Clam hot pot near Yeouido Station for a couples' dinner after work

I'm serious about good restaurants with my husband since we got married haha. After work I went to Gaetbeol-ui Jogae, a well-known spot near National Assembly Station, and had a huge clam hot pot. The portion looks like way more than two servings lol. So here's why I'd recommend it to Yeouido office workers, an honest review!

Gaetbeol-ui Jogae Yeouido Main Branch location and hours

15-1 Gukhoedae-ro 70-gil, Yeongdeungpo-gu, Seoul, South Korea

• Hours: 11:00 - 22:00
• Last order: 21:00
• Closed on the day of major holidays
• Group reservations and parking available

It's very close, just a 4-minute walk from National Assembly Station. It's on the 2nd floor of the building, but the sign glows so brightly you can spot it from far away haha.

Since their lunch set is also great, the place gets crowded with office workers, so there were a lot of waiting chairs at the entrance. I went in the late evening so I could enjoy it comfortably.

Tables and rooms inside

Inside Gaetbeol-ui Jogae Yeouido Main Branch, the tables are spaced far apart with partitions, so it's great for focusing on your group. Since the clam hot pot is so big, the tables are also huge and wide.

There were also plenty of private rooms. If you're having a gathering, booking a room in advance would be great for chatting and eating together without worrying about others.

Gaetbeol-ui Jogae menu and prices

Giant clam hot pot for two, ₩59,000. It's loaded with various clams like scallops and geoduck-style large clams. We finished it off by adding kalguksu (knife-cut noodle) noodles.

Barley rice from the self-bar instead of plain rice

When ordering, I tried to add a bowl of rice, but there wasn't one on the menu. Turns out barley rice was provided at the self-bar instead.

The self-bar had geotjeori (fresh kimchi) and yeolmu kimchi (young radish kimchi), plus seasoning sauce that goes well mixed with the barley rice. Not many places serve barley rice these days, so I mixed it with plenty of sesame oil and it was delicious.

Giant clam hot pot for two — too much for two people to finish

A clam hot pot so generous it might not fit under four spread-out palms. They show it to you like this first,

then close the lid and let it simmer away. Once the time is up, a staff member comes back and opens the lid for you.

Today's order at Gaetbeol-ui Jogae, the famous restaurant near National Assembly Station. The clam hot pot was bubbling away hot, with a huge amount of scallops. Everything was cooked well, opening their shells wide.

A staff member prepped the large clam for easy eating, so I just waited comfortably.

And ta-da, they even topped it beautifully with squid and mool-tteok (soft water rice cake) haha.

My husband and I must've been telepathically in sync, because we both grabbed a scallop and dunked it right into the cheese. There was so much cheese it stretched forever lol, so we cut it with scissors haha.

Dipping the clams in chogochujang (vinegared chili paste) and in the soy sauce with cheongyang chili seasoning — so tasty. There were so many plump scallops and big clams that my husband and I just ate away without sharing at all.

The broth had great clam flavor infused into it, refreshing and clean. Must be because the clams were so fresh! It's too hot to drink straight from the pot, so I scooped some into a bowl to cool down. My husband just drank it straight from the pot without waiting — he's tough...!!

Mool-tteok that reminded me of Busan, and shrimp my husband carefully peeled for me haha.

The fish cake simmered in the clam hot pot bursts with umami. I wondered when we'd ever finish all these clams, but somehow the two of us cleared them out — maybe because this place near National Assembly Station is that good.

Finishing with kalguksu noodles

We were already full from the barley rice, but you can't skip kalguksu in this clam broth! There were still so many green vegetables left, so it was rich all the way to the end, and it went even better with the noodles.

The pot was so big that we had fun fishing out the noodles lol. The kalguksu, well soaked in the broth, paired great with the kimchi too — a happy dinner all the way to the finish.

Probably because it's in an area full of Yeouido office workers, they had this nice touch — mouthwash and dental floss ready on the way out.

Would I go back?

I'm so glad there's such a generous restaurant this close to National Assembly Station, near my home. My husband said it felt like the first proper meal he'd had in a while and wants to come back often. During our meal, I noticed a huge boiling seafood pot being carried into a room, so now I'm curious — next time, we're trying the boiling seafood!!