Sangsu Station izakaya: matcha draft beer & spicy beef soba set

I went to Soottori Hongdae Hapjeong, a sutmakase (숯마카세) spot between Sangsu and Hapjeong stations!! Sutmakase is Soottori's reinterpretation of "budget-friendly yakitori omakase" instead of pricey omakase!! The prices are affordable but the portions are shockingly large and everything tasted amazing, so I really recommend it!!

The sutmakase set menus run from the upper ₩30,000s to low ₩40,000s, which is total value for money, and there's a nice variety of soup/seafood/noodle dish options too! And draft beer is ₩3,500!!?? Such a great spot to grab a draft beer after work

Location and hours of Soottori Hongdae Hapjeong

18 Dongmak-ro 9-gil, Mapo-gu, Seoul (8-min walk from Hapjeong Station Exit 3, 6-min walk from Sangsu Station Exit 1)

Sun-Thu 18:00-04:00 / Fri, Sat 17:00-04:00 (last order 03:00)

Group seating available, separate men's/women's restrooms, takeout available. No parking; use nearby public parking lot (₩6,000/hour).

Spot a place blasting yellow from far away? That's Soottori. It stands out even from a distance so you can find it easily!

Pretty aesthetic, right? There's a Christmas tree even though it's summer. There's also an outdoor window seat, and now that the weather's starting to loosen up, that seat is totally tempting

Interior vibe and window seating

See how spacious the seating is!!! Plush, wide chairs with dividers separating each section. You know a bar's supposed to be moderately dim, right. The reddish-yellow lighting made photos come out great and somehow made conversation feel more comfortable too!! haha So we ended up staying longer than planned

The window seat I saw from outside earlier exists inside too. If you're coming as a pair, this is a great spot to chat away.

Bars can get loud, so sitting side by side at a spaced-out window seat like this meant we could actually hear each other well haha

The innermost window seat even has anime playing on a projector, whoa. There's a strong Japanese vibe throughout the space, so it's perfect for anyone who loves izakayas!

Sutmakase set composition and pricing

The set menus are quite varied so I'd recommend going for one!! The sutmakase set for 3-4 people runs from the upper ₩30,000s to low ₩40,000s, and you can choose appetizer + yakitori omakase + soup/meat/seafood/pasta! The value set for 2-3 people runs upper ₩10,000s to low ₩20,000s, with a choice of yakitori omakase + dessert/udon! So it's reeeally filling haha Personally I thought the sutmakase set was total value for money too!!

You can also order individual yakitori skewers, soups, specialty dishes, and simple dishes separately! Overall the prices are really low for an izakaya, total value-for-money heaven

Draft beer ₩3,500, matcha draft beer ₩4,000

Soottori's drink menu turned out to be really cheap too!!! First of all;; draft beer ₩3,500 is insane. There's also matcha draft beer for just ₩4,000!! Highballs and sawa are around ₩6,000-8,000 too, which was great haha

There's also a Naver review event! And those cute little hamsters — Soottori's mascot character I think — were hiding all over the place, so cute haha

There's a recommended sauce pairing guide for each skewer, so I made them ahead and dipped each skewer differently — made it even tastier!!

Our order

• Sutmakase D Japan Pasta Set ₩38,900 (potato salad with pickle / spicy beef bulgogi soba)
• Matcha ice draft beer ₩4,000
• Tori mango sawa ₩6,900
• TOTAL ₩49,800

The mango sawa had a nice balance of booziness and sweetness haha. I was curious about the matcha draft beer too and tried it — I expected a bitter aroma but it actually tasted pretty good! Less bitter than it smells, more like matcha powder mixed into water or beer! If you're curious, give it a try, it won't disappoint!

From appetizer to the final skewer, the serving order

First up as the appetizer was potato salad! The combo of potato salad and nachos was great. Perfect palate cleanser to start with

Kushikatsu (skewered deep-fried skewers) came out first. Fried cheese, sausage, quail egg, lotus root and more — a great variety to try non-meat skewers too!

Then the spicy beef bulgogi soba came out....!! I can't even handle Shin Ramyun spice-wise, but this wasn't a tongue-numbing spicy — it was more of a warming spicy that had me reaching for bite after bite. There's beef, shrimp, and crab in it too, so the portion and toppings are seriously generous — totally recommend haha!!!!

Pork neck, rib cartilage, knee cartilage, and heart skewers came out one after another, paced like a real omakase!! You just eat them right as they arrive. The yakitori pieces were bigger and meatier than I expected, more generous than other places too! Even one piece by itself felt substantial

Last up: pepper and bacon-wrapped tomato!! Appetizer — kushikatsu — pasta — yakitori — finale, all served omakase style, I loved that so much haha At this price, this quality, this quantity❗️❗️

I was eating little by little just to take photos, but excluding drinks, all of this was ₩38,900!! No wonder the portion felt so huge — it was meant for 3-4 people. It was such a happy meal because of that 🫶

The owner and staff were all so kind too, which made the whole night even better haha. Around Hapjeong and Sangsu, if you want an authentic Japanese-feel bar where you can enjoy budget-friendly yakitori omakase for ₩10,000-20,000 per person, Soottori Hongdae Hapjeong comes strongly recommended~~!