Yongsan tteokbokki restaurant with fried rice: Hyeonseonine

Hyeonseonine found in a Yongsan alley

I don’t think I could ever get tired of tteokbokki. The weather had cooled down that day, so I walked around Yongsan a bit and went to Hyeonseonine for some tteokbokki. I first found out about Hyeonseonine about five years ago? It’s a tteokbokki place I visit now and then. I think I’d always gone as a second stop, haha. This time, I went a little early at 6 p.m. for dinner.

The restaurant isn’t right on the main road—you have to go through an alley—but you’ll spot it quickly once you see the towering chimney.

It’s a very famous place, after all. When I came for a second round, it would be after 10, so I’d only experienced the relaxed dining room—but this time, if I’d arrived a little later, I might have had to wait, haha..

It’s only five minutes from Yongsan or Sinyongsan, so it’s easy to get to. There’s no parking nearby, so I recommend public transportation, haha. The kitchen staff are completely visible from the dining area, which somehow makes it feel more trustworthy hygiene-wise!

They also have slushies, which seem perfect as a palate cleanser.

The refrigerator menu board and kiosk ordering

The menu is posted on a refrigerator. Isn’t that fun? I’d always had the regular tteokbokki, but that day I was suddenly craving instant tteokbokki so badly that I ordered it. It seems like lots of people order the sets too!

I heard Hyeonseonine originally started as a pocha (Korean tent-bar stall), and now it’s become a franchise. I guess great flavor really is all it takes!

You order through the kiosk, and they’re also running a review event. The self-service bar has pickled radish, soy sauce, frying crumbs, and so on. You know those frying crumbs, right? Old-school tteokbokki places used to sprinkle them on top... Such a nostalgia trip.

Instant tteokbokki and crispy fritters

You can’t resist an ice-cold beer with tteokbokki! I immediately ordered a bottle, and the fritters I brought from the self-service bar were crispy as ever, haha. You have to scoop up a big spoonful and coat it in the tteokbokki sauce, yep.. And look at that beer glass. It looks incredibly cold, right? That’s right. It was incredibly cold!!!

Most people did seem to be eating the regular tteokbokki. Both are delicious! They bring the instant tteokbokki out like this, then you just cook it at your table. The staff check on it now and then and let you know when it’s time to eat, haha.

The instant tteokbokki includes rice cakes, cabbage, fish cake, jjolmyeon (chewy wheat noodles), and egg. When I eat instant tteokbokki, I prefer jjolmyeon over ramyeon noodles! That chewiness is so good. I ordered the medium spice level. It’s about as spicy as Shin Ramyun, so I enjoyed it.

They also sell packaged instant tteokbokki meal kits. They seem like they’d be great for camping or when you want it at home.

Aww, I love yaki mandu (fried dumplings) too! They’re super crispy. They’re so good dipped in the tteokbokki sauce~ The fish cake broth isn’t overpowering either; it’s clean and mild!

I also ordered the self-made fried rice, so they bring out a bowl of rice already topped with seaweed flakes, kimchi, and sesame oil! The empty plate beside it is for serving out the tteokbokki.

After it bubbles away, fried rice too

Wow, once it started bubbling away, the color got even prettier, right? Even writing this now, I want it so badly... Oh gosh.. I want to gulp down that sauce. The only downside of instant tteokbokki is having to wait with the food right in front of you.. It really gets the salivary glands going.. This is when you should eat a piece of cabbage and fish cake, right?

I also ordered dinosaur egg fried eggs! I’ve really loved fried eggs since elementary school! A whole egg wrapped in a thick layer of batter, then dunked into tteokbokki sauce—that flavor is..! Divine!!

I finished with fried rice, the Korean dessert, haha. Looking at it now, I see there was corn in it too! The sweet flavor was so nice. Hyeonseonine is somewhere I’ll go again and again and again whenever I’m in Yongsan! It really was deliciousss.

Typical tteokbokki places aren’t very spacious, and hygiene can be something you find yourself thinking about. Hyeonseonine is delicious, but I also loved that the dining room is large and comfortable!