Mapo seafood restaurant grilled clams for two: Hawaii Clam

When I was craving grilled clams in Hongdae

I had been craving ❤️grilled clams❤️ for a week, so I looked into where to go. The west coast is definitely the best place for fresh, delicious clams, but after work on a weekday, it can feel a little far away, you know?

So I found a place within Seoul. I happened to have something to do around Hongdae in Mapo-gu, and it fit perfectly into my route, so I stopped by. It was the ❤️Hawaii Clam Hongdae Branch (하와이조개 홍대점)❤️, a place lots of famous celebrities have visited 😁

It is open from 4 p.m. until 2 a.m. the following day, every day of the year. It is 577 m from Exit 9 of Hongik University Station, and parking is available.

If you came by car, there is a parking area going underground to the right of the front of the restaurant. You can park there~!

Looking at the tank, I could see how incredibly clean they keep it?

Honestly, it is really hard to maintain a tank this clear unless you are at the source 😮👍👍👍

A large corner of the restaurant was filled with drinks and wines to have with the clams.

There was another extra dining room inside too, so it was nice to have plenty of space at the table.

And those who know, know: this is a celebrity regular spot. So many celebrities have visited this famous place!

Once I got a table, I started thinking about what to order.

What comes with the Hawaii Grilled Clams set for two

Since I had driven there and could not have a highball, I simply ordered the Hawaii Grilled Clams set for two ❤️

The Hawaii Grilled Clams set for two costs ₩53,800. Because this is indoor grilled clams, the basic grill is gas-fired, and the clams and mussels go straight onto the heat as soon as they arrive haha.

Several dishes came out, including cheese tteokbokki (spicy rice cakes) and kimchi haha.

This is the full Hawaii Grilled Clams set for two.

First, I grilled the scallops topped with cheese. They even gave us squid, which has gotten so expensive lately?

The foil packets held shrimp. There were all sorts of seafood items too, including king prawns, clams, and scallops 👍

There was such a variety of things to choose from, which made it fun haha.

First things first, I quickly dug into the grilled cheese scallops~!

Putting green onion on top of a scallop gives it another whole flavor too haha.

I had some nicely cooked cheese tteokbokki in between too?

And grilled the barbecue ham that came with it too?

These were grilled large prawns haha.

We were gradually getting toward the end, and then grilled cheese pen-shell adductor muscles came out too haha.

Dipping them in sauce made it all a bit of a whirlwind!

The unlimited ramen service you cannot miss

When you go somewhere and see unlimited offerings, they often give you only the cheapest items, right? But here, they stocked a wide range of ramen so customers could choose according to their taste 👍

I only drank soft drinks because I was driving. But the person I went with had this while drinking alcohol, and described it as tasting like an instant hangover cure haha. I really, really recommend having mussel ramen with grilled clams! 👍👍👍

We finished all that food and headed out haha.

It was seriously so delicious 👍👍👍

After trying it, the serving for two was more than enough

I lived near the coast during my school years, so I have eaten a really wide variety of grilled clams. Even at well-known places such as Eulwang-ri, Oido, and Daecheon, many restaurants calling themselves unlimited grilled-clam places mainly offer small clams such as dongjuk clams, Manila clams, and hard clams as refills.

Because seafood has its own distinctive aroma, even someone like me who is crazy about seafood can get tired of it more easily than expected after eating one grilled clam after another. So in reality, even at an unlimited grilled-clam place, each group can only manage one or two refill bowls. The restaurant owners know that well too haha.

But ❤️Hawaii Clam Hongdae Branch (하와이조개 홍대점)❤️ has something really great going for it. Honestly, I was disappointed at first because the initial amount of clams looked small. But after eating it, I found the serving for two was not just enough—it was actually quite a lot.

And best of all, ❤️you get small portions of many different foods❤️. You can eat one thing and then try another, so you never get tired of the seafood at all~.

For anyone who finds it hard to travel all the way to the coast, Seoul has a place like this where you can enjoy a variety of fresh clams. I really recommend visiting at least once! It also has parking, so it is a good place to drive to from farther away 😁😁😁