Yongridan-gil tteokbokki, weekday combo & bottled beer: Hyeonseonine

Do you like tteokbokki (spicy rice cakes)? I really do. These days there are tons of instant tteokbokki places loaded with fancy premium ingredients, but my all-time favorite is still the classic trio: rice cakes, fish cake and a thick, gooey sauce, the flavor we all know. Today I want to introduce a tteokbokki shop in Yongsan that has been around for a very long time and has real history. This time it's Hyeonseonine (현선이네), a famous spot in Yongridan-gil!

Hyeonseonine Yongsan Main Branch: address, hours and parking

• Location: 2-13 Hangang-daero 39-gil, Yongsan-gu, Seoul
• Hours: 11:00 - 24:00
• Parking: Not available

How long is the weekday dinner wait at Hyeonseonine?

There was a wait even around 7pm on a weekday, and we got in after about 10-15 minutes. It's a traditional tteokbokki place near Yongsan Station. We went on a regular weekday evening, not a Friday, but plenty of people were already waiting. It's definitely a Yongridan-gil favorite, and I'd even say it might be the number one tteokbokki in Yongsan.

This is the dining hall inside. Long ago this place was just a street food stall (pojangmacha)! It got so famous that it now has a proper building of its own.

Catch Table kiosk: separate queues for instant and regular tteokbokki

You can join the waitlist at the Catch Table kiosk. Instant tteokbokki (cooked at your table) and regular tteokbokki have separate queues, so the wait times can differ. My feeling is that regular tteokbokki turns over faster than instant.

How to use the frying powder from the self-serve bar

The self-serve bar has small plates, aprons, pickled radish and fry powder. Sprinkle the fry powder on after instant tteokbokki is cooked, or on regular tteokbokki when it arrives, and it gives you a whole new texture.

Hyeonseonine Combo Set: what's included and is it enough for two?

Hyeonseonine has instant tteokbokki and regular tteokbokki as the headliners, plus a variety of sides. The usual must-orders like tteok-twigim-sundae (rice cakes, fritters and sundae, Korean blood sausage) are available as set menus.

We ordered the ₩26,000 Hyeonseonine Combo Set, which includes tteokbokki, assorted fritters, mini gimbap (small seaweed rice rolls), sundae and fish cake skewers. I ordered it thinking it was for two people, and the portion is seriously big, right?

Tteokbokki that looks plain but is addictive

The tteokbokki looks plain, nothing special at first glance. And that's right, it is. But it's not special and yet it has a seriously addictive deliciousness.

Assorted fritters: vegetable, yaki mandu, gimmari and squid

The assorted fritters in the combo are vegetable fritters, yaki mandu (pan-fried dumplings), gimmari (glass noodles wrapped in seaweed and fried) and squid fritters. It doesn't feel skimpy at all; it has all the fritters you actually need.

Sundae (blood sausage) with liver and lung, plus mini gimbap

And then the sundae and mini gimbap! Nothing more to ask for, T_T Dunk them into the tteokbokki sauce and they're amazing, so what more is there to say? These days some franchise tteokbokki places don't give you liver with the sundae, but I hate even imagining sundae without liver and lung.

Bottled beer with a Korean street food set

After ordering a feast of a snack set, how could we not have a beer! When your mouth gets salty and dry, a swig of cold bottled beer is such a great feeling.

Which Hyeonseonine set is best for a couple?

Maybe because it was so delicious and we ate until we were stuffed, the ₩23,000 price didn't feel like a waste at all. Honestly, if a couple like us goes, you could also order the set menu without the fish cake! The portion was really big. But it was so tasty that we couldn't stop.

This time I visited Hyeonseonine Yongsan Main Branch, a Yongridan-gil favorite, with my wife for the first time in a while. Eating a set menu so perfectly suited to Korean snack food (bunsik) was so satisfying. It had been a while, but even with a wait on a weekday evening, the old-school flavor was alive and well, and I felt we were so right to come to Hyeonseonine. When you're craving bunsik, go to Hyeonseonine!