Yeouido seafood restaurant with clam-shaped plates: Gaetbeol-ui Jogae

I wanted a piping hot broth full of clams in Yeouido, so I headed to Gaetbeol-ui Jogae (갯벌의조개) Yeouido Main Branch 🫧

Now that the weather's gotten a bit cooler, I keep craving hot pot dishes like this. Clam hot pot especially lets you enjoy a refreshing broth too, so it was perfect for dinner.

What comes in the small giant clam hot pot at Gaetbeol-ui Jogae Yeouido?

The dish I ordered this time was the small giant clam hot pot! With 'giant' in the name, I figured it'd be fairly generous, but when it actually landed on the table, the visual was more overwhelming than I expected 🤭

The giant clam hot pot comes with mussels, red pen shells, hard clams, littleneck clams, shrimp, fish cake, rice cakes, and fan mussels. With so many types of shellfish, there was fun in picking through each one, and it wasn't just clams — shrimp, fish cake, and rice cakes were mixed in too, so the lineup was more varied than I thought.

Clam-shaped side plates and heotgae tea

The side plates are shaped like clams too haha, so cute. And they served heotgae tea (raisin tree tea) as the water — I loved that!

With clam hot pot, how it looks when you open the pot really matters, and since it was packed with clams, it made my mouth water from the moment it arrived. It seemed great for sharing with a group and letting everyone pick their favorites. Personally I was most looking forward to the red pen shells and fan mussels — if you like shellfish, there's fun in comparing all the different kinds. From familiar ones like mussels and littleneck clams to hard clams and fan mussels, the flavor shifts a little even within a single pot.

Private room seating for a Yeouido get-together

Gaetbeol-ui Jogae Yeouido Main Branch was also cleaner and more pleasant inside than I expected, so it was comfortable to eat in. Besides regular table seating, there are also rooms available, which would be great for family meals, get-togethers, or work dinners when you want a bit more privacy. Restaurants with room seating are surprisingly rare when you're looking for a meeting spot in Yeouido, so this was a nice find.

And the most important part of clam hot pot has to be the broth, right 🥺 Maybe because of all the clams, the broth itself had a refreshing quality that kept me coming back for more spoonfuls. Eat some clams, then a spoonful of broth — it felt like it would pair really well with drinks too!

Self-bar barley rice and geotjeori at Gaetbeol-ui Jogae

Another thing I liked was the self-bar! While eating the hot pot, you can help yourself to any side dishes you're missing, and barley rice is also available from the self-bar. The combination of warm clam hot pot broth and barley rice worked better than I expected. The geotjeori (fresh-tossed kimchi) served alongside was tasty too, and went nicely with the barley rice.

It wasn't just the clam hot pot — I got to fill up on solid sides too, so overall it was a hearty meal. For someone like me who loves clams, it was great to be able to pick through so many varieties, and it also seemed well-suited to sharing a drink for two. Ordering one hot pot and picking through clams while chatting made for a great atmosphere — this place would come to mind for an evening get-together in Yeouido 🫶🏻

Another perk of clam hot pot is that it keeps simmering while you eat, so it stays hot from start to finish! I was focused on all the clams at first, but as I kept eating, I found there was fun in fishing out the fish cake and rice cakes from the broth too.

If you're looking for clam hot pot in Yeouido, Gaetbeol-ui Jogae Yeouido Main Branch is worth a visit. I went looking for something with warm broth in Yeouido, and if you like shellfish, this is a dish worth trying at least once 🤍 Next time I want to try their seafood boiling too!