Korean bar near Isu Station, Seoul: beef tripe hotpot at Ari Gyegok

Today I went to Ari Gyegok Isu Station Branch, a great-value Korean bar near Isu Station hahaha. If you're looking for a nice-atmosphere bar for a date near Isu Station, or somewhere you can get delicious anju (drinking snacks) without it being too heavy, this one's worth checking out!

I've been staying far, far away from alcohol lately because of my diet... but after being worn out at work all day, I wanted a date somewhere with good vibes plus a drink, so I looked up a great-value Isu Station spot — Ari Gyegok!!

Where is Ari Gyegok Isu Station Branch, and what are the hours?

The sign gives off a bit of a classical-fantasy-novel vibe haha, clouds floating around~

• ⏰️ Hours: Sun–Thu 16:30–02:00, Fri–Sat 16:30–03:00
• 🚗 Parking: Not available ❌️
• 🚻 Restroom: Indoor, separated by gender
• 🍾 Corkage: Available (paid)

Come out Line 4 Isu Station Exit 13, or Line 7 Isu Station Exit 12, and it's about a 3-minute walk~! It's really close to Isu Station, so it's great for a second round after drinks, and easy to reach by public transit!

I visited after 6:30pm on a weekday after work. I'd booked via Naver, but there wasn't really a wait, so it seems great to just drop by on a weekday evening too haha.

Inside Ari Gyegok: what the space feels like

Maybe because it's a Korean-style bar, it feels clean and modern but with quite a bit of Korean flavor mixed in, which works whether you're just there for a casual drink, on a date or blind date, or at an engagement gathering haha.

There are reservable seats like this too, so it'd be great if you're looking for a group bar near Isu for a work dinner or a big gathering.

Maybe because the name is Ari Gyegok (아리계곡, "Ari Valley"), the interior has water pouring down like a valley~ You could even hear frog-like background sounds now and then in the shop haha. And maybe because the 계 (gye) in Ari Gyegok is the hanja for chicken, there were quite a lot of chicken dishes. Onward to menu exploration!!

What's on the menu at Ari Gyegok

Swipe sideways on the menu to see~

The menu was broadly divided into cold-mixed anju, stir-fried anju, jeon/fried anju, signature anju, and dessert, but chicken dishes made up most of it haha. A bar tailor-made for a chicken-loving boyfriend lol.

The signature dishes were original chicken hotpot, spicy hangover chicken hotpot, and perilla chicken hotpot. There were also menu items I hadn't seen much elsewhere — mud duck jeonbyeong (rice crepe), bubbling cheese potato jeon, whole fried pork, and chicken yukjeon — so I got curious. Stir-fried cheongyang pepper chicken thigh, chicken-feet-oil tteokbokki, egg-and-soft-tofu jjamppong soup, and beef tripe soft tofu hotpot all looked like total home-run drinking food, and there was the unusual burnt rice monkfish liver yukhoe too — kind of gave off samhap (three-way combo) vibes haha. Every dish really seemed to have a good combination of ingredients, so I had the happiest kind of dilemma over what to order...

You order via QR code haha.

Beef tripe soft tofu hotpot, ₩23,900: how does it taste?

So the dishes we ordered were — drumroll — !!! Beef tripe soft tofu hotpot (₩23,900), with the option to double the tripe for +₩10,000! Since I wanted something that could work as both a meal and an anju, I picked this hotpot, wanting one soup-based dish!!! Tripe add-on was available, but we went with the basic version!

Coiled rings of tripe sat in red broth haha. On top, a layer of pure white soft tofu~ lol and red chili pepper garnish stuck into the tofu like a little heart — so cute.

There seemed to be about 3 strands' worth of tripe haha. It came almost fully cooked already, so it only needed a short simmer before eating, which meant we didn't have to wait long — really nice.

Tripe first~ It was well filled with gop (the fatty lining), so soft, with zero off-smell — you could tell it was really fresh, and it was delicious. Since this is a bar where chicken is the main draw, I honestly wondered if beef tripe hotpot would be a "safe" pick — but it really was the right call... why didn't we add extra tripe......? Lolololololol.

The broth was slightly spicy without being sweet, which I liked, and even though tripe hotpot has fat that can make it greasy, this wasn't like that at all. It had mung bean sprouts and jjolmyeon (chewy noodles) mixed in, which made it pretty filling, and it tasted a bit like eating jjamppong jjolmyeon with soft tofu — delicious. The soft tofu had broken down and melted right into the broth, the kind of taste that makes you spoon up every last drop haha.

Burnt rice monkfish liver yukhoe, ₩22,900: cracking it open with a hammer

I'd also been craving yukhoe (Korean beef tartare) lately, and there happened to be a yukhoe dish on the menu, so I ordered the burnt rice monkfish liver yukhoe (₩22,900). Two pieces of burnt rice, a small dish of monkfish liver (like ankimo), and yukhoe taking up half the plate! They told us to smash the burnt rice with the little wooden hammer that came with it, then top it with yukhoe and monkfish liver and eat it all together haha.

Lolololololololol at first I didn't know how hard to hit it, so I was tapping lightly, tap tap, and it wasn't breaking at all, so then I really smacked it lol.

I piled a bit of yukhoe onto the nicely crushed burnt rice, dipped it in monkfish liver, and took a bite — and what even was that... The yukhoe seasoning was already so well done on its own, but eating all three together was reallyyy nutty and savory. The yukhoe meat was well-seasoned and fresh too.

Wow, the visuals were just top-tier!! Perfect as an anju for soju, beer, or even makgeolli!!

Impossible not to drink soju with this lol. Of course, my soju of choice is Chamisul Fresh (personal taste).

The broth wasn't too salty and was nicely seasoned, and there were more chunky ingredients than expected for a price that wasn't expensive — we kept saying to each other this really is a great-value bar, so delicious haha.

At Ari Gyegok, the ingredients are basically fresh and well-seasoned across the board, which I loved. Monkfish liver can easily turn fishy if handled badly, but it came out with zero fishy taste, and it was delicious whether eaten with the yukhoe or on its own.

My boyfriend is a beer guy, so he asked for beer and we ordered it haha. The beer went down smoothly too lol.

Is Ari Gyegok worth it? The good and the not-so-good

We really scraped the pot clean lol. We ate so eagerly that we ended up with leftover alcohol at the end and just drank on its own lol. We only ordered 2 dishes and were already stuffed as a couple, so it was a shame we couldn't order more ㅠㅠㅠ.

Toward the end, the hotpot's soft tofu, tripe fat, and jjolmyeon starch all mixed together and the broth thickened up, turning into something like eating a cheese gratin — and that was so delicious too haha.

What we liked

• Great atmosphere for dates, group work dinners, engagement gatherings and the like, fits the mood well
• Prices aren't expensive but the ingredients are fresh and tasty — excellent value
• Restroom is clean and separated by gender
• Staff were really kind, which was nice

What fell short

• Getting too full to order more was basically the only real letdown lolololol — I mean it lololololol

If you're looking for a date bar or a group bar near Isu, or an Isu Station bar with unusual anju, Ari Gyegok Isu Station Branch is worth a visit~ I'd 100% go back!!! Next time, I want to try the stir-fried cheongyang pepper chicken thigh and the chicken-feet-oil tteokbokki. The spicy hangover chicken hotpot too!!!