Hyehwa Japanese pub for sukiyaki and roe omelet: Hanamato

Today I’m sharing Hanamato Daehangno Hyehwa, a Hyehwa bar I stopped by for a drink after seeing a play in Daehangno. I was looking for a good restaurant-bar near Hyehwa Station when the red sign caught my eye, so I went in—and it was much more satisfying than I expected.

Hanamato, a great stop after a play near Hyehwa Station

It’s on the first floor at 10 Changgyeonggung-ro 34-gil, Jongno-gu, Seoul; the lot-number address is 139-1 Hyehwa-dong. According to the post, it is open from 5 p.m. to 2 a.m., so it is a nice Hyehwa bar for a second round. It is just a short walk from Hyehwa Station, which makes it very accessible too.

The standing sign at the entrance lists the signature dishes. Sukiyaki is ₩19,000, pollock roe cheese potatoes are ₩10,000, and a set of five kinds of oden (Japanese fish cake) and five kinds of yakitori (grilled skewers) is ₩25,000. Draft beer is ₩3,500, so the prices felt easy on the wallet.

From outdoor seating to bar seats and a second floor

The highlight here is the outdoor tent seating. There are outdoor tables beneath a vinyl tent strung with bulbs, and apparently these are the most popular seats on nice days. The wooden floor and green tables also make for pretty photos.

Inside, there is a long run of bar seating. It has an open kitchen, so you can watch the skewers being grilled right in front of you, and the layout is great for drinking alone too. There is a kiosk near the entrance, making ordering simple.

The stairs to the second floor have a brick wall covered with old Japanese posters, which adds to the mood. Even if the first floor is full, there is a second floor, so it looked like group gatherings would work too.

There is also a display case beside the stairs selling Japanese snacks and goods. It was fun to browse the Monchhichi keychains and yuzu liquor.

Photo menus and drinks in frozen glasses

We ordered on a tablet, and every menu item had a photo, which made choosing easy. Even though we ordered several things, the total was not as high as I expected. These days, ordering this much usually gets expensive, right?

I’m not much of a drinker, so I ordered Chilsung Cider Zero. They served it in a frozen glass! It stayed cold until the very end, which I loved.

The pollock roe omelet was the dish I really wanted

Our first dish was the pollock roe omelet. It came piled high with sauce and katsuobushi (bonito flakes).

It was packed with pollock roe, so it had that savory saltiness, while the egg itself was wonderfully fluffy. If you come here, you really have to order this one. With plenty of sauce too, it went so well with beer.

Beef brisket sukiyaki simmered on the table induction hob

The beef brisket sukiyaki arrives in its pot and is set on the induction hob at your table. It is loaded with meat, napa cabbage, scallions, shiitake mushrooms, tofu, and shirataki noodles. There was such a generous amount of ingredients that it was great to dig into.

The charcoal yakitori came with five varieties on one plate. It was served with cabbage and shichimi (Japanese seven-spice blend), which were nice to have alongside. It was perfect for sharing.

Once we had the skewers, fried gyoza, and omelet spread across the table, I felt full just looking at it all. With the sukiyaki on the induction hob in the middle, there was still plenty of room at the table.

Charcoal-scented yakitori and crispy chicken wings

The skewers were properly infused with charcoal aroma, making them easy to pick up one after another. The chicken-skin skewers were chewy and nutty, so I kept reaching for them. They were nice and crisp too.

We ended up ordering more skewers and fried dumplings than expected, but the menu had lots of variety and was not overly expensive, so it was easy to try a bit of everything.

My favorite of all was the chicken wings. The skin was grilled crisp, exactly that crispy-outside, juicy-inside goodness.

One bite and the juices came right out, but they were rich and nutty without any gaminess. They were just right with a cold drink.

Once the sukiyaki is bubbling away, add and mix in the egg yolk. The soy-based broth was sweet and savory, perfect for dipping the meat. It was more generously filled than I expected, which was great.

The beef brisket was thin, so it cooked quickly and was not tough. The broth was so rich that I kept spooning it up until the end.

The meat was tender and delicious, and I thought it would pair well with sake too. I think we chose our dishes well.

The omelet was thick, so it was fun to cut into. Its yellow cross-section looked so pretty that it photographed well too. So soft and fluffy—delicious.

The tofu had a lovely chewy bounce to it too. It was delicious being able to pick out all the ingredients from the pot.

Make sure to try the shirataki noodles too. They soaked up all that broth and slipped down easily, and it was fun to slurp them like noodles. They were delicious because they had absorbed the soup so well.

My boyfriend had a can of Crush beer and kept picking at the skewers. The chicken-and-scallion skewers were especially good because the scallions had a gentle sweetness that paired beautifully with the meat.

When you picked up a piece, it was moist all the way through and still tasty even after cooling down. It was even better topped with sauce and katsuobushi.

A calm Hyehwa bar where conversation comes easily

To sum it up, ordinary bars can often be noisy, but this place had a calm atmosphere that made it easy to talk. It was such a nice spot for a date, and it is a Hyehwa bar I would love to visit again. I recommend it to anyone who wants a light drink after seeing a play near Hyehwa Station.