Date-night bar in Beomgye with bamboo-cup highballs: Cheolgil Busanjip

Cheolgil Busanjip (철길부산집), a Beomgye izakaya! I was looking for a bar with a good mood in Beomgye and ended up here. It's close to Beomgye Station, so it's easy to get to, and the warm oden bar feel and cozy lighting made it great for a drink with a friend or a date. It's especially right for anyone who wants a place where you can talk a bit more calmly than at a rowdy pub.

Where is Cheolgil Busanjip Beomgye Branch, and what are the hours?

Cheolgil Busanjip Beomgye Branch sits in a commercial building about one block off the Beomgye Rodeo main strip, toward Bomvit Hospital. The address is 19 Pyeongchon-daero 217beon-gil, Dongan-gu, Anyang, Gyeonggi, 1st floor, Unit 106.

It's an easy walk from Beomgye Station Exit 3, so it works well as a first or second stop when you meet up in Beomgye. It's open every day from 17:00 to 02:00 the next day.

What's the mood like for a date in Beomgye?

The exterior is wood-toned, so it catches your eye even from a distance. Inside, a street-tent (pojangmacha) feel blends naturally with that oden bar vibe. Even among Beomgye bars, it leans warm and cozy rather than hectic, so it's a decent date spot.

There are seats from the bar counter to tables, so it's fine for a casual drink for two or a bigger group. We went as a pair, and the seats were nicely spaced and the yellow lighting had real atmosphere, which made it even better for a deeper conversation.

Cheolgil Busanjip menu and set options

The sets are well put together, so you can enjoy several snacks at once. There was also an event running where ordering a Busan set menu gets you a free highball, which looks like a good reason to order a set when two of you come for a drink.

I assumed an oden bar would only have fish cake dishes, but not at all. Beef tataki (lightly seared beef), salmon sashimi, Korean beef tartare, okonomiyaki (savory pancake), butter-grilled octopus legs, cuttlefish mulhoe (cold raw seafood soup), kushikatsu (skewered fried food) and karaage (Japanese fried chicken): the choice of drinking snacks was quite wide.

Prices differ between single dishes and sets, so you can choose to suit your headcount. If you want to try a lot of things, the set looked like the better deal.

Signature highball served in a bamboo cup

The drinks list covers soju, beer, highballs, sake and traditional Korean liquor, so there's plenty of choice even if you go with people who like different things. We ordered the signature highball, and it came in a bamboo cup, which made the whole thing feel even nicer.

We wanted to eat a bit of everything, so we ordered the Seomyeon Set. With tataki and salmon alongside the fish cake, it was much more generous than a set where you keep eating one kind of snack. When you're hunting for a Beomgye bar and the snack choice is too small, you end up moving on to a second place, but here you can eat many things in one spot, which was convenient too.

Seomyeon Set oden, cooked in your own tabletop oden warmer

The first thing that caught my eye at Cheolgil Busanjip was the individual oden bar set at every table. When people think of an oden bar, they usually picture picking from one big shared pot, but here each table simmers its own, which I liked.

Even among Beomgye bars, this individual hot-water-bath style really stuck with me. Since the broth stays hot, we could chat and drink slowly and still eat fish cake that hadn't gone cold to the very end. There was also the fun of picking out mulddeok (rice cake skewers in broth) and different fish cakes one by one.

I also quietly liked that you can adjust to taste: simmer it long for soft, or warm it briefly for chewy. The broth wasn't harshly salty or over-seasoned; it was the kind you keep sipping while you drink.

If you like hot broth snacks at a Beomgye izakaya, I think this will suit you especially well. The simple side dishes that come as standard were easy to nibble between the main snacks too.

Seomyeon Set fish cake lineup and the pick-your-own fish cakes

Oden is the foundation at Cheolgil Busanjip. It comes with mulddeok, kkobuli (twisted fish cake), yubu mochi pouches (tofu pouches filled with rice cake), black konjac and fish cake balls, plus the fish cakes you choose yourself, so the variety is bigger than I expected.

The choice fish cakes come in many types too: cheese, spicy glass noodle, spicy squid, whole shrimp, chili pepper (ttaengcho), perilla leaf and more, so you can pick the flavors you usually like.

How are the Seomyeon Set tataki and salmon?

The Seomyeon Set isn't just a heap of fish cake; you also get tataki and salmon, so it never gets boring. Going from warm fish cake to a cold slice of salmon, then to tataki with its meaty flavor, the taste never repeats, which makes it a great match for drinking.

In summer like now, these snack pairings feel really nice. If you're looking for a Beomgye bar to eat properly from the first round, a set with many dishes together like the Seomyeon Set seems a good option. You might go in planning just one or two drinks, but with so many snacks you end up sitting and talking much longer than expected.

The salmon was sliced thick, with a soft texture and a properly rich, savory taste when you pick up a piece. The beef tataki was seared only on the surface, so the inside stayed moist and tender. Eaten with the onion and salad sauce that came alongside, the meat's richness got a fresh lift, which went well with drinks.

Is Cheolgil Busanjip a good Beomgye bar for a date?

Having gone myself, Cheolgil Busanjip Beomgye Branch was a little different from places where you just knock back drinks fast in a noisy room. With the fish cake broth bubbling away on the table, the mood somehow got more relaxed.

Beomgye has so many bars that choosing can actually be a headache, but if you like a warm izakaya feel and oden bars, I recommend it. Besides the atmosphere, it's clean and the snack quality is top-notch, so I can't imagine it failing as a date course!

It's close to Beomgye Station and has lots of snack options, so it's good for dinner with a drink, or as a second-round bar when one stop isn't enough. The mood isn't too heavy, so it also works for a drink after a blind date or a relaxed date between couples.

If you're looking among Beomgye bars for warm broth snacks and a place to talk quietly, Cheolgil Busanjip seems like a pretty good fit. I think I'll remember it next time I want a drink with hot fish cake.