Hongdae bar for soup chicken feet outdoors: Cheongnyeon Dakbal 1987

Location and visitor information for Cheongnyeon Dakbal 1987 Hongdae Branch

It is at 218-1 Donggyo-ro, Mapo-gu, Seoul, around a 3–5-minute walk from Exit 3 of Hongik University Station. It is open 16:00–00:30 Monday through Thursday, 15:00–01:30 Friday and Saturday, and 15:00–00:30 on Sunday. Parking is unavailable, and public parking costs ₩1,200 per hour.

Since my friend and I were in Hongdae for the first time in a while last weekend, we visited Cheongnyeon Dakbal 1987, which has plenty of pocha (Korean pub) charm. The weather was so nice for eating at an outdoor pocha, so we sat outside too.

Outdoor pocha seating with a terrace feel

Inside, there were seats with a cozy pocha mood as well as terrace-like seating. There seemed to be more seats than I expected when you combined indoors and outdoors, so it looked able to accommodate plenty of people even at busy peak times.

We visited on Sunday evening, and I think I was surprised that so many people were already seated and eating even though it was still early. Honestly, I had come planning to sit in the seats below, but the weather was too nice not to sit outside.

Ordering by table kiosk and the basic sides

Once you have a table, you can order using the kiosk at each one. They provide cool, clean bean-sprout soup and pickled radish as basic sides, which go so well with spicy chicken feet.

Icy muksabal and soup chicken feet together

Muksabal ₩8,000

You cannot leave out a cool bowl of muksabal (acorn jelly cold soup) with spicy food, right?.. 🤍 It was full of tiny ice crystals, so it paired wonderfully with the spicy chicken feet. It also had seaweed and kimchi in it, making it fun to chew. The acorn jelly even had a slightly frozen texture from the ice crystals.

Soup chicken feet ₩9,500

A minimum order for two people is required. When ordering the soup chicken feet, you could choose whole-bone, boneless, or tulip style. You could also adjust the spice level, which was nice because you could pick according to your taste.

When you order chicken feet, fried chicken skin comes as a complimentary side. Dipping it generously in the spicy sauce made it disappear so quickly.

We also ordered steamed egg, another essential with spicy food. It was topped with lots of tobiko flying-fish roe, making it even more fun to chew.

Even though we were at an outdoor table, each seat had disposable gloves and tissues hanging nearby, which made things more convenient.

Adding extras and final thoughts

It seemed that you could add various extras when ordering, except for the charcoal-grilled chicken feet. We ate ours as is, but there were lots of options that seemed like they would pair well with spicy food, such as beef intestine and pork belly, so it would be easy to create your own combination.

Cheongnyeon Dakbal 1987 Hongdae Branch had such a lovely outdoor atmosphere and in-store atmosphere. I especially liked the wide choice of chicken-feet styles. The staff were kind too, and because the tables were outdoors, I think it would be good to give the chairs and table a quick wipe with a wet tissue before sitting down. Enjoying the outdoor pocha mood with someone dear made me lose track of time.