Daeheung smash burger joint: jalapeño O.G Champion at Bored & Hungry

What is Bored & Hungry Mapo?

Bored & Hungry Mapo is a burger restaurant near Daeheung Station, in a building with a giant mural right next to the forest walking path. That mural building you pass as you walk through the green path was so cool, and I'd always wondered what it was whenever I walked by. Turns out it's a burger place!!

Step inside and it feels like you've walked into a burger joint in the US!!

Bored & Hungry Mapo location, hours and parking

The address is 36 Gwangseong-ro 6-gil, Mapo-gu, Seoul, 1st floor, about a 3-minute walk (roughly 250m) from Exit 4 of Daeheung Station, so it wasn't hard to find. It's open daily 11:00–20:50, with a break from 15:50 to 17:00 and last orders at 15:10 / 20:10. There's no private parking lot, so use a nearby public one.

Atmosphere at Bored & Hungry Mapo: good for a Sinchon date?

Being near Sogang University, the place is popular with college students, and the interior felt young and trendy. Add the music and it puts you in a good mood before you even take a bite. With a vibe like this, I think it would work well as a Sinchon date spot too.

What we ordered and how the combos work

This time at Bored & Hungry Mapo I ordered the O.G Champion burger combo, which reportedly won Good Morning America's best burger award in 2022, and the Shrimp O.G burger combo. For one of the sides I swapped the fries for corn ribs, and I also added the chili cheese bar I'd been seeing all over mukbang videos lately. Combos come in 4 setups, and you can pick a shake or a soda as your drink, so mixing and matching was fun.

O.G Champion burger: a smash burger with ground jalapeños

The O.G Champion burger really showed off the charm of an American-style smash burger. The crispy crust you get from pressing the patty hard on the grill and the meaty flavor both came through well, and from the first bite I thought, "Ah, this is definitely different."

I chose ground jalapeños instead of pickles, and that spiciness cut through the richness of the meat, so I never got tired of it down to the last bite. (You can choose pickles or jalapeños!!) It also had several patties rather than just one, so it was really juicy, and the flavor kept building the more I chewed. Isn't the weary-looking Bored & Hungry trademark box too cute? Hahaha

Shrimp O.G burger: a thick shrimp patty

The Shrimp O.G burger was really special. The shrimp patty was much thicker than I expected, and at first I wondered whether it would be cooked through, but when I bit in, the inside was moist and kept that distinctive shrimp texture. Every bite felt like the shrimp was popping, and it had a charm totally unlike an ordinary handmade burger.

"Special menu item" is exactly the right way to describe it. It's a different kind of flavor from a beef patty, so eating it together with the O.G Champion burger was even more satisfying. I'd order the shrimp burger again next time for sure!

Fries and corn ribs: how were the sides?

The side dishes at Bored & Hungry Mapo were pretty impressive too. The fries were really crispy, maybe because they came out freshly fried, and the seasoning sprinkled on top gave them a savory depth, so they were great even without sauce. Fries at handmade burger places are usually just okay, but here the fries themselves were good enough to stand out on their own.

The corn ribs were salty with a slight sweetness, so I kept reaching for them, and they naturally made me think of beer. (They're quite salty, so I'd love to take them to go and eat them as beer snacks on the forest path with a canned beer.)

Chili cheese bar: a cheese-packed add-on

The chili cheese bar will definitely satisfy cheese lovers. It's packed with cheese inside, so the stretch alone is overwhelming, and the chili sauce made it less heavy, which I liked even more. It's like a cheese stick, but much richer and fuller in flavor, so it seemed great as a snack or as an extra after a burger.

Look at that cheese stretch!! There's honestly so much of it, and the texture of the white cheese is so good that I want to eat it again just looking at it now! Actually, fearing it would go cold, I slurped it down faster than anything else.

Who is Bored & Hungry Mapo good for?

Overall, Bored & Hungry Mapo isn't just a place with tasty burgers; it's polished from the atmosphere to the menu. I felt it suits people looking for a great burger spot near Daeheung Station, or anyone who wants a proper handmade burger in a nice setting. If you especially like the flavor of American-style burgers, you'll probably enjoy it even more.

I want to go back soon for the Shrimp O.G burger and the chili cheese bar again.. The portions were generous, so it was filling as a meal, and adding sides made it even more satisfying. If you're looking for a burger spot near Daeheung Station, I'd recommend it as somewhere worth visiting at least once.

When the weather's nice, have a burger and then walk the forest path from Daeheung Station toward Sinchon! If you also stop by the stray-dog shelter café 🐾 Pawinhand, the day will fly by. It was such a lovely weekend.