Euljiro bar with kiosk ordering and two highballs: Hey Jinny

I've been going to Euljiro pretty often lately, so my list of good spots keeps growing — and this time I finally found somewhere the vibe matched the food: Hey Jinny in Euljiro🤎 If you're looking for a place in Euljiro to have a glass of wine or a highball along with good snacks, this one's pretty great.

I especially want to recommend this to anyone looking for a blind date spot or date spot in Euljiro!

Where is Hey Jinny in Euljiro, and what is the space like?

Hey Jinny is on the second floor of a building on Euljiro 12-gil, pretty close to Euljiro 3-ga Station. Once you step inside, it's cozier than you'd expect!

The lighting is dim and soft overall, giving off that hip vibe you see around Euljiro these days, but without being too loud or chaotic. There are only about 6-7 tables, and the spacing between them was generous, which I liked. When we visited, there were a lot of couples on dates, and other people having quiet conversations too, so

I thought, "ah, this would genuinely be great for a blind date" haha

From wine to highballs: ordering at the Hey Jinny kiosk

The reviews were good so I was curious, and I booked ahead before visiting — the range of drinks was wide too, so it was easy to pick based on taste. We ordered two highballs that day, and the taste was clean and easy to drink!

The dishes overall had bold flavors, which paired well with the highballs too. It's also good for having a light glass of wine with pasta or pizza, and if you like highballs, I'd recommend pairing them with the snacks too! Ordering was done through a kiosk, so we could order comfortably without having to call a staff member over.

Osaka niboshi shrimp oil pasta at Hey Jinny

The menu item I genuinely want to recommend here is the Osaka niboshi shrimp oil pasta! You have to try this one, no question. It has anchovy, shrimp, and white mentaiko (seasoned pollock roe) mixed in, and once you toss it well, the umami of the seafood really comes through.

At first there was a faint, nutty aroma kind of like shrimp chips, but the more I ate, the more I picked up the salty, deep flavor of shrimp and mentaiko. The clean flavor typical of oil pasta combined with the umami from the seafood made it perfect as a pairing with wine or highballs.

Personally, out of everything I ate that day, this pasta was the most memorable.

Crispy fish-fragrant eggplant with a Sichuan pepper kick

And then, the Sichuan pepper kick! I also ordered the crispy eoxiangqie (fish-fragrant eggplant). When you hear eoxiangqie, you usually picture soft eggplant, but here it's fried crispy on the outside, so the texture was great. Crispy outside, moist inside! The sauce was sweet and salty, which gave it a slight ganpungi (sweet-savory crispy dish) feel too.

But as you keep eating, a Sichuan pepper flavor pops and adds something bright and slightly numbing. It gave a little bit of a mala (numbing spicy) sensation, and I think that was from the Sichuan pepper, haha. Personally, I enjoyed this more than the eoxiangqie I've had at Chinese restaurants. It went surprisingly well with the highball too!

It's a wine bar, but the food menu selection is quite varied. Beyond oil pasta, gnocchi, and pizza, there's a good range of wine snacks like gambas and burrata salad too, so it seems good for group visits as well.

Why Hey Jinny works for a blind date in Euljiro

A lot of bars in Euljiro these days are hip and pretty, but once you actually step inside, some have music that's too loud or tables packed too closely together. Hey Jinny, though, has that Euljiro-appropriate hip vibe while still having soft lighting and a cozy space, which made conversation easy.

Especially for a blind date, the food matters, but the atmosphere for talking comfortably matters even more — and on that front, this place really won me over! It's good for having a glass of wine on a date, or a quiet highball with a friend, and with a good range of food that pairs well with drinks like pasta, pizza, gnocchi, and eoxiangqie, it was more than enough as a first stop of the night.

I'm slowly filling out my Euljiro food list these days, and this is one I'd recommend to anyone looking for a bar in Euljiro, a wine bar in Euljiro, a pasta spot in Euljiro, or a blind date spot in Euljiro. Next time I set up a date in Euljiro, I'll definitely keep this one on the list🤎