Clam hot pot near National Assembly Station, Seoul: Gaetbeol-ui Jogae

How to walk to Gaetbeol-ui Jogae from National Assembly Station

Location-wise, come out of Exit 1 of Yeouido Station, turn right at the alley in front of the SK gas station, and it's about a 5-minute walk! It's on the 2nd floor of Geukdong VIP Building, right next to a Solhaenghan Hanwoo store. Take the elevator up and you see it right away, so it wasn't hard to find haha.

Friday evening at Gaetbeol-ui Jogae: wide hall and a city-view table

We had reservations so we got seated right away. It was kind of a city view, and since it was Friday evening, the night view outside the window was surprisingly pretty haha lol. There's a hall too, and the place is spacious, so it seemed good for group visits as well. There were guests of various ages, and the vibe suggested a lot of people come here for company dinners too!

Ordering the giant clam hot pot and mini seafood pancake

For the menu, we picked the giant clam hot pot for two at ₩59,000! It seemed like a lot of people order the seafood boiling too, but we decided on the clam hot pot right away! On top of that, we added a mini seafood pancake for ₩6,000 to make sure we'd be full haha.

The clam hot pot came out, and you really can't tell the size from a photo but it is seriously huge, like SERIOUSLY huge... Seeing this size in person is shocking lol. While they put the lid on, turned on the burner and let it boil, we went to check out the self-bar!

What is on the self-bar while the clam hot pot cooks

The self-bar had macaroni salad, yeolmu kimchi (young radish greens kimchi), and geotjeori (fresh cabbage kimchi), plus barley rice, ganjang and gochujang so you could make your own bibimbap. Well-educated people, honestly lol. While the clam hot pot was boiling, we mixed barley rice with the spicy soybean paste and it was delicious all on its own haha.

And on my way to the bathroom, I noticed they even had dental floss, hair ties, mouthwash, and candy stocked up. The owner's attention to detail is a perfect score... little touches like this really boost how much I like a place haha.

How crispy is the mini seafood pancake?

While I was munching on barley rice, the seafood pancake came out so we ate that too, and it was better than expected! Honestly I didn't expect much from the pancake, but the outside was crispy and it was packed with seafood, so the first bite had me going oh, this is actually good? lol. At ₩6,000, the portion was decent for something called 'mini,' and it was the perfect side to eat before the hot pot arrived haha. Glad we added it! My boyfriend said it was good too, so you should all try it...

Giant clam hot pot: fresh clams with no sand

And finally, the fully boiled giant clam hot pot! Scallops, hard clams, mussels, half-shell clams, fish cakes, shrimp, crab, rice cake sticks, green onion, and radish — so much in there, and everything was huge. The broth was really refreshing, and dipping the clams in vinegar-chili sauce was heaven... I want to eat it again. The distinctly refreshing clam broth flavor was truly a masterpiece!

The clams were also super fresh and I didn't bite into a single grain of sand, which I loved. This is actually a really important part — if you bite sand while eating clams, that moment ruins everything lol. Here, there was zero worry about that. They also gave us cheese on the side, so dipping the clams in cheese was tasty too.

Finishing the broth with kalguksu noodles

For the finish, they'll add kalguksu (knife-cut noodles) if you ask, and they told us to flip the hourglass on each table. This little hourglass detail was so cute and interesting haha. I think they said once the sand runs out, boil for 5 more minutes from there...? Anyway, I don't really remember the explanation... Either way, the hot pot broth soaked perfectly into the noodles, and eating it with the geotjeori was really delicious too.

A place that was well worth the trip from Jamsil all the way to Yeouido! Fresh clams, refreshing broth, and a well-stocked self-bar — overall satisfaction was very high. Traveling far after work wasn't easy, but once we actually ate, that distance was nothing lol. With clams so fresh you won't bite a single grain of sand and broth this refreshing, this place set the real standard for a great clam hot pot restaurant. If you're headed near Yeouido Station or thinking about a Yeouido date course or a company dinner spot, I absolutely recommend Gaetbeol-ui Jogae 😊