Jamsil outdoor bar for a soju birthday party: Kkang Udong

Kkang Udong Songpa Bangi Branch: outdoor drinking in Jamsil's Bangi Meokja Alley

Kkang Udong Songpa Bangi Branch is an outdoor pocha-style bar in Jamsil's Bangi Meokja Alley. During outdoor-seating season, you can't miss it — once that season's gone, it's gone, so if you're out and about, you've gotta hit an outdoor bar.

Bangi Meokja Alley is the midpoint spot where my friends and I meet up a lot. I didn't realize it, but there are so many outdoor bars here? With a breeze blowing like this at Kkang Udong and everyone in a good mood, how could you not go for this pocha vibe... everyone's nodding along, right?

The holy land of outdoor drinking — come on down to Jamsil Bangi Meokja Alley

Outdoor tables, indoor seats and how the wait works

Kkang Udong Songpa Bangi Branch was full of these delightfully mellow outdoor tables. So mellow... ㅠㅠㅠ so mellow

There were quite a lot of tables inside too. I visited around 7:30pm on a Wednesday and there were still plenty of customers. It's a weekday — does everyone have that much stamina? (me included)

The waiting system wasn't through an app like Tabling or Catch Table — it had that old-school feel of just writing your name down on-site. Since outdoor bars are hot right now, weekends probably have a wait. But with so many seats, tables seem to turn over pretty fast.

Kkang Udong menu and what the group ordered

The menu had udon, fish cake udon, fish cake soup, dakbal (spicy chicken feet), homemade tangsuyuk, dakgangjeong (sweet crispy fried chicken), mandu (dumplings), grilled shrimp, grilled tomato, pineapple sherbet, and more. There's a Kkang Udong branch in Konkuk University too, where I've gone often for a second round — it's great value for a quick, simple meal.

📍 What we ordered

• Fish cake udon (₩10,000), medium spice, 1 order
• Tangsuyuk (₩18,000), 1 order
• Watermelon sherbet (₩9,000), 1 order
• Chum Churum soju (₩5,500), 2 bottles
• Cass beer (₩5,500), 1 bottle

We said we came for a second round and yet ate this much haha( ๑ ❛ ᴗ ❛ ) that's not a second round anymore

The self-serve bar, and why to watch your phone charger

Water and extra side dishes were self-serve. And it was barley tea water!!! Barley tea is honestly the best!!! The self-serve bar even had a phone charger, but it was only 8-pin, so as an iPhone user I left mine plugged in at the counter for an hour — and the charger must've been broken, because my battery actually went down instead of up. I'm crying(｡T ω T｡)

Watermelon sherbet, 9,000 won

The watermelon sherbet came out completely frozen solid. A friend wanted something sweet so we ordered this, and it actually tasted a bit like melon? It was sweet and good for cleansing the palate. Pineapple sherbet was sold out so we got this instead — I'll try the pineapple one next time(゜Д゜)

Homemade tangsuyuk, 18,000 won: the onion wrap is the kicker

One of my friends loves tangsuyuk (sweet and sour pork) so we ordered that too. I thought the udon was the only good thing here, but turns out this place is a tangsuyuk spot too? Wrapping it in onion and eating it made it go down really smoothly as a drinking snack.

Cheers( 👍🏻 ˃ ᴗ ˂ )👍🏻

Three snack combo for three women who'd just demolished three servings of gopchang (grilled intestines) beforehand

Medium-spice fish cake udon: peppery minari that suits soju

Today's main event! The fish cake udon (medium spice) arrived. I'm not usually a fan of thick udon noodles, but these were thin, so the texture and how it went down were great. Especially good: there was plenty of minari (water dropwort) and fried tofu, and the spicy kick made it a perfect match for soju. Not lukewarm, not scorching hot either — just right for my old-man taste buds. Come back again and again, Kkang Udong

As someone who's obsessed with spicy food, this is the kicker for me. The owner's "great sense" at the self-serve corner, from chili flakes to chili powder... the story of how I ended up curing a hangover before I even finished drinking...

The vibe is really mellow. That good feeling you only get in this kind of weather...

The kitchen was open-style

A mini-cake birthday party at an outdoor table

We're in our 30s, so we just casually bought a mini cake and threw a birthday party at Kkang Udong. Happy birthday, Yujin!⸜( 🔔 )⸝

I was sure we'd leave some snacks behind, but we got swept up in the mood — and it was so good — that we ended up finishing everything.

Where is the restroom?

The bathroom is on the 1st floor of the same building. It was very clean, but there's no toilet paper, so bring your own!

The weather is so nice. Kkang Udong Songpa Bangi Branch is a great-value second-round bar for a simple bite (though I clearly didn't keep it simple)! If you're looking for a great outdoor bar in Bangi Meokja Alley, I highly recommend it. Outdoor drinking is the best...(｡T ω T｡) Fall weather, please don't go anywhere.