocha, and what are the opening hours?

Golbaengi Pocha is a tent-bar-style eatery at 38 Namgwangbuk 1-gil, Jeju-si (1068 Ido-i-dong), Jeju. Hours are Tue–Sun 17:10–00:30, Mon 18:30–00:30.

A place I used to go drinking near the Jeju office of education. Good for round two or three with golbaengi-muchim (spicy whelk salad) or whelk hot pot and a drink. This visit was with Jini, a certified whelk-hot-pot lover. Yellow, red, and totally pojangmacha in feel.

Inside Golbaengi Pocha: tent-bar mood and the free tofu kimchi

Golbaengi Pocha is decked out like a street tent bar. The yellow and red tables grab your eye right away. And funnily enough, today every single customer was a guy. Guys really do seem to love snacks like whelk — something to pick at one by one without filling up.

True to pojangmacha form, the basic side dish was tofu kimchi.

The toad keyring that came with a bottle of Jinro soju

Hurry up and bring us that whelk hot pot, please.

We'd already knocked out four bottles of soju with black pork at round one — 30 minutes of rest at home and here we go again, right, since it's whelk hot pot. Boss, one more bottle of soju please. We ordered Jinro and got a cute toad-luck-charm keyring with it. Too cute, so I clipped it straight onto my bag. Hehe, guess I'm telling the whole neighborhood I'm a drinker.

Whelk hot pot, medium size at 30,000 won: how much whelk do you get?

This time we ordered the medium whelk hot pot, priced at ₩30,000, and the portion was pretty generous. Plenty of enoki mushrooms, radish, and shrimp too.

The number of whelks especially was seriously generous — Jini, our whelk-hot-pot connoisseur, took one look and said this many whelks at this price doesn't make sense.

Anyway, time to eat. I'll poke your eyes out with how good this looks. A refreshing broth loaded with pepper too. Now that it's boiled, let me give it a taste.

Oh right, Jini wanted something refreshing so we also ordered pasha. Pasha was ₩7,000. Most places charge ₩8,000 for pasha these days, so that's a nice price.

First, the broth — slurp. Ahh, so good, so refreshing. Spicy-savory yet clean, it was an absolute perfect match for soju. I'm gradually picking up Jini's taste in food. I've fallen for the charms of whelk hot pot.

Gomagraze, the Spanish grape spirit, by the glass

There was an unusual liquor on the menu that Jini wanted to try, so we ordered gomagraze — supposedly a Spanish grape spirit. Ugh, here we go again, eating weird stuff like tourists. It wasn't bad, actually. But honestly I have zero intention of buying any of these liquors again — I know myself, I'll circle back to soju eventually anyway.

Jini diligently shelled the whelks and fed them to me, haha. Soft and chewy and delicious, so good.

The evidence of Jini's diligent shelling.

Ending on carbs: the free seasoned tteok-twigim

We'd finished the whelk hot pot and were about to get up when the owner brought out a free tteok-twigim (fried rice cake) drenched in seasoning as a service. Getting something free and just sitting there felt wrong, so — boss, one more bottle of soju please, hehe ^_^

Jini skewered them like tteok-kkochi (rice cake skewers) to make them easier to eat. We were low on carbs anyway, so it arrived exactly when we needed it. (Though apparently still not enough — we went to the red place after and inhaled some rice balls.)

Is Golbaengi Pocha worth it for round two in Jeju City?

Golbaengi Pocha is a great spot for a drink in that laid-back pojangmacha atmosphere. The whelk hot pot comes loaded with whelk, and the broth is cold-and-spicy-refreshing, an excellent match for soju. With the free tteok-twigim on top, the carb quota was also fully covered.

Calling it 'near Jeju City Hall' isn't quite right for a local Jeju resident — it's really more accurate to say it's near the courthouse and the old tax office intersection (Gosandong hill), haha.