Busanjin bar for fried rice nurungji with cheesy chicken: Yuumangju

A new bar with supposedly amazing anju (drinking snacks) opened up in Seomyeon, so I rushed over — and honestly, it was tastier than most rice restaurants, so I ended up eating my way through drinks like a full meal haha🤣 The staff were so kind too, and I'm hoping this place lives up to its name (Yuumangju means "promising rookie") and becomes Seomyeon's next big thing, so let me introduce it haha.

Yuumangju Seomyeon Branch: location and hours

• 📍 31 Dongcheon-ro 85beon-gil, Busanjin-gu, Busan, South Korea, 2nd floor
• ⏱️ Sun–Thu 17:00–03:00 / Fri–Sat 17:00–04:00
• 🅿️ No parking

It's right on Seomyeon's hot bar street, on the 2nd floor above Thursday Party's second branch.

The menu right at the entrance already had me drooling..! From the moment I walked in I was agonizing over what to order.

A wide interior, good for groups, and a solid first stop

The interior is huge. It'd work great for a group. And since it's open late, it's fine as a second stop too — but honestly, because the anju is this good, I'd recommend it as your first stop haha. If you're already full, you can't eat much anju, right?

Here's the menu. Love that they include photos with everything ✨. After a very, very long deliberation, we went with Yuumangju-e Da Moatdak (the mixed chicken platter) and a shot of soju.

The basic anju is garlic bread, drizzled with sweet honey on top.

Yuumangju-e Da Moatdak — cheese hidden under the hot stone

This is Yuumangju-e Da Moatdak. It comes out looking exactly like the menu photo. Looks so good, it's basically impossible for it not to taste good.

The description mentioned cheese, and sure enough, there was cheese layered underneath! Because it's served on a hot stone plate, the cheese stayed melty and warm the whole time we ate — it was so good. The moment I took my first bite, I immediately ordered a bowl of rice. That's the kind of taste that demands rice haha, real proof it's delicious. I'll have to come back and work through every single item on the menu, side dishes included.

Fried rice is a must — all the way to the crispy nurungji

And whenever you order this kind of anju, fried rice is a must! If you're ordering Yuumangju-e Da Moatdak, sure, get the plain rice too, but the fried rice is non-negotiable. When you order it, they come and fry it right there for you, in generous portions haha. As they were frying, I mentioned the leftover sauce seemed a bit low, so they added more sauce and fried it up expertly. The amount of sauce they added hit the seasoning perfectly. The fried rice was genuinely delicious ㅠㅠ I want it again already.

You know how you have to flatten it out like this to make nurungji (crispy scorched rice) on the bottom, right? Whoever did this — owner or staff, not sure — really knows their food 👍🏻👍🏻

And there it is, the finished fried rice. They even drew a heart with mayo. Because of that, the parts with mayo and without tasted different, making it even more enjoyable. We came looking for a place where we could drink simply but eat anju like an actual meal, and it turned out exactly as we hoped.

We scraped up every bit of the crispy scorched rice haha. If you're looking for a Seomyeon bar, I recommend Yuumangju Seomyeon Branch. Delicious anju, spacious, and clean since it's a new place — we ate really, really well at this Seomyeon bar.

Why is the place called 'Yuumangju'?

While drinking, we joked among ourselves about why the place was named Yuumangju — maybe because they want to be Seomyeon's "promising rookie" bar?! On our way out, though, it was written right there on the wall haha. Definitely remember Yuumangju and go visit — this is an anju restaurant-bar that even my picky palate fully approves of haha.