Yeongdeungpo pub with mango cream shrimp and tteokkkochi: Ho Samchon

What kind of pub is Ho Samchon Yeongdeungpo Main Branch?

Ho Samchon Yeongdeungpo Main Branch is a cooking pub a 5-minute walk from Exit 5 of Yeongdeungpo Station. It's a hip, group-oriented bar with a big screen for live sports, and it stocks everything from soju and beer to highballs. The prices are super reasonable for the shocking portions and quality of the food.

• 🗓️ Hours: Daily 17:00–02:00 (last order 01:00)
• 🅿️ Parking available (paid)
• ✔️ Group bookings available

I had a gathering in Yeongdeungpo today, so let me recommend a great Yeongdeungpo bar for a group meetup. After a big first round, we didn't quite want to say goodbye, so we said let's do a quick second round and dropped in — and ended up thrilled by the huge portions and surprisingly great taste. This is Ho Samchon, a Yeongdeungpo bar with more repeat customers than first-timers, so here's my review.

How to walk to Ho Samchon from Yeongdeungpo Station

Ho Samchon was just a 5-minute walk from Exit 5 of Yeongdeungpo Station. Parking is available too, but it's paid. Since you're going drinking anyway, just leave the car at home~!

• ✔️ Parking available (paid)

Ho Samchon was hip from the entrance on — a rare kind of hip bar to find in Yeongdeungpo. On weekends, if there's a wait, the time limit is 3 hours. It seems to get quite a bit of waiting traffic, since there are comfy chairs set up at the entrance. You could probably snap some great photos while you wait.

• ✔️ 3-hour time limit on weekends or when full

Is Ho Samchon big enough for group dinners and parties?

The inside was much roomier than I expected! A soccer match was airing live on the white wall. It said group bookings are available, so this would be great for a group reservation on a soccer or baseball game day, or for a full company dinner booking. Is the owner really running this whole huge space alone...? Impressive.

The AC was blasting so it got a little chilly, but they had the nice touch of providing blankets.

There were tons of soju and beer varieties, plus distinctive drinks like highballs and mojito beer. It's a group spot where everyone from non-drinkers to heavy drinkers can enjoy themselves together. It kind of feels like a cocktail bar.

What we ordered for round two at Ho Samchon, and the prices

We ordered mango cream shrimp for 16,900 won, tteokkkochi (skewered rice cake) for 6,900 won, garlic corn cheese & baguette for 9,900 won, and two beers. The complimentary side dish was chicken drumstick crackers, and they were genuinely crispy and delicious. There's this mild spiciness with real umami, haha — with just this snack alone, the beer would go down smoothly.

All three dishes came out fast. The owner runs both the floor service and the kitchen alone, yet it was really quick. Look at how good the food looks. I was thrown off by how much there was. We came for round two thinking the prices were cheap, so we let our guard down.

Mango cream shrimp, 16,900 won

The mango cream shrimp was the first thing we ordered. I'd never seen anything that looked like this before, but it was better than expected. Anything labeled BEST on the menu never fails. Inside the crispy, well-fried batter was a plump shrimp. It was loaded with fresh mango topping and plenty of vegetables too. How do they manage this quantity and quality for 16,900 won?

We were trying to arrange it nicely for photos and ended up all pushing our plates forward saying ours was prettier, haha. Must be all bloggers here.

Garlic corn cheese & baguette, 9,900 won

The garlic corn cheese & baguette got all the love from my friends. We literally scraped the pan until it nearly wore through.

The combo of coarsely chopped garlic and corn cheese was insane... it reminded me of the six-clove garlic bread from Gangneung, haha. Sweet garlic sauce, corn, cheese, plus a crisply toasted baguette. Seriously, how is this under ten thousand won?

Tteokkkochi (rice cake skewers), 6,900 won

They call it tteokkkochi, but this is more like a mountain of rice cake!

It looked ready to overflow the plate. They gave us an overflowing amount of sauce too. Freshly fried rice cake's chewiness paired with the sweet sauce — everyone knows that feeling already. Dipping the complimentary chicken drumstick crackers into the tteokkkochi sauce made them taste like yangnyeom (sweet-spicy) chicken, haha.

We were already full when we ate these, but the food was still delicious. I instantly understood why this bar gets more repeat visitors than first-timers. Owner, next time I'll come for round one and really enjoy myself. The dishes were so good that I felt bad about how much we left behind.