Sokcho bar with tabletop-burner boneless chicken feet: Seo Jubang

No trip to Sokcho is complete without a drink. You've come all this way, so you've got to have good food with it, right?

Let me introduce Seo Jubang (서주방), a romantic bar on the pojangmacha (street food tent) street known for its mulhoe (cold raw fish soup).

Seo Jubang on Sokcho's pojangmacha street: hours and atmosphere

Seo Jubang is a cooking-and-drinking spot on Yeongnang Beach 6-gil, right in the pojangmacha street. It's open from 6pm to 3am, and parking is available.

On the pojangmacha street, Seo Jubang's retro sign stands out — a good-vibe Sokcho bar that catches your eye.

With so many hearty side dishes, it's great both for drinking and for a full meal.

Can you bring a baby? Inside Seo Jubang and its group tables

The interior at Seo Jubang is bright, so visiting with a baby wasn't stressful at all. There's a roomier area further inside, and I saw group parties being seated there too.

I couldn't photograph every occupied table, but since this is a tourist area, there were quite a few families with babies. The bright interior makes it feel easy to visit with a little one.

There's also relaxed space further inside. Group guests were being shown to seats there. Overall it's a bar, but it gives off a warm, cozy feeling.

What comes in the Sokcho drinking set, and choosing warm boiled pork

At Seo Jubang, a Sokcho bar known for mulhoe, you order via a tablet at your table. There's a wide range of menu items you can pick to your taste, and the prices are easygoing enough to order a few things to try.

I first ordered the Sokcho drinking set. You choose one main dish, and it comes with abai baeksundae (blood sausage), raw squid, scallop jeotgal (salted seafood), whelk, and pollack roe potatoes. I paid a bit extra to choose warm boiled pork as the main.

Chamisul Fresh soju is a must, and it came with pretty shot glasses plus a basic side dish. There are highballs too for anyone who doesn't drink much, so it's an easy place to visit either way. We're a soju crowd, so no beer for us — always Chamisul Fresh.

The Seo Jubang drinking set comes with a bunch of different sides, so you can pick and choose bites while you drink, and it's a nice way to taste some famous Sokcho dishes at once. The warm boiled pork I chose came in a shallow broth that a baby could even eat, though the broth itself had a slight kick — we asked them to just give us the pork without the broth.

Once the full spread was laid out, the table was properly packed. Side dishes are out, so a drink is in order... The glasses were slightly smaller than usual soju glasses, just right for a shot. My sister complained I skipped the customary first-round toast, but I didn't, honest.

The warm boiled pork on its burner, set among all the other sides. They'd run out of raw squid, so it was swapped for a vinegared squid salad instead. Just looking at it made me want another drink, and every bite of a side dish had my glass tipping up on its own.

Every single dish was delicious — Seo Jubang works well both as a drinking spot and as a proper meal.

The scallops and abai sundae arrived too. Chojang (vinegar chili sauce) came alongside — perfect for dipping the shellfish.

Rice for the baby, and a word about abai sundae

For my baby, I ordered a bowl of rice and gave it with some of the warm boiled pork plus seaweed we'd brought along — she ate it right up. Looking around, other tables had babies eating too. Seems like soju-loving moms are all the same, haha. We came all this way, so both mom and baby should enjoy it.

Abai sundae originated in the Hamgyeong province region and was brought to the area near Sokcho, Gangwon Province, by refugees. 'Abai' means 'father' or 'elder man' in the Hamgyeong dialect, and abai sundae is made using pig large intestine. As for the pollack roe potatoes — no need to say more, they're absolutely delicious.

The warm boiled pork also came with its own dipping sauce on the side, nice for a light dip.

Plenty of enoki mushrooms and vegetables were mixed in too — even tastier eaten together. The broth had a bit of a kick, which made it great as a side for drinking.

Boneless chicken feet at Seo Jubang, simmered on a tabletop burner

Craving something spicy, I ordered Seo Jubang's chicken feet on the side. I hadn't added anything extra, but the bean sprouts came generously piled on, and I ordered the chicken feet boneless for easier eating.

They gave us a separate burner to keep boiling it as we ate, and as it kept reducing down, the sauce's savory flavor got insanely good.

Chicken feet — more of a favorite with women than men — are spicy enough to be the perfect soju side. Honestly, eating chicken feet without a drink almost feels wrong. They're also rich in collagen — the kind found in cartilage tissue, said to be good for building and repairing joints and cartilage. Tasty and full of collagen... chicken feet are love 💙.

Restrooms and final thoughts on Seo Jubang

The restroom is inside the store, so it's easy to pop in — separated by gender and clean.

We visited around 6pm and had a quick, satisfying meal at Seo Jubang 😋. It's comfortable enough to visit with a baby too.

Seo Jubang has great-value sides, and with such a spacious hall it's a good pick for groups — a well-known Sokcho bar for mulhoe. If you're looking for good drinking food on the pojangmacha street, stop by.