Hapjeong pizzeria with a table brazier: Hongdae Hwadeok Pizza

Hongdae Hwadeok Pizza, in the alley between Hapjeong and Sangsu

Hongdae Hwadeok Pizza is a wood-fired pizza and pasta restaurant tucked into the Dokmak-ro 7-gil alley, close to Exit 6 of Hapjeong Station. The backstreets between Hapjeong and Sangsu are full of old-school spots and quirky little restaurants, so it's genuinely fun to just wander and see what turns up.

This time I came for a weekday lunch with a friend, to this Hapjeong alley spot for wood-fired pizza. I love wood-fired pizza and pasta, so I'd been curious about this place for a while.

A cozy room built on 15 years of practice

Visiting in person, I could feel the 15 years of experience behind the food, and the cozy atmosphere won me over too. Walking in, the whole space glows with warm lighting, and the wood tones give the room a calm, warm feeling.

Sitting across from my friend, I could immediately tell this was a great place to eat slowly and chat. I came for lunch, but the food and atmosphere won me over so much that I thought — next time, dinner, with a glass of wine alongside the pizza and pasta.

Quattro Stagioni baked on 72-hour fermented dough

Hongdae Hwadeok Pizza is also known for using handmade dough fermented for 72 hours.

Chewy handmade dough topped with house-made tomato sauce and natural mozzarella, baked at 400°C in an oven built from Italian Vesuvius volcanic stone — just reading that got me excited before the food even arrived.

It would've been a shame to try just one flavor, but luckily there's a Quattro Stagioni option that lets you enjoy four different flavors on a single pizza.

No hesitation — I ordered the Quattro Stagioni pizza 👍 Fresh out of the wood oven, with cheese stretching in long strings, and warm enough to stay that way for a while.

How the table brazier keeps the pizza hot

Hongdae Hwadeok Pizza also sets a gentle warmer right on the table.

You can eat at a relaxed pace with no worry about the pizza cooling down, and just seeing that warmer on the table tells you how seriously they take their pizza.

With American-style pizza, the thick crust always makes me feel overly full, but maybe thanks to the handmade dough, sauce, and wholesome ingredients here, I didn't feel greasy or weighed down at all even after eating a whole pizza.

Savoring all the different flavors, I remembered how often two of us have left a whole pizza unfinished before.

But this time we happily finished it down to the very last slice.

Gamberi Crema shrimp cream pasta, ordered with penne

We also ordered the Gamberi Crema pasta alongside the pizza.

It's a shrimp cream pasta, and since you can choose the noodle, I went with penne this time.

The penne was cooked to a nicely springy al dente texture, so it was fun to chew alongside the cream sauce.

The cream sauce had a slight kick of spice, which paired well with both the shrimp and the pizza.

The lemonade we ordered to drink alongside the food filled in the gaps of the meal with perfect refreshment.

Worth a visit for a relaxed meal in Hapjeong or Sangsu?

Staying in business at the same spot for so long isn't easy, and you can really feel that experience come through in the food and service.

There's a settled flavor and a comfortable atmosphere here that you just don't get at a brand-new restaurant. Stepping off Hapjeong's busy main road and into this alley feels like stumbling on a little slice of Italy.

On a day when you're craving chewy wood-fired pizza, pasta, and a glass of wine, this felt like a hidden gem worth visiting if you're looking for somewhere with a good atmosphere in Hapjeong or Sangsu ^^

• Address: 5 Dokmak-ro 7-gil, 1st floor, Mapo-gu, Seoul, South Korea (close to Exit 6 of Hapjeong Station 😊)
• Hours: 11:30 AM – 10:00 PM