Boneless soup chicken feet at a Hongdae restaurant: Cheongnyeon Dakbal 1987

Cheongnyeon Dakbal 1987 Hongdae: atmosphere and outdoor seating

It had been a while since I last craved chicken feet, so I came to a place around Hongdae that is famous for them. It was Cheongnyeon Dakbal 1987 (청년닭발1987). It is so well known that you may have heard of it at least once, and even in the early evening it was absolutely packed!

Now that the summer weather has eased up, the evenings are cool enough to eat outside, so I loved that there was outdoor seating.

The indoor space was very spacious too, but by dinner it was nearly full. I guess that is what happens when a place is this famous for Hongdae chicken feet—people just kept coming in!

Such a thoughtful touch for eating chicken feet! They had disposable gloves, which made it easy to eat with my hands.

What I ordered: the boneless Cheongnyeon Dakbal Set

Here is the Cheongnyeon Dakbal 1987 menu. Each table has a kiosk, so it was easy to browse. There were lots of different dishes, which gave us plenty to choose from.

Rather than ordering several items separately, I chose the signature Cheongnyeon Dakbal Set, which lets you try a little of this and that. I also added whole-garlic gizzards and corn cheese! And I chose the boneless option!

About 5–10 minutes after ordering, the food came right out, and a staff member gave us this to read. It has helpful tips for enjoying the chicken feet set, so follow them to your taste and it will be amazing!

A generous chicken feet spread filling the table

The Cheongnyeon Dakbal Set was served up generously. As the dishes started arriving one by one, the table filled up in no time. The first thing that caught my eye was, of course, the soup chicken feet in the center. Boneless chicken feet sat in a red, richly seasoned broth, and just looking at it made the spicy flavor come through.

Everything we ordered was on the table, and it was seriously such a generous spread. I thought, “Ah, this is why people keep coming in and it fills up!” There is definitely a reason for this place's popularity.

A quick shot of the Cheongnyeon Dakbal Set on its own. With just one order, you can enjoy a variety of tasty dishes at once. It looked delicious even before eating, right? And once you taste it, every single item is so good.

Once I actually tried it, there were so many things, yet each one was wonderfully true to its own flavor. Everything was so delicious that I kept reaching for every dish. I want it again already... hahaha.

After taking lots of photos, I filmed a detailed video too~

The muksabal and tuna mayo rice ball pairing

There was muksabal (chilled acorn-jelly soup) on the side too, and it was cool and refreshing—the exact flavor I had been looking for. The seasoning was just right, and it was honestly so good ㅠ

When you keep eating spicy food, you need something to reset your palate midway, right? The cool, tangy muksabal in the Cheongnyeon Dakbal Set did exactly that, letting me keep eating the chicken feet.

Tuna mayo rice balls came on one side, and they were a great match for the spicy chicken feet. The nutty, soft tuna mayo met the spicy soup chicken feet and took the edge off the heat in my mouth~

It also came with kalguksu (knife-cut noodles), so whenever it felt spicy, I took a bite and sipped the broth—ahh~ The lineup was so wonderfully complete!

Boneless soup chicken feet in rich seasoning

The soup chicken feet were spicy and deeply flavored. The look of them before I even tasted them was insane! Rather than a thin, runny broth, it felt like the seasoning was thoroughly blended into the Hongdae-style chicken feet. The spice hit first in a bite, followed by savory umami.

There were sausages and rice cakes along with the chicken feet, so the textures were great and they went well with the sauce.

Ordering boneless was convenient too, since there was no need to pick out bones as I ate. Chicken feet are all about the flavor, but the process of eating them matters more than you might think; with the boneless version, I could simply pick them up with chopsticks and take my time.

There was also sauce and perilla leaf on one side, another great pairing with spicy chicken feet. Their nutty, mellow flavor met the spicy soup chicken feet and gradually softened the intensity in my mouth.

Fried chicken skin and extra whole-garlic gizzards

Fried chicken skin came with the set too. At first I thought, “Why chicken skin?” But once I tried it, I understood why it was included.

The fried chicken skin had a distinctly crisp texture, making a nice contrast with the soup chicken feet. After the chewy, spicy chicken feet, picking up pieces of crunchy fried chicken skin gave me a completely different texture, making it perfect to eat between bites!

I added the whole-garlic gizzards too. With the gizzards' characteristic chew and the aroma of garlic, they had a different appeal from the Hongdae chicken feet.

The chicken feet were soft and chewy, while the gizzards had a much more pronounced bite. It made me think, “So this is why people eat gizzards!”

Adding corn cheese gave us something nutty and creamy among all the spicy food.

I was totally satisfied because I could enjoy so many dishes centered around the spicy soup chicken feet at once! The chicken feet's signature chew and spicy seasoning, refreshing muksabal, nutty tuna mayo rice balls, and crispy fried chicken skin made it far more abundant than eating just one dish. Now I understand why it is the signature menu, right? There is a reason it is so popular, and it was a Hongdae chicken feet restaurant I wanted to visit again!