Hongdae restaurant for kimchi stew before an escape room: Bap Jangin

Why I picked Bap Jangin Hongdae Branch before an escape room

Bap Jangin Hongdae Branch (밥장인 홍대점) is a Korean restaurant close to Exit 8 of Hongik Univ. Station, open daily 11:00-21:00. We came to fill up on Korean food before an escape room in Hongdae. Korean food is our favorite kind of food, and I'd heard the stews are famous here, so we stopped in.

When we arrived, the big, clean exterior caught my eye. The inside, visible through the large windows, looked bright and tidy too, so the whole place felt pleasant.

It was full of customers, so I shyly took just one photo of a corner seat. It's actually a spacious place with almost 20 tables.

Bap Jangin Hongdae Branch menu and our order for two

The menu has a wide range of Korean dishes, from stews like jjageuli (thick, salty-spicy stew), kimchi stew and doenjang stew (soybean paste stew) to stir-fried squid and bulgogi stir-fry. We ordered the two-person Spam set, added ramen noodles, and chose pork kimchi stew. Order done!

Be sure to read the tips for eating well on the first screen of the table ordering. You know tips like this taste best when the staff tell you in person, right? Apparently it's even better when you eat the seaweed flakes together with the stew.

There was also a receipt review event, and you get a tumbler for it! It was the first time I'd seen an event that wasn't just an extra menu item, so it felt new.

What's at the Bap Jangin Hongdae Branch self-bar?

No side dishes come to the table here. Instead, you take as much as you want from the self-bar on one side. It had kimchi, bean sprouts and pickled chili peppers, plus small plates and a bottle of sesame oil. I figured sesame oil would be great when mixing rice with seaweed flakes, so I grabbed one.

From the self-bar I took only kimchi and bean sprouts. Classic Korean move: eating kimchi as a side dish with kimchi stew, haha.

There was the seaweed flake container already at the table, a cute water bottle the staff brought over, and the side dishes and sesame oil from the self-bar. The vibe Bap Jangin Hongdae Branch is going for seems to be cute.

My companion loves seaweed flakes, so they added lots and mixed them with the sesame oil. I honestly don't like seaweed flakes, so I ate my rice plain, but as we ate, the nutty sesame oil smell kept drifting over and I was a little tempted the whole meal.

Pork kimchi stew served fully cooked, no burner at the table

We waited about 10 minutes for the pork kimchi stew, and the Spam and the ramen noodles we added all came already cooked together. What I especially liked is that there's no burner at the table and the stew arrives finished! Of course there's a charm in boiling it bubbling at your seat, but when you want to eat fast and leave, or it's too hot out, a dish that comes cooked like this appeals to me more, haha.

Real Spam, and chewy ramen noodles

The stew had my three favorite toppings: Spam, tofu and ramen noodles. The Spam isn't a fake or a Spam-like substitute (like Lunch Champ). It's the real, salty Spam I know. Some places use fake Spam and pass it off as real, but Bap Jangin Hongdae Branch is the real deal.

Honestly, what worried me most about everything arriving at once was the ramen noodles. I like my noodles chewy, almost snack-like, so I wondered what I'd do if they were overcooked. Luckily they came out chewy, just the way I like them. Yay~

How did the kimchi stew at Bap Jangin Hongdae Branch taste?

The pork kimchi stew at Bap Jangin Hongdae Branch had good savory depth and a spicy, kick-y broth, so it was delicious. We ordered for two, but the base unit is one person. With such a varied menu, it would also be nice to order different dishes with your group and share~!