Yongsan tteokbokki restaurant before a movie: mild combo set at

I went to a movie screening at Yongsan I'Park Mall and finally stopped by Hyeonseonine Yongsan Main Branch, a place famous for tteokbokki (spicy rice cakes) in Yongsan that I'd wanted to try for a while 🫡

Hyeonseonine Yongsan Main Branch hours and location

• Daily 11:00–24:00
• No parking
• Delivery available, takeout available
• 3-minute walk from Sinyongsan Station Exit 6
• 10-minute walk from Yongsan Station Exit 1
• Hyeonseoni Combo Set ₩26,000 (tteokbokki, sundae, fritters, mini gimbap, fish cake)

There was a big car parked right in front despite the no-parking sign, which threw me off a bit haha, but the weather was so nice that the clear sky matched the cute storefront perfectly.

The scene at 6pm on a weekday evening

Even though I went around 6pm on a weekday, the place was packed! If I'd arrived any later I might not have gotten a seat 😭 This really is a Yongni-dan-gil hotspot. The restaurant was pretty big, but it was full of customers and delivery orders kept coming in, which had my expectations sky-high before I'd even eaten a bite 😙

A history that started as a street cart in 2004

Above the kitchen there's a row of framed photos telling the whole history of Hyeonseonine at a glance — fun to look at while waiting for food. Hyeonseonine started as a street food cart in Yongsan in 2004 and now runs eight directly-operated branches! Knowing it began as a street cart makes me trust the flavor even more — it must be really good to have grown into multiple branches and lasted 20 years.

The restroom is tucked deep inside the restaurant, separated by gender, and very clean!

Write a review for a slush drink or a tteokbokki size-up

If you write a Naver Place review, you can get a slush drink or a tteokbokki size-up! The slush machine on one side of the store was working overtime haha. But personally, I'd obviously pick the tteokbokki size-up lol.

Order at the kiosk, sides at the self-serve bar

With takeout, delivery, and dine-in orders all coming in nonstop, the staff must have been slammed, but they were really kind haha. You order at the kiosk by the entrance, and pickled radish, sundae salt, frying soy sauce, and dishware are all at the self-serve bar! Aprons are there too.

⏬️ Menu ⏬️

What's in the ₩26,000 Hyeonseoni Combo Set

At Hyeonseonine you can get either regular tteokbokki or hot-pot style jeuk-tteok (instant tteokbokki), and while most people around me were eating jeuk-tteok, I went with my own plan! I wanted to try a bit of everything, so I ordered the Hyeonseoni Combo Set 😎 (honestly I'm not a huge fan of jeuk-tteok haha)

For ₩26,000 you get tteokbokki, fritters, mini gimbap (seaweed rice roll), fish cake, and sundae (Korean blood sausage) in the Hyeonseoni Combo Set 🩷🩷

The portion was seriously huge — I wondered if we could even finish it all... (but we pretty much did lol)

So how's the mild tteokbokki?

True to its reputation as a top tteokbokki spot near Sinyongsan, the tteokbokki was genuinely delicious!! Hyeonseonine's tteokbokki comes in three spice levels — mild, medium, spicy — and because of my spice-wimp boyfriend, we had no choice but to order mild 😭 Even so, it was really good — it tasted just like the tteokbokki I used to eat outside my elementary school! On the TV screen in the store, apparently their spicy version is famous and even a well-known singer loves it, supposedly spicier than Yeopddeok. I'll have to come back and try the spicy one next time, maybe with my girlfriend lol.

The fritters were seriously insane

And this place is a total fritter powerhouse..!! I'd heard a lot about the tteokbokki, but the fritters were truly insane. The batter is thin but super crispy, and the squid pieces are generously sized. Kimmari (seaweed noodle roll), yaki-mandu (fried dumplings), sweet potato, squid, vegetable fritters — all the classics, done really well💫

The sundae, fish cake, and mini gimbap were all solid, classic versions of themselves — dipping them in salt or soy sauce is good, but dipping them in the tteokbokki sauce is even better, as everyone probably knows. The combo of fritters and tteokbokki broth especially was insane—

A good-value meal while waiting for a movie

Oh, and the fish cake broth even had rice cake in it like mul-tteok, and it was super chewy and delicious too haha. We ate until we were completely full, and honestly, eating at Yongsan I'Park Mall isn't cheap, so it's a relief there's a good-value restaurant like Hyeonseonine near Yongsan Station. If it were closer to my place I'd come more often — a bit of a shame. It's close to Yongsan Station too, so it's perfect for grabbing a bite while waiting for a movie!