Retro Yeongdeungpo Station bar: ₩14,900 fish cake stew at Yeokjeon

You know those days when you finish dinner in Yeongdeungpo and going straight home feels like a letdown? I was already pretty full, so I wanted something warm and brothy rather than fried or stir-fried. While looking for somewhere to have a light drink, this bar near Yeongdeungpo Station caught my eye. The sign is so flashy it was harder to walk past than to notice it, haha.

• Yeokjeon Pojangmacha Yeongdeungpo: near Yeongdeungpo Station
• Ordered: Yeokjeon Odeng-tang Basic
• Price: ₩14,900

What does Yeokjeon Pojangmacha Yeongdeungpo look like from outside?

The exterior is full pojangmacha (Korean street-tent bar) energy. Flashing red and blue lights made it easy to spot from far away near Yeongdeungpo Station. At the entrance there were slogans like "Real hidden gem" and "Skimp and you're doomed", and reading them one by one before heading down was surprisingly fun...

It's less a clean, stylish bar and more a place that leans hard into old-school pojangmacha charm, so if you like that vibe, you'll love it from the entrance. We were browsing the sign and naturally wandered inside, haha.

A retro bar down the stairs: is there enough seating?

When the writer visited, the bar was in the basement level, down a flight of stairs. Orange lighting and red slogans followed us down, and the atmosphere was already something else.

Inside, round and square tables are mixed, and the spacing is more generous than I expected. It looked good for a group outing near Yeongdeungpo Station, and a decent option if you're hunting for a company dinner spot there.

Old magazines and ad posters cover the walls, and with the tarps, string bulbs and props, it really felt like an indoor pojangmacha.

Every table has a tablet for ordering, which was convenient, and there's a big TV too. Looks perfect for drinking while watching baseball! It also works for a date or a loud night out with friends.

Yeokjeon Odeng-tang Basic for round two: price and what's in it

We picked the Yeokjeon Odeng-tang Basic for ₩14,900. After dinner, ordering several snacks felt like too much, and one broth dish to share slowly seemed like enough.

• 3 kkobului fish cakes
• 1 fried tofu pouch (ojjijumeoni)
• 1 triple cheese fish cake
• 1 triangle tofu fish cake
• 1 scored chewy fish cake ball

Odeng-tang (fish cake stew) is often just a pile of similar fish cakes, but here the shapes and textures all differ, so picking through them is fun. You can add more fish cake, enoki mushrooms or broth, so there's little worry about running short.

Once the fish cake stew starts bubbling, it's time for soju

After a short wait, the odeng-tang arrived in a big pot!

The broth was calm at first, but once it started bubbling on the burner the mood changed completely. The moment warm steam rose, I started thinking about soju... haha. There was plenty of green onion, and with red chili, the tofu pouch and the assorted fish cakes all visible at a glance, it looked pretty generous.

The broth was closer to a familiar, clean fish cake broth than anything spicy or intense. The kind you keep spooning up without effort. For someone who said they were full, the broth just kept going down, haha.

Picking through different kinds of fish cakes

The most familiar taste was the kkobului fish cake. It had soaked up plenty of broth, so it was soft and easy to eat. The triangle tofu fish cake and fish cake ball are thicker than the thin kind, so they had a bouncier texture. Even in the same broth, each type felt different, so it was less boring than I expected.

The one I was most curious about was the fried tofu pouch, and it's moist, full of broth, but really hot, haha. Pop it in your mouth right away and you're in trouble... I recommend letting it cool a bit. The triple cheese fish cake had a nutty cheese flavor coming through the mild fish cake, a nice change!

Is the Yeokjeon Odeng-tang Basic enough for two?

The Basic was just right for two people as a round-two snack. As a meal it might be a little small, but after a first round it's an easy amount. Rather than ordering a bunch of dishes and leaving food behind, sharing one odeng-tang slowly was much more comfortable.

One drawback: if you keep it on high heat, the broth reduces fast, so turn the flame down a bit once it's boiling. As time passed, the fish cakes flavored the broth and it got a little richer. I only meant to have one drink... but in front of broth like this, that's not easy, haha. We ended up sitting much longer than planned.

An easy date-night second round near Yeongdeungpo Station

Yeokjeon Pojangmacha Yeongdeungpo isn't a quiet, calm date bar; it's a place to chat and drink comfortably in a retro atmosphere. The restrooms are indoors and clean, so men and women can both use them without trouble!

With the flashy sign and funny slogans there's plenty to look at, and the tables are roomy enough that a bigger group would be fine. The odeng-tang isn't flashy or intense either, but warm broth with several kinds of fish cake makes it a pretty reliable round-two snack.

It's good for a day when you're looking for a second stop after a date in Yeongdeungpo, or you're full but still want soju with warm broth... Next time I'll add one more dish to the odeng-tang :)

Verdict in one line

A Yeongdeungpo Station bar that's easy on a full stomach, great for soju with hot odeng-tang!

• Retro pojangmacha atmosphere
• Odeng-tang with many kinds of fish cake
• Round-two snack that's easy for two to finish
• Fine for dates or friend gatherings
• A place that makes you crave soju with warm broth