Dongnae Station bar for draft beer and chicken nanban: Hibar Dongnae

Hibar Dongnae: a Dongnae Station bar for your second round (and more)

Hibar Dongnae (하이바 동래점) is a bar the writer often visits when drinking near Dongnae Station. When you have a few drinks around Dongnae, it can be genuinely hard to pick a place for a second round, and Hibar is one of the few spots the writer keeps going back to. Even with a big group there are plenty of seats on the 2nd floor, so you can always get in without a reservation, and for small groups most tables are nicely spaced apart, which makes it a really good place to drink together.

• Address: 27 Myeongnyun-ro 129beonna-gil, Dongnae-gu, Busan, South Korea (1st and 2nd floors)
• Hours: 17:00–02:30 / Fri–Sat 17:00–04:30
• Bar counter / corkage available (fee applies) / parking available (₩300 per 10 minutes) / groups welcome

Hibar Dongnae atmosphere and whisky

The first thing I felt walking into Hibar Dongnae was how Japanese in feel it is, yet still really stylish. So we took the seat with the best view outside and started drinking there. Meanwhile there were so many eye-catching whiskies, like old-bottling Pittyvaich... sorry, I mean old-bottling Fiddich, Water and Laphroaig 10, that I was sweating haha. I seriously wanted to take the old Laphroaig home.

How is the draft beer and somaek at Hibar Dongnae?

Hibar Dongnae does draft beer really well, not just highballs. Summer feels like it's right around the corner. These days I'm drawn less to soju or whisky and more to white wine or champagne chilling in an ice bag, or beer, so for the first glass I instinctively went for draft beer again without thinking. Then my friend suddenly ordered soju and dropped a shot into each draft beer haha. There was a reason for it, but it was a bit rough haha;; After drinking it, though, the somaek (soju-and-beer mix) made with draft beer was ridiculously good...

I remember taking this photo of the coaster because I felt like I wanted to take one home haha.

After beer comes soju, of course! Going by the order of the photo gallery, I'd already finished a glass of beer and moved on to soju before even touching any food haha. I mixed in the leftover Green Label from a previous tasting with an acquaintance. A good drink really does make the soju-based mix (sotsuki) taste better.

Spicy soft tofu hot pot at Hibar Dongnae, a hangover-soothing dish

The first dish we ordered at Hibar Dongnae was the karai (spicy) soft tofu hot pot (순두부 전골). The menu says extra broth is ₩3,000, and I wondered what kind of dish this was, but the broth really was worth paying for a refill. It felt like a dish that cures your hangover while you're still drinking, so the draft beer from earlier was practically cured on the spot.

Is there a Naver booking perk at Hibar Dongnae?

Hibar Dongnae has an event giving free basil cream cheese crackers when you book through Naver (Korea's main portal and booking app). So I absolutely, absolutely recommend booking through Naver before you go!! They gave so much cream cheese that I kept reaching for more.

The best dish at Hibar Dongnae: chicken nanban

The tastiest dish at Hibar Dongnae was the chicken nanban (fried chicken with a sweet-sour sauce, Japanese style). The sauce was so good and the juiciness inside was the best. Personally, if I go again, chicken nanban is definitely what I'll order. By the time we ordered it I think we'd already had about two bottles of soju each, and whether it was because the stories we were telling were so fun or the food was so good, it was the kind of place and the kind of dish that keeps the drinks going.

Is Hibar Dongnae okay for a first round?

Hibar Dongnae was a bar where you can eat well and miss nothing even as a first round. I come often, but this was my first time here as a first stop, and it was good enough that when we went somewhere else for the second round I thought, "Ah, we should've just stayed at Hibar."

These days I always seem to finish a night of drinking with a Lalasweet ice cream. I really hope every convenience store gets both the strawberry and mango flavors!! haha