Busan beer bar in Seomyeon for Korean street snacks: 5 Budu Twigimjip

Why I went back to 5 Budu Twigimjip

5 Budu Twigimjip (5부두튀긴집) is a beer bar in Seomyeon where you can have Korean snack-bar food with a drink, and this was my second visit. Last time I ordered a bit of everything: tteokbokki (spicy rice cakes), shrimp fritters, assorted sundae (Korean blood sausage) and a Pikachu pork cutlet, and I was happier with it than I expected. Places in Seomyeon for snack food with beer seem easy to find, but when you actually look, it's awkward. Street tent stalls make me worry about hygiene and price, and a regular pub lacks that light snack-bar flavor. So 5 Budu Twigimjip really stuck with me as a Seomyeon beer bar, and I went back.

Where is 5 Budu Twigimjip?

5 Budu Twigimjip is behind Lotte Department Store in Seomyeon, inside the Seomyeon-1beonga alley. First-timers may find the alley a little confusing, but if you walk around Seomyeon often, it isn't hard to find.

The atmosphere on my return visit

This time there were a few fewer customers than before. Last time it was almost full and I thought, this is a hot Seomyeon drinking spot, but this visit wasn't quite that busy. Still, there were plenty of people. Tables had beer and snack food on them, and the place was as lively as ever.

The menu and ordering the tteok-twi-sun set

5 Budu Twigimjip is a Seomyeon beer bar whose menu is built around snack-bar drinking food. There are the basics like tteokbokki, fritters and sundae, plus a huge variety of other snack items. Since I had ordered things separately last time, this time I went with the tteok-twi-sun set (tteokbokki, fritters and sundae).

When the set arrived, the table instantly turned into a snack-bar scene. Tteokbokki, fritters and sundae together looked familiar and welcome. It's not fancy food, but this kind of thing is surprisingly strong as drinking snacks. The tteokbokki was topped with appetizing red sauce, the fritters looked ready to go straight with beer, and the sundae added a different texture on the same plate. With two draft beers beside it, it was exactly the picture of a casual drink in Seomyeon.

How does the tteokbokki taste?

The tteokbokki at 5 Budu Twigimjip was sweet with a mild kick, close to the classic snack-bar style. It wasn't especially unique, just familiar. I think this kind of tteokbokki goes well with beer. Rustic snack-bar tteokbokki is easier to drink with than a too-refined version. The rice cakes were chewy, the sauce coated them just right, and I kept reaching for more. It wasn't very spicy, so it was easy to eat, and the rhythm of a sip of draft beer and a bite of tteokbokki worked well.

The sundae gives the set some heft

The sundae in the tteok-twi-sun set was the easy-to-eat kind, neither tough nor dry. Tteokbokki alone is a little light and fritters alone can get greasy, so adding sundae makes the set feel more balanced. It wasn't tough or dry, and it went well with the tteokbokki sauce too.

The fritters are the best match for draft beer

In the tteok-twi-sun set at 5 Budu Twigimjip, the fritters went best with draft beer. Pop a crispy fritter in your mouth, follow it with beer, and the greasiness washes away just right. I get disappointed right away when fritters are soggy, but the ones that day were decent as drinking snacks. Dipping them lightly in the tteokbokki sauce was good, and eating them plain was good too. In a snack set the fritters don't have a huge presence, but you'd miss them if they were gone.

A casual Seomyeon local pub for a tteok-twi-sun set and two draft beers

Verdict: going back to 5 Budu Twigimjip, a Seomyeon snack-bar beer pub

Even on a return visit, 5 Budu Twigimjip was still a satisfying Seomyeon beer bar specializing in snack-bar food. There were a few fewer customers than last time, but the place still had plenty of people and a reasonably lively mood, so it was comfortable to eat in. This time I ordered the tteok-twi-sun set and two draft beers, and the combination was just right. The tteokbokki had a familiar sweet, mildly spicy snack-bar flavor, the fritters were crispy and great with beer, and the sundae gave the set some heft.

It's not an extraordinary must-visit restaurant, but it's an easy place to go when you want snack food and a beer in Seomyeon. I especially like that you can sit comfortably indoors rather than at a street tent stall, and the prices aren't too steep. For me, 5 Budu Twigimjip is the Seomyeon beer bar I'll think of again when I want a casual drink with snack-bar dishes behind Lotte Department Store.