Guro bar at 5pm: whole smoked chicken, squid and jwipo, Monthly Beer

Once a month, let's have a drink here together!

Where is Monthly Beer Guro Digital Complex Station Branch, and when is it open?

Monthly Beer Guro Digital Complex Station Branch (월간맥주 구로디지털단지역점) is near Exit 2 of Guro Digital Complex Station. It is open daily 14:00-02:00, and until 4am on Fridays and Saturdays.

Open from afternoon until the small hours, it was nothing less than a lively, welcoming meeting spot for young people. Perfect for a group get-together in Gudi (the Guro Digital Complex area), it is right by the station and the whole place feels bright rather than dim, so it works even if you go alone, and with friends it feels as relaxed as heading to a café.

What are the mood and food lineup like?

There are partitions, so it felt cozy and nice, and there really are dozens of dishes, all of them actually worth eating. I figured young people would love it.

Bar food used to be stuck with a reputation for poor quality, but that has changed. Seeing the variety across Western, Japanese and Korean dishes and even desserts, at quite decent quality, I often feel Korean food culture has come a long way.

Weekday 5pm, an early evening visit

I visited Monthly Beer around 5pm on a weekday, early evening. Long story short, I aimed for a weekday evening so I could order whatever I felt like, have a drink, and get ready for a cool tropical night (a hot night when it stays above 25°C).

They have draft beer and highballs too, so it is also great for a happy date for couples. The interior was simply bright. The lighting isn't dim, so the food photographed beautifully on camera, which I was happy about.

A bar in Gudi with bingsu desserts?

What impressed me lately about Monthly Beer Guro Digital Complex Station Branch is that, for a bar in Gudi, it keeps several kinds of bingsu (shaved ice dessert).

Cool Oreo, injeolmi (rice cake), hongsi (ripe persimmon) and plum: so many palate-cleansing desserts women tend to love that I secretly cheered inside. After a meal you do crave something a little sweet or some fruit, don't you? There was even a dried persimmon cream cheese roll, and I honestly thought this place is a snack paradise.

What hearty dishes did I order for a group gathering?

Monthly Beer also has plenty of colorful, hearty dishes suited to group get-togethers in Gudi: fairly heavy chicken, fried food and sausages, plus Western dishes like gambas, and Korean ones like odolppyeo (chewy pork cartilage), spicy fire chicken and hearty spicy stews.

After some deliberation, I happily ordered the whole smoked chicken (₩20,900), the moist squid and jwipo (dried filefish) (₩16,900), lemon (₩2,000) and soju.

Even if you don't come here for a proper meal, with this much variety you can get fairly full and enjoy good food. After about 10 minutes, the dishes I ordered through the electronic ordering system came out one after another.

How does the moist squid and jwipo (₩16,900) taste?

The moist squid at Monthly Beer looked like a big portion at a glance, and it was truly generous, which I liked. The subtly sweet, chewy, salty squid flavor spread through my mouth and made me happy.

It also comes with seaweed and peanuts, and wrapping the squid in seaweed opened up a whole new taste. Peanuts are also a pre-emptive food against blood sugar spikes. I happily devoured it all.

How does the whole smoked chicken (₩20,900) taste?

I ordered the smoked roast chicken because it has no batter coating. The portion was quite generous, and a whole chicken came out mild and savory, so the fun of tearing into it, the texture and the taste were all excellent.

In every way it was neat, nicely presented, with kind staff: a true "hot place" for group get-togethers in Gudi.

Is Monthly Beer Guro Digital Complex Station Branch worth going back to?

Monthly Beer Guro Digital Complex Station Branch was spacious and pleasant inside, and the music not being too loud suited my taste. Above all, the food has to be good to satisfy me, and here whatever you order is guaranteed to be better than decent, so I could quickly see why it is so popular.

It is good for a crowd of friends, but also great for a cozy date or a chat between two. With a café-worthy mood, tasty food and drinks at good value, Monthly Beer in Gudi is a place I want to come back to.