Euljiro tteokbokki restaurant after Namdaemun Market: Hyeonseoni-ne

Skipping the Namdaemun Market queues for tteokbokki in Euljiro

Hi everyone~.~ Namdaemun Market has been crazy hot lately, haven't you noticed?!! After one full loop of shopping there, I was craving tteokbokki (stir-fried rice cake) so badly. But every single tteokbokki place inside Namdaemun Market had a wait..!!!! ㅠㅠㅠㅠ I felt like I'd walked twenty thousand steps.. and I was starving.

But on days when you're desperate for instant tteokbokki!! So I searched and found this place — one of "Seoul's Big 3 tteokbokki" spots: Hyeonseoni-ne Cheonggye Instant Branch~.~

Hyeonseoni-ne Cheonggye Instant Branch 112 Namdaemun-ro, 1st floor (next to Mega Coffee), Jung-gu, Seoul, South Korea Mon–Fri 10:40–21:00 (closed Sat & Sun) No parking

How long is the walk from Euljiro 1-ga Station Exit 3?

Hyeonseoni-ne Cheonggye Instant Branch is pretty close to Euljiro 1-ga Station, so it wasn't hard to find at all! It's about a 1-minute walk from Exit 3. It's easy to get to for the office workers around the area or anyone hunting for good food in Euljiro :) Just keep in mind there's no parking!!

Being an office-workers' favorite, it seems to only open on weekdays, Monday through Friday! It's closed on weekends, so make sure to check before you go!!

Even before stepping inside, the vibe was already unique!! Unlike the clean, stylish tteokbokki places you see nowadays, this place had that distinct old-school restaurant atmosphere. The entrance especially was the most unusual part. It's right next to Mega Coffee!!

The half-outdoor patio and old-school Euljiro atmosphere

Turn the corner and Hyeonseoni-ne suddenly appears. It really felt like I'd found a genuine Euljiro old-school tteokbokki spot! There are indoor seats too, but most of it was basically half-outdoor. On a nice day, sitting outside with tteokbokki and a draft beer lets you really soak in that unique Euljiro atmosphere haha.

What we ordered at Hyeonseoni-ne Cheonggye Instant Branch

Hyeonseoni-ne Cheonggye Instant Branch has both single dishes and set menus. It looked like the pre-cooked tteokbokki was mostly for takeout, while inside the restaurant almost everyone was eating the instant version. We ordered instant tteokbokki too + a draft beer — daytime drinking is love.

How spicy is the tteokbokki, and is one pot enough for two?

For someone like me who only eats the mild version of Yeoptteok and the mild version of Sinjeon — a total spice wimp — this was on the spicier side. Still, it wasn't harsh, just spicy for spicy's sake! The rice cakes were well seasoned and the broth itself was so tasty that I kept going back for more haha.

Instant tteokbokki can sometimes disappoint if there aren't enough toppings, but here you get to enjoy a variety of extras along with the rice cakes, which made picking through it fun! The portion was quite generous too. There were two of us, and one order of instant tteokbokki was plenty!! With the fritters on top, I felt like I was going to burst.

Sweet potato fritters dipped in the tteokbokki broth

I highly recommend ordering fritters alongside your tteokbokki at Hyeonseoni-ne Cheonggye Instant Branch!!!! The sweet potato fritters were insanely good. You know you have to dip them lightly in the tteokbokki broth, right. Honestly I might order the tteokbokki just for these fritters..haha..haha. Crispy fritters plus spicy tteokbokki broth kept my hand reaching for more ㅠㅠ.

The curly odeng (fish cake) comes along too haha. A sip of broth when it gets too spicy is just perfect!

Worth a visit if you want old-school Euljiro

Euljiro has so many old, long-running shops that it's genuinely fun to wander the alleys just soaking in the old-school atmosphere. If you love that kind of vibe, this is worth a visit next time you're hunting for Euljiro old-school tteokbokki!! These days there are plenty of tteokbokki places with clean, pretty interiors, but I honestly love spots like this that carry the feeling only an old-school restaurant can give haha.

From the unique entrance to the outdoor seating, the atmosphere was fun, and above all the food itself was genuinely delicious — I left fully satisfied! Both the owner and staff were super friendly. If you're looking for old-school-style instant tteokbokki in Euljiro, I recommend Hyeonseoni-ne Cheonggye Instant Branch~!!!