Late-night chicken restaurant near Sindang Station, Seoul: Gyeryugwan

This time I went to a chicken specialty restaurant, Indi-U!! Over 90% of the menu is chicken dishes — a Sindang Jungang Market favorite!! Sindang-dong is having a moment as the trendy "Hipdang" these days! This place even had chicken dishes I'd never seen before! :: Gyeryugwan in Sindang ::

How to walk from Sindang Station to Gyeryugwan

To get to Gyeryugwan from Sindang Station, come out Exit 2 and look to the left — there's an alley there!! Just follow that alley a little to the left and…?

Ta-da!!! This is Gyeryugwan, the bar that's said to be the hottest spot in "Hipdang-dong" right now :)

The signature at this Hwanghak-dong chicken spot has to be the oak-fired chicken with neungi mushrooms!!! Because right in front of the restaurant they grill it directly over an open wood fire..!! The faint smell of burning wood drifting through the Sindang Jungang Market alley really caught my attention!!

Is there a wait at Gyeryugwan late at night?

This place is usually known for long lines, but since I got off work a bit late, luckily there was no wait!! Even on a weekday late at night, there were surprisingly a lot of customers...? Guess a good restaurant really is a good restaurant haha

Turns out Gyeryugwan has appeared on TV shows like Pyeon Restaurant, Live Today, and Waiting Restaurant..!! (No wonder it's not a "tastes bad" place??)

First thing that caught my eye in the restaurant was the wide, open kitchen :) Being able to watch the cooking happen right in front of you was such a nice touch!!!

In the kitchen, the owner? chef? was busy cooking away :) I was already starving, and smelling all those delicious aromas made me twice as hungry ㅜㅜ Every time I caught a whiff from another table's dish, I got curious and wanted to order it too haha

What's on the menu: almost all chicken at Gyeryugwan

Gyeryugwan's menu was almost all chicken dishes!!

• Oak-fired chicken with neungi mushrooms
• Assorted chicken jeon (pan-fried fritters)
• Chicken gizzard with scallion fritters
• Chicken doenjang makguksu (cold buckwheat noodles)
• Chicken neck tangsuyuk (sweet and sour)
• Chicken meatball jeon
• Chicken feet in broth, and more

Since it's a chicken specialty restaurant, naturally there were a lot of dishes made with chicken :) And honestly, the menu practically calls out for makgeolli lol. Maybe that's why Gyeryugwan had such a huge variety of makgeolli!! If you're looking for a makgeolli bar in Sindang-dong, come straight to Gyeryugwan...!!

The one dish both Gyeryugwan staff members named

Unable to resist the smell of the wood fire, I ordered one oak-fired chicken, and got curious about the assorted chicken jeon so I ordered that too!! And I seriously agonized over chicken gizzard scallion fritters versus chicken neck tangsuyuk??

So I asked two staff members, and they said everything was delicious ㅜㅜ I really couldn't decide, so after grilling them for a while, both staff members said the chicken neck tangsuyuk was more to their personal taste, so I went with that lol

Customers kept coming in! I guess it's the time of night when people crave late-night snacks, right? haha This place would be great for light drinking with makgeolli before a meal, or with the oak-fired chicken paired with a shot of soju or beer!!

True to being a Sindang makgeolli bar, Gyeryugwan has all kinds of makgeolli ready to go!!! Very satisfying!!! Today I was craving soju so I went with that, but next time I'll have to come back and try the makgeolli :)

Gyeryugwan also has restrooms inside, separated by gender, which I was very happy about :)

The side dishes that come with every order

At Gyeryugwan, ordering the oak-fired chicken with neungi mushrooms comes with this basic spread of side dishes!! It seems like almost everyone orders at least one oak-fired chicken !!! Makes sense — this is a wood-fired chicken specialty restaurant, so how could you resist? haha

And along with it came seasoned fish roe and ssamjang (dipping sauce) with bits of meat mixed in..!! There was also a tartar-like sauce !! I was told the yeolmu kimchi (young radish kimchi) and cabbage kimchi go great with the oak-fired chicken too :)

Oak-fired chicken with neungi mushrooms, rice included

Here's the signature dish of this Hwanghak-dong chicken spot — the oak-fired chicken with neungi mushrooms..!! The chicken came out looking gorgeous haha And it came packed with rice, practically overflowing!! I absolutely love the rice tucked inside the wood-fired chicken..!! (So savory and delicious ㅜㅜ)

The staff told me there was salt on the side if I wanted it, to spoon a little into a dish and dip the chicken in — I definitely misjudged how much to use lol. Wow, everyone, can you see that shine...? Looks so tender!!! ㄴ Yes ㅜㅜ It's really tender lol

My boyfriend tore off a chicken leg and gave it to me first — the chicken was surprisingly big haha And when you pull off the leg, you get that soft, tender part near the base too!!! It came off together and I loved it!

First I dipped it in the sauce that came out at the start, and the combo was so good ㅜㅜ The sauce was tangy? sour? then sweet — completely delicious !! Then I tried it with salt too, and yep... chicken plus salt is just the truth...! Now I get why Gyeryugwan is such a famous Sindang bar ㅜㅜ!

Chicken neck tangsuyuk, 15,000 won: the staff pick

And this is the chicken neck tangsuyuk that two whole staff members recommended equally !!! I was really curious about the chicken gizzard scallion fritters too, but since it was my first visit, I trusted the staff's pick and ordered the chicken neck tangsuyuk today!!

Everyone, isn't 15,000 won a great deal for this ..? I was told Gyeryugwan's chicken neck tangsuyuk is made only from the special chicken neck cut — just 20g per chicken — with a ginger sauce! Even the portion was bigger than expected?

A reward for surviving today ~~ Ending the day with a good side dish and a shot of soju ~~

I'd actually seen another review mention the sauce tastes a bit gingery, so I worried about it a lot ㅜㅜ since I'm not really a fan of ginger..!! But no need to worry at all — it was just a ridiculously delicious tangsuyuk sauce lol

Since it's made from a special chicken cut, the flavor was definitely different from regular tangsuyuk ㅜㅜㅜ Way more delicious ㅜㅜㅜ

As the staff suggested, I piled it on top of the rice from the oak-fired chicken along with the kimchi and seasoned fish roe, and it was seriously insanely good..!! Especially the seasoned fish roe — total game changer ~~

The oak-fired chicken with neungi mushrooms also came with garlic roasted crisp alongside it, and even that pricey neungi mushroom was in there...? I'm basically nourishing my body right now, everyone !!

And unlike the pickled radish you get at typical fried chicken places, this radish and cabbage were house-made, and the seasoning wasn't too strong, so it went well with everything!!

Assorted chicken jeon, 25,000 won: the dish worth reordering

If you're going to Gyeryugwan in Sindang, the assorted chicken jeon is truly a must ㅜㅜㅜ For 25,000 won, you get literally every part of the chicken ㅋ Chicken leg meat, neck meat, heart, breast, and even chili meatballs made from minced chicken breast cartilage !! The assorted jeon also came with extra seasoned scallop and pickled onion. The composition was genuinely generous?

Wow.. I've had heart on skewers before, but this was my first time having heart as jeon..! Maybe because it came fresh off the pan, the jeon was hot, and coated in egg wash it was incredibly savory and soft ㅜㅜ

I put the pickled onion sauce and seasoned scallop that came with it on top too, and everyone... this is seriously a treasure... I can't believe heart can be this tender..!

My boyfriend's favorite was the chicken breast jeon lol he said Gyeryugwan's food was made just for him and loved it lol (typical trait of a boyfriend who works out: only eats chicken breast)

Today we had a super filling spread of chicken dishes !! Gyeryugwan, the Sindang chicken restaurant where you can taste so many different dishes made from chicken!! Next time I definitely want to try the chicken gizzard scallion fritters too ㅜㅜㅜ

And the one that really got to me was the chicken leg meat jeon!!! Honestly, chicken leg can't possibly taste bad, right..? But turned into jeon like this, it was so soft and just melted in my mouth ㅠㅠ

At first I thought it was just a regular chili jeon, but it turned out to be a chili meatball jeon made from minced chicken breast cartilage ㅜㅜㅜ!!! Is the owner some kind of cooking genius!!

Honestly every single jeon was delicious, but if I had to pick number one, it would be this neck meat one...!! I didn't expect it, but the texture of this cut was amazing..? And even tender... The assorted chicken jeon was the perfect side dish for makgeolli or soju!

Everyone, please do check out this bar near Sindang Station where you can enjoy so many delicious dishes made from just chicken! Gyeryugwan in Sindang ㅜㅜ! It was way more delicious than I expected, and the staff were so friendly, which made me love it twice as much — this Hwanghak-dong chicken restaurant :: Gyeryugwan ::