Yongsan snack bar, mild tteokbokki & sundae-liver combo: Hyeonseonine

What kind of place is Hyeonseonine Yongsan Main Branch?

Hyeonseonine Yongsan Main Branch (현선이네 용산본점) is a tteokbokki (spicy rice cakes) shop in Yongsan, said to be counted among South Korea's top three tteokbokki spots. I paid it a visit.

Hyeonseonine started as a street food cart in 2004 and now runs 8 directly managed branches. It's a tteokbokki favorite known for tasty old-school Korean snack food.

How to order and menu prices at Hyeonseonine Yongsan

You order on the kiosk at the entrance. The yellow chimney and red roof stand out from far away, so it's easy to find.

Instant tteokbokki (cooked at your table) is ₩11,000 per person, and you need to order for 2 or more. Add-ons include ramen, chewy noodles (jjolmyeon), rice cakes, fish cake, vegetables and snowflake cheese, and after you finish the tteokbokki you can make fried rice too.

The tteokbokki comes in 3 spice levels.

• Mild: a sweet, nostalgic taste even young kids can enjoy
• Medium: a bit hotter than Shin Ramyun, and the most popular level
• Spicy: Hyeonseonine's signature, an extreme heat that even spice lovers struggle with. Tasty, but apparently very, very hot

A la carte items include tteokbokki, handmade sundae (Korean blood sausage), assorted fritters, mini gimbap (seaweed rice rolls), curly fish cake (kkobuli odeng), ramen, tuna mayo rice balls and butter garlic fries, and there are set menus in various combinations. Drinks are soda, iced tea and Trevi, plus soju, bottled beer and draft beer.

How do you control the heat for instant tteokbokki?

The heat control instructions for the instant tteokbokki are posted on the table. Read them well and adjust the induction heat, so the food doesn't stick or burn. Noodles and eggs in particular stick to the bottom quickly, so manage the heat and keep stirring as it boils.

Hyeonseonine Yongsan Main Branch is running a Naver Place review event: write a photo review and you get either a cold slush or a tteokbokki size upgrade.

Atmosphere and the self-bar

The shop is clean and tidy. The interior is cool and comfortable, so you can eat spicy tteokbokki without breaking a sweat.

The self-bar has soy sauce, salt, ladles, small plates, pickled radish, tempura powder and more. The tempura powder is great stirred into tteokbokki, so everybody was grabbing loads of it!

What comes in the ₩26,000 Hyeonseonine combo set?

The Hyeonseonine combo set is ₩26,000 and comes with tteokbokki, sundae, fritters, mini gimbap and fish cake. I wanted to try a bit of everything on the menu, so I ordered the combo, and it arrived generously and appetizingly plated. The freshly fried fritters came in a good variety, and the sundae can be ordered plain or with innards. I like liver best of the innards, so I ordered sundae plus liver.

Assorted fritters

The combo's assorted fritters include a gimmari (glass noodle seaweed roll) fritter, squid fritter, sweet potato fritter, vegetable fritter and meat dumpling fritter. They came out freshly fried, crispy and nutty, and dipping those thick fritters in the tteokbokki sauce was crunchy and so, so good!

Mini gimbap

The combo also includes mini gimbap, so you can have a filling meal alongside the tteokbokki. They're bite-sized and easy to eat, and tasty plain or dipped in the tteokbokki sauce.

Handmade sundae (sundae + liver)

Hyeonseonine's handmade sundae can be ordered on its own or with innards, and I asked for liver only. It's good dipped in the salt that comes with it, but dipping it generously in the tteokbokki sauce is the tastiest way, for sure!

Curly fish cake and mul-tteok fish cake broth

The curly fish cake comes as 3 pieces. I liked the chewy, bouncy texture, and it's mild and nutty, so I enjoyed it. It comes with fish cake broth that's nice to ladle up, and inside the broth are chewy mul-tteok (rice cakes on a skewer), which are a chewy little treat.

Is Hyeonseonine's mild tteokbokki okay for spice wimps?

You can choose mild, medium or spicy for the tteokbokki, and since I can't handle spice, I ordered mild.

The mild tteokbokki is sweet with a gentle kick, a flavor even spice wimps can enjoy. The sauce soaks well into the rice cakes so they're chewy and tasty, and with fish cake in there too, you can enjoy it together with the rice cakes.

The sundae and liver are good on their own, but dipped in the tteokbokki sauce they're much better!

I dipped the mini gimbap and fritters in the sauce too, and they were spicy-savory and full of flavor.

Using the self-bar tempura powder, and the verdict

The tempura powder from the self-bar is nutty and tasty stirred into the tteokbokki sauce, and also good in the fish cake broth. For tteokbokki in Yongsan, I recommend Hyeonseonine Yongsan Main Branch for its pleasantly spicy tteokbokki, handmade mini gimbap, handmade sundae and crispy fritters.