Yeouido tartare bar with uni set & seaweed soup: Yukhoegwan Pocha

I was looking for a place to eat tartare in Yeouido and ended up at Yukhoegwan Pocha Yeouido (육회관포차 여의도점). It's tucked inside a building, so I had to hunt for the entrance a bit at first. Go into Hongu Building and head up to the 2nd floor, and you'll find the restaurant.

This time I ordered the hanwoo beef tartare + uni platter + Suntory Kakubin highball set for ₩79,000. It isn't just tartare: you get cheese, pear, seaweed, gamtae (a type of seaweed), crackers and more to eat it with, plus a separate uni platter, so you can mix and match all sorts of combinations. And the seaweed soup that came as a default side was tastier than I expected, so that stuck with me haha

Yukhoegwan Pocha Yeouido: location, hours and parking

Yukhoegwan Pocha Yeouido is on the 2nd floor of Hongu Building, 78 Gukjegeumyung-ro, Yeongdeungpo-gu, Seoul, about 500 m from Exit 2 of Saetgang Station. It's open Monday to Saturday 10:00 – 01:00 the next day (last order 00:00), and Sunday 13:00 – 24:00 (last order 23:00).

• Address: 2F Hongu Building, 78 Gukjegeumyung-ro, Yeongdeungpo-gu, Seoul
• Monday – Saturday 10:00 – 01:00 (next day) / last order 00:00
• Sunday 13:00 – 24:00 / last order 23:00
• Parking: available / free for the first 50 minutes, then ₩1,000 per 10 minutes
• Other: reservations, group seating and takeout available, private rooms

Once you're inside the building, the floor directory shows Yukhoegwan Pocha. Hongu Building itself has several restaurants, so I had to go up to the 2nd floor and walk a little way in.

What's the atmosphere like at Yukhoegwan Pocha Yeouido?

Inside, it's mostly dark wood tones, a nice mood for drinking. There were quite a lot of tables, and I could see group seating further in, so I understood why people pick it as a Yeouido bar or for company dinners.

There were window seats too, with buildings visible outside, which gives it a Yeouido feel. I think the mood would be good by day or by night.

Every table has a tablet for ordering, so I could browse the menu slowly without calling a staff member over. As you can see in the photo, the Suntory Kakubin highball was right there on the screen, so I ordered that too.

What's in the ₩79,000 hanwoo tartare, uni platter and highball set?

The hanwoo tartare + uni platter + Suntory Kakubin highball set at Yukhoegwan Pocha Yeouido is ₩79,000. Once the whole spread was laid out, there was quite a lot more than I expected.

On the tartare plate, the hanwoo tartare sat in the middle with an egg yolk on top. Around it came pear, cheese, seaweed, gamtae and crackers, plus small side dishes. The uni platter beside it had uni, rice, seaweed and gamtae, a soy-based sauce, and a separate spicy sauce.

Does a Suntory Kakubin highball go well with beef tartare?

I started with the Suntory Kakubin highball included in the set~ The glass had ice and plenty of fizz, which made it easy to drink alongside the tartare.

It had that clean, refreshing highball taste, so with a rich dish like tartare it felt like it reset my mouth each time. The alcohol didn't taste too strong, and it was a nice light accompaniment to the tartare.

How to eat the hanwoo beef tartare

First I broke the yolk and mixed everything together. As in the photo, the tartare had a vivid color, with finely chopped scallions and pear mixed in, so the texture changed a little with every bite.

Tartare with cheese, pear and gim (dried seaweed)

Eating the tartare plain was fine, but with so much cheese, pear and seaweed on the table I tried lots of combinations. Putting cheese on the tartare added a nutty richness and went better than I expected.

With pear, the crunch made it much lighter to eat. Piling tartare and pear on a sheet of seaweed was good too, and the salty seaweed made me keep reaching for more.

Tartare on gamtae (thin green seaweed sheets)

I put tartare on the gamtae as well, and it tasted different from the regular seaweed, so that was good too. As in the photo, putting a little tartare, rice and pear on the seaweed or gamtae makes a bite-sized piece, so I kept making all sorts of combos haha

Tartare on crackers

I also put tartare on the crackers that came with it. The crackers are crunchy, which contrasts with the soft tartare, and it works like a bite-sized snack.

There was also a side that looked like a salad, and I put a little of that on a cracker too. Eating it together was better than eating it separately~ Tartare alone could get a bit monotonous, so it was nice that the extras gave me so many ways to eat it.

How do you eat the uni platter at Yukhoegwan Pocha?

The uni platter at Yukhoegwan Pocha Yeouido comes with uni, rice, seaweed, gamtae and soy sauce, so you combine them to taste. I'd been looking forward to it, and the uni had a deep orange color.

I first put uni on gamtae, and that soft, rich uni flavor hit right away. Adding a little rice made it more filling. Putting rice, uni and a bit of the red sauce on seaweed for one bite was good too.

As in the photo, the amount of uni wasn't small, so I could split it over several bites, and alternating with the tartare definitely kept me from getting tired of either! The tartare is clean-tasting and chewy, while the uni is soft and rich, so the two have different personalities and ordering them together worked well.

The complimentary seaweed soup was a surprise highlight

What quietly stayed with me at Yukhoegwan Pocha Yeouido was the seaweed soup (miyeokguk) served by default. I didn't expect much from a standard side soup, but one spoonful and it was quite good.

As in the photo, there was plenty of seaweed and a fair amount of meat inside. The broth was rich but not too salty, and it was nice to sip between bites of tartare and uni.

There was more meat than I expected, so it felt like a properly simmered soup rather than a freebie one. Personally, I found this seaweed soup pretty satisfying haha

Verdict: is the Yukhoegwan Pocha Yeouido set worth it?

I went to Yukhoegwan Pocha Yeouido because I wanted hanwoo tartare and uni together in Yeouido. The ₩79,000 set I ordered, hanwoo tartare + uni platter + Suntory Kakubin highball, isn't just tartare: cheese, pear, seaweed, gamtae and crackers come with it too, so you can eat it in lots of ways!

Eating the tartare with cheese, pear or seaweed gave a slightly different taste with each combination, and the uni was soft and rich on rice and seaweed. The default seaweed soup, with plenty of seaweed and meat, was tastier than I expected too~

The place itself has lots of tables, group seating and private rooms, so it looked fine as a Yeouido bar or company dinner spot. If you like tartare and you're in Yeouido, it's worth a stop, and if tartare alone feels like too little, ordering the set that includes the uni platter seems like a good idea haha