Yongsan tteokbokki restaurant with a Y2K playlist: Hyeonseonine
Hyeonseonine Yongsan Main Branch is a bunsik (Korean snack food) restaurant on Yongridan-gil in Yongsan, Seoul, that began as a street cart more than 20 years ago and serves both broth tteokbokki (spicy rice cakes in soup) and hot-pot style instant tteokbokki. Over dinner before a warehouse-style pharmacy run, the Hyeonseon Combo Set brought wheat-cake broth tteokbokki, fish cake soup with three thick skewers, sundae (blood sausage) mixed with organ meats, assorted fritters and mini gimbap, and spooning the self-serve fried batter into the broth was the best trick of the night. Nothing fancy at Hyeonseonine, just the basics done right, which is exactly why it keeps coming back to mind.