Yeonnam-dong school-style tteokbokki and bok choy gimbap: Eungkeum

Meet Eungkeum Tteokbokki Yeonnam Branch (응큼떡볶이 연남점), a snack-bar paradise in Yeonnam-dong where the tteokbokki (spicy rice cakes) is seriously good. I was visiting Yeonnam-dong for the first time in a while and got a tteokbokki craving, so I came here. Besides tteokbokki there's chicken, udon, gimbap (seaweed rice roll), pork cutlets and more, and the food quality is no joke ☺️ It's a Hongdae-area spot I want to go back to, so let me start the detailed review.

Eungkeum Tteokbokki Yeonnam Branch: hours and parking

Eungkeum Tteokbokki Yeonnam Branch is open 24 hours a day, every day of the year, and there is no parking. Takeout, delivery, group seating and reservations are available.

• Hours: open 24 hours, every day
• Notes: takeout, delivery, group seating and reservations available
• Parking: not available

What is the atmosphere like?

The interior is so hot and hip you wonder if it's really a tteokbokki place. It has a beer-pub vibe, so plenty of customers had a drink even at lunchtime.

One look and you'd wonder if this is really a tteokbokki place, the interior is that hot and hip 🤩

Being in Yeonnam-dong, it's full of that trendy, current vibe.

It also has a pub atmosphere that suits beer perfectly, so even though it was lunchtime, lots of people were having a casual drink 🍻 There were as many foreign guests as Koreans, which made me feel the popularity of K-food all over again.

How varied is the menu?

The menu covers tteokbokki, chicken, dakdoritang (braised chicken stew), gimbap, fried snacks, sundae (Korean blood sausage), fried rice, udon, soba, fish cake soup, pork cutlets and more, from meals to drinking snacks. It's even more varied than a Gimbap Heaven chain, and choosing took forever.

The menu is even more varied than Gimbap Heaven 🫢 It's been a while since I saw a snack bar with so many choices to pick from, so deciding took ages.

Tteokbokki, chicken, dakdoritang, gimbap, fried snacks, sundae, fried rice, udon, soba, fish cake soup, pork cutlets: meals and drinking snacks, this Yeonnam-dong favorite does it all 👍

What I ordered and the options

That day I ordered the tteokbokki + chicken set and tuna gimbap. I went with the tteokbokki-chicken set, and there are lots of options. For the tteokbokki you can choose the rice cake type, spice level, toppings and extra vegetables, and for the chicken you can pick half, whole, boneless and so on. Make it however you like 😉

How was the rice cake tteokbokki?

The tteokbokki arrives fully cooked, and the induction burner on every table keeps it hot to the end. The sauce was sweet and addictive, like the cup tteok sold in front of schools back in the day.

The tteokbokki came first, with the other dishes following one after another 🫶

The tteokbokki comes out fully cooked, and with an induction burner at each table you can eat it heated through to the end. Right down to the last piece it doesn't go cold, and the chewy-soft texture of the garaetteok (long cylinder rice cakes) holds up, which is totally my style.. 💕 I paid extra to switch to rice cakes, but looking at the next table, the default wheat rice cakes looked tempting too, haha.

Part of this Yeonnam-dong tteokbokki spot's charm is that the sauce reduces thick as it simmers and gets deeper in flavor. The seasoning especially tastes like the sweet, addictive cup tteok I used to buy in front of school, so I kept reaching for more 🥹

What is the tuna gimbap with bok choy like?

The tuna gimbap comes in 6 pieces, but each piece is big enough to fill your mouth. It's generously stuffed with fillings like bok choy and tuna.

The gimbap comes cut into 6 pieces, and at first I thought, huh, that's so little. But even one piece fills your mouth, so it makes sense, haha.

The fillings like bok choy and tuna are generous, so you can taste each ingredient. It was my first time having gimbap with bok choy, and the crunchy, clean taste went surprisingly well with gimbap❗️

Dipping it in the tteokbokki sauce is the golden rule, haha.

Is the half chicken at a snack bar worth ordering?

The half chicken in the Eungkeum set comes freshly fried and crispy, and it's juicy because it's made with thigh meat. I agonized between this and fried sundae, and it turned out to be a satisfying choice.

I really agonized over whether to pick chicken instead of fried sundae at a snack bar, but the chicken came out freshly fried, and the crispy texture is fantastic 👍

It's made with moist, tender thigh meat, so zero dryness 😉 If you like chicken, you'll be happy with it, haha.

Eungkeum Tteokbokki Yeonnam Branch: overall verdict

With such a wide menu I was a little worried about quality, but every dish I picked was a success, so I figure anything you order here would beat expectations 🫶 Delivery orders kept coming in when I visited, so clearly lots of people already know how good it is, haha. I recommend it as a Yeonnam-dong tteokbokki snack bar❣️