Oden bar near Sindang Station with Asahi draft beer: Sindang Oden Club

My husband and I were looking for somewhere casual near Sindang Station for a beer, and we ended up at Sindang Oden Club (신당오뎅클럽). I love a drink with warm oden (fish cake) broth, and I was curious about this place because you pick the oden you want yourself, right from the middle of the table. We went at the 6pm opening. Here's the atmosphere inside, how ordering works, and what I thought of the Asahi draft beer and the tomato cream cheese.

Sindang Oden Club hours and closing days

• Address: 17 Toegye-ro 86-gil, Jung-gu, Seoul, South Korea (Unit 101, 1st floor)
• Hours: Tue–Sun 18:00 to 02:00 the next day
• Closed: every Monday

Getting to Sindang Oden Club and the wait

Sindang Oden Club is about a 3-minute walk from Sindang Station Exit 4, so it's easy to reach by subway. We arrived right as it opened at 6pm and walked straight in without waiting. Guests trickled in over time, and by around 7pm every seat was taken. It will differ from day to day, but if you want to pick your seat, I'd recommend arriving at opening.

Inside Sindang Oden Club: atmosphere and seating

The first thing you notice inside is the long wood-tone bar table running down the middle. In the center of the table there's a space that keeps the oden warm, and guests sit around it and pick the skewers they like. White walls, a wooden ceiling and soft lighting made it feel cozy.

There are also bar seats side by side by the window. You can see the Sindang alley scenery through the glass, which gave it a lovely mood, haha. Overall it's a nice space to have a drink while chatting with your husband or friends.

Sindang Oden Club menu and oden prices

Sindang Oden Club sells many kinds of oden, from plain fish cake to shiitake mushroom, radish, mulddeok (rice cake) and yubu mochi (tofu pouch with rice cake). Each skewer is priced differently, so you can choose freely. Oden starts at ₩2,000, which makes it easy to try a little of many kinds. Along with the oden, we also ordered tomato cream cheese and Asahi draft beer.

How do you order oden at Sindang Oden Club?

The table had soy sauce and seasoning for dipping the oden, and cabbage came out too. The most convenient thing about Sindang Oden Club was how ordering works. You don't have to order one by one from staff; you just take as many skewers as you like from the middle of the table. Put the finished skewers into the container in front of you, and at checkout the staff count the skewers and their types to work out the bill. Not having to call a server every time was really handy, haha.

How cold was the Asahi draft beer?

Before eating any oden, we ordered the Asahi draft beer first. As soon as it arrived, I noticed the droplets on the glass and the generous foam. One sip and it was so refreshing! The beer itself was cold, but the glass was chilled too, so the first sip was especially good, haha.

Drinking cold Asahi draft between bites of warm oden had a nice temperature contrast, and it went well with the salty snacks. I also liked that I could slowly pick skewers while sipping my beer.

Oden types and taste at Sindang Oden Club

In the middle of the table, many kinds of oden sat in warm broth. There were twisted fish cakes, fish cakes with green onion, shiitake mushrooms, radish and more, so you can pick to your taste. Best of all, guests kept taking oden, so turnover was fast. We tried a bit of everything too, and each fish cake had a different shape and texture, so tasting them one by one was fun.

The spiral-rolled fish cake had a layered chew, and the shiitake had that distinctive mushroom aroma and chewy texture.

There were also tofu pouches and triangle-shaped fish cakes, which felt different from the street-food oden I usually eat. And if I got curious about another kind while eating, I could just grab it right away, which I loved, haha.

Is the oden broth refillable at Sindang Oden Club?

What I liked most at Sindang Oden Club was that you can keep ladling out as much oden broth as you want. You can pour warm broth into a cup right at the table, so there's no need to ask the staff. The broth was tasty from the start, and as the oden and ingredients steeped over time, it felt like the flavor kept getting deeper. A sip of warm broth and then one oden at a time also worked well as drinking food. I tend to drink a lot of broth at oden bars, so this system suited me especially well.

Side dish: tomato cream cheese

Oden alone felt like it was missing something, so we also ordered Sindang Oden Club's tomato cream cheese as a snack to nibble on. Cheese is stuffed inside bite-size tomatoes, with walnuts on top. The red tomato and white cheese looked really appetizing together.

The fresh taste of the tomato, the softness of the cheese and the nuttiness of the walnuts made it a light bite. It was especially nice to pick at one piece at a time between the warm oden. It's less a hearty meal than a side to nibble on while drinking, so it was easy to enjoy without feeling heavy.

Honest review of Sindang Oden Club

Sindang Oden Club was convenient because you choose the oden you want yourself. You just collect the finished skewers and they tally the bill, which is hassle-free, and I liked being able to ladle broth freely. I also liked that guests keep taking skewers, so turnover is fast. The tomato cream cheese was good for light nibbling, and with a cold Asahi draft on top, it was just right for a drink, haha.

Above all, the cozy atmosphere made it a decent date spot with my husband. One drawback: on the day we visited, the place was full within an hour of opening, so for the evening I'd recommend booking ahead or arriving a bit early. If you're looking for a nice bar or a Japanese-style oden bar near Sindang Station, give it a try!