Weeknight wait at a Yeonsan-dong chicken pub in Busan: Yetnal Tongdak

Yetnal Tongdak & Tang near Yeonsan Station: fried chicken and stew in one order

There's a spot near Yeonsan Station that I keep going back to lately 🍗 It's great for a quick beer after work, and you get to enjoy both fried chicken and dakdoritang (spicy braised chicken stew) together in generous portions — Yetnal Tongdak & Tang Yeonsan Main Branch, my go-to for good value.

It's perfect whether you're craving fried chicken or something spicier like dakdoritang, so it's an easy pick on nights when I just want good bar food with a beer 🍺

Inside the retro, graffiti-covered Yeonsan-dong chicken pub

Even the storefront gave off that unmistakable 'good restaurant' feeling. Walking in, the walls covered edge to edge in customer graffiti caught my eye right away. Plenty of places these days go for a clean, polished look, but this kind of retro, old-school atmosphere felt warm and fun instead 😊

Even on a weekday evening, the place was packed and we had to wait a bit before getting a table. Clearly a popular spot in Yeonsan-dong, since customers kept streaming in from early evening. As soon as we sat down, we ordered our usual: the sullsalantang set!

What is the Sullsal & Tang set? Dakdoritang plus boneless chicken

Sullsalantang, true to its name, is a set that lets you enjoy dakdoritang (bone-in stew) and boneless fried chicken together. On days when I want both chicken and stew, not having to order them separately was genuinely great 👍

The portions were especially generous for the price, so it's a solid pick if you're after a good-value fried chicken spot in Busan. We started with the boneless chicken — normally I prefer bone-in chicken over boneless, but this one was genuinely delicious!

Boneless chicken thigh meat in a sweet sauce

Made with thigh meat, the chicken had a crispy coating around juicy, tender meat inside — really satisfying texture 🤤 One bite and it instantly brought back that distinct old-school fried chicken flavor. The batter was savory with a slight kick, and dipping it in the accompanying sauce gave it a whole different dimension.

The sauce especially had that sweet, old-fashioned style that I personally loved. Crispy chicken with sweet sauce is a combo that never fails 😋

The loaded dakdoritang: which add-ins come with it?

The dakdoritang that came alongside was better than expected too. The seasoning alone kept us reaching back for more — spicy with real depth, good with rice and just as good as a drinking snack.

Best of all, it came with a whole chicken's worth of meat, so the portion was seriously generous 👏 On top of the chicken, there was a heap of extras — wheat rice cake, tteok (rice cake), glass noodles, quail eggs — so there was plenty of fun in picking through it all.

The glass noodles and rice cakes soaked in sauce are absolutely essential in dakdoritang 😂 The broth was so good that if this had been our first meal of the night, I would've wanted to add fried rice at the end too.

Eating chicken and dakdoritang together was a great combo, and with such generous portions, two of us left completely full.

A Yeonsan-dong pub for a beer after work

Yetnal Tongdak & Tang Yeonsan Main Branch works well for a full meal, but the vibe was just as good for grabbing a simple beer and chicken after work 🍺

The retro decor really nails that old-school fried chicken feel, and I loved the set that lets you enjoy chicken and dakdoritang together. Popular enough to have expanded from the Yeonsan Main Branch to a Seomyeon location too — visiting in person, I get why it's such a hit.

If you're looking for a good restaurant near Yeonsan Station, a chicken spot in Yeonsan-dong, or a solid fried chicken place in Busan — especially if plain chicken alone feels like it's not enough and you want dakdoritang too — I recommend Yetnal Tongdak & Tang Yeonsan Main Branch 🍗❤️

Great value, generous portions from one set menu — I'll definitely be back the next time I'm craving chicken 😊