Cheonho bar in Seoul with level-3 spicy odolppyeo: Hwarangdae Gopchang

Who this is for✅

• Anyone looking for an easy-to-reach restaurant near Cheonho Station
• Anyone craving a spicy drinking snack in Cheonho-dong
• Fans of smoky, fire-charred odolppyeo or gopchang
• Anyone wanting a laid-back spot for drinks with friends

Today I'm introducing Hwarangdae Gopchang Gangdong Cheonho branch, a place I stumbled on while hunting for restaurants near Cheonho Station. It's newly opened in the spot where Samsan Hoegwan used to be, and I'd noticed it turning into a gopchang place every time I walked by. I happened to be craving a spicy snack with soju, so I finally stopped in — and this time I ordered two servings of odolppyeo (pork cartilage) instead of gopchang.

Where is Hwarangdae Gopchang, and how far is it from Cheonho Station?

Hwarangdae Gopchang Gangdong Cheonho branch is about a 3-minute walk from Cheonho Station (Lines 5 and 8), so it's pretty easy to get to. It sits inside Cheonho Rodeo Street, which made it simple to arrange to meet up here from the station. It's a great spot for anyone in Cheonho-dong looking for somewhere to grab a drink in the evening.

Hours, parking and reservations at Hwarangdae Gopchang

Hours: daily 17:00–00:30 / Parking: no dedicated lot / Takeout, delivery, group use, and reservations: available. Evenings can get crowded, so I'd recommend visiting with a bit of buffer time. If you're driving, there's no dedicated lot, so it's worth checking a nearby paid parking option ahead of time.

Inside Hwarangdae Gopchang: the room and the self-bar

Walking in, the seating was roomier than I expected. Tables extend all the way to the back and aren't packed too tightly together, so it looked like a good fit for meals with friends, small gatherings, or work dinners too.

On one side of the dining room there was a self-bar set up, where you could grab your own wrap ingredients and sauces — mayonnaise, perilla leaves, lettuce, chili peppers, garlic, and more.

If you're someone who loves wrap vegetables, a self-bar setup like this is quietly a nice touch.

The kitchen is open, so you can catch glimpses of the food being made. Delivery orders kept coming in the whole time I was there, so it seems like a place people also rely on a lot for takeout and delivery.

What's on the menu at Hwarangdae Gopchang

Here are the signature dishes and prices. The lineup ranges from vegetable gopchang to grilled makchang, baeksundae (blood sausage), odolppyeo, and gopchang hot pot, so there was plenty to choose from depending on what you're in the mood for.

At the time of my visit, there was also an event running where you'd get free corn cheese for leaving a receipt review.

Odolppyeo for two and the side dishes that come with it

What we ordered that day was two servings of odolppyeo. While we waited, the basic banchan (side dishes) arrived first — spicy sauce, chojang (vinegar-chili sauce), ssamjang (dipping sauce), cold bean sprout soup, and pan-fried old-school sausage.

The old-school sausage, coated in egg and pan-fried golden, was great dipped in ketchup for a quick nibble before the main dish arrived. The cold bean sprout soup was refreshing too and paired well with the spicy food to come.

We ordered a bottle of soju, and munching through the basic banchan with it made the wait for the main dish fly by.

How spicy is level-3 odolppyeo, really?

Finally, the two servings of odolppyeo arrived! It comes pre-stir-fried in the kitchen, then you switch on the tabletop burner and cook it a bit further yourself. Just looking at it, the sauce was clearly bold and spicy — perfect for a drinking snack.

You can choose spice level 1 through 3, and I went with level 3. To me, it was a clean, satisfying kind of spicy — about on par with Shin Ramyun. It wasn't just heat for the sake of heat either; a subtle pepper aroma and the special spicy sauce came together for a really savory flavor.

Cabbage and carrots were mixed in too, so there was a nice crunch alongside everything. There was also a generous amount of tteokguk-tteok (sliced rice cake), which was fun to pick up together with the odolppyeo.

Above all, the springy, cartilage-y texture of the odolppyeo really came through, and the more I chewed, the more the sauce flavor developed. It was also great wrapped up — grabbing lettuce and perilla leaves from the self-bar and loading them up with odolppyeo and vegetables.

With the spicy sauce plus the wrap vegetables, it worked great as a drinking snack, and with rice on the side it would easily hold up as a full meal too.

Is Hwarangdae Gopchang near Cheonho Station worth it?

Hwarangdae Gopchang Gangdong Cheonho branch was a solid restaurant to know near Cheonho Station whenever you want a spicy stir-fried dish with a drink on Cheonho Rodeo Street. Bookmark this one for the next time you're looking for a restaurant or bar in Cheonho-dong!