Yongsan tteokbokki restaurant for a Tuesday dinner: Hyeonseonine

I was near Yongsan and suddenly craved spicy tteokbokki, Korea’s soul food, so I stopped by. There was a great variety of Korean snack dishes to choose from, including gimbap (seaweed rice rolls), sundae (Korean blood sausage), and fritters. Pairing the spicy-sweet tteokbokki with gimbap and fritters made for a filling yet easygoing meal.

It is also nice for dropping in after work for a simple tteokbokki meal. Maybe because it is a Korean snack place, there were quite a few people dining alone too. Most people seemed to be eating in pairs, but it would be great for a casual meal with a beer as well.

Yongsan tteokbokki with a wait even on a weekday evening

I arrived at 6:40 p.m. on a Tuesday evening. It was already full, with about three groups ahead of me. At Hyeonseonine Yongsan Main Branch (현선이네 용산본점), you can choose between instant tteokbokki and regular tteokbokki when taking a table. There was only one group ahead for the regular tteokbokki, so I said I would order that and was inside eating within 5 minutes.

How to order and the menu at Hyeonseonine

Here is the menu. Once you are shown to a seat, you put down your things and order your food yourself at the kiosk near the entrance. Regular tteokbokki is usually ordered as a set, while people seemed to order instant tteokbokki with various add-ins. Instant tteokbokki is available from two servings. I ordered the Hyeonseoni Combo Set, by the way. It comes with tteokbokki, sundae, gimbap, fritters, and odeng (fish cake), so it is a generous spread.

Medium-spicy Hyeonseoni Combo Set

The whole set arrived. It came on a big tray and was the absolute classic Korean snack spread. With fritters and gimbap too, it was wonderfully filling! You can choose the spice level for the tteokbokki, and I went with medium. It was about as spicy as Shin Ramyun, so it was easy to enjoy. Next time, I thought I should take on the hottest signature level too. 🔥

The medium level was about as spicy as Shin Ramyun, so it did not feel hard on my stomach. There were lots of wheat rice cakes and some fish cake too. I am a fish-cake person, so I mixed in the extra odeng I had ordered separately, and it was delicious!

There were fritter crumbs at the self-serve bar, so I added some. They were crunchy at first and soften slightly over time, but spooning them up like that was quite a treat. The tteokbokki sauce can disappear quickly, though, so I recommend adding them to your taste. 🫶

Three skewered fish cakes came with it too. They were the wavy kind of odeng that I love. They were delicious dipped in soy sauce, and they also went really well with the tteokbokki sauce.

Hyeonseonine seems to have become famous as a Yongsan tteokbokki spot not only because it is good value, but because it is genuinely tasty too. The fritters were the definition of crisp outside and tender inside. I think I will absolutely order fritters as a side again next time!

The fried squid was crisp and chewy, while the sweet-potato fritter was sweet and lovely. There were seaweed rolls and dumplings as well, so it was nice to choose different kinds according to your taste.

The sundae normally comes with offal. I like lung, liver, and head meat too, so I asked for a mixed portion. The serving was quite large and generous, and it was seriously delicious dipped in the tteokbokki sauce!

The gimbap was substantial and tasty too. It had all sorts of fillings, from ham and egg to pickled radish, making it really enjoyable. It was great on its own, but dipping it in the tteokbokki sauce made it even more irresistible!

I also put the skewered fish cakes into the tteokbokki and enjoyed them. The lightly spicy sauce was such a treat. By the end, I was scooping it up enthusiastically with a spoon!

A meal scraped clean

And in the end, this! A completely scraped-clean finish, haha. It looked like I had done the dishes.

Among Yongsan tteokbokki spots, this is a good-value place for a filling meal. There is a reason it is popular enough to have a wait even on weekdays. I was in the area for an errand, and came away having properly enjoyed Korean snack food, from the fritters and fish cakes to the gimbap!