Spicy mayo fried chicken and strawberry makgeolli in Gwangjin

Today I'm bringing you a review of Saechamjip Gunja Direct Branch, a private Korean bar in the Gunja Station food alley — a great Gunja Station bar with private rooms!

From the killer combo of side dishes to a review of their signature menu, I've got it all here for you, so check it out before you visit 👀

Location and business info for Saechamjip Gunja Direct Branch

• 📍 Location｜16 Neungdong-ro 36-gil, 2nd floor, Gwangjin-gu, Seoul, South Korea
• 🕐 Hours｜Daily 17:30–02:00
• 🚙 Parking｜Free parking in front of the building (only 1–2 spots available, call ahead recommended)
• 💵 Local currency vouchers / Zero Pay / easy pay accepted

Saechamjip, a bar in Gunja, is on the 2nd floor of a building in the Gunja Station food alley!

The interior mood with its private rooms

Walking inside, there were plenty of tables and the spaces were well divided! There's also a private room area in the back, so this seems perfect for people near Gunja looking for a spot for a company dinner or gathering.

There were coat hangers behind every seat, which was great for hanging up jackets or bags 👍🏻

As soon as we sat down, they brought us these hangover-prevention sticks haha... the effect of which is to make you instantly want to drink too much .... 😵‍💫

Just how big is the menu?

Just how big is the menu?

Here's the menu at Saechamjip, a Gunja Station bar with private rooms! You can tell at a glance the menu is huge and packed with options ... 🫨 Bone grill, soups/stews, stir-fries/grills, pan-fries/fried dishes — so many categories that we agonized over it for ages. The drinks menu also had unusual options like smoothie makgeolli, boksoju, highballs, and traditional liquors, enough to overwhelm any serious drinker who walks in haha.

For the basic side dishes, they gave us muksabal (chilled acorn jelly soup) and snacks like V-corn, and the muksabal had a taste almost like naengmyeon broth — super refreshing and tasty 💦

What we ordered and the prices

Here's what we ordered! We got this after work, as a dinner-and-drinks combo haha.

• 48-hour boiled bone grill on hot stone (₩25,900) └ mozzarella cheese blanket add-on (₩3,000)
• Spicy mayo boneless fried chicken (₩17,900)
• Strawberry smoothie makgeolli (₩12,900)
• Rice (₩500)

48-hour boiled bone grill + cheese blanket

First, we added a cheese blanket to the hot-stone bone grill, this place's signature and limited-quantity dish! Apparently this is bone grill that's been boiled for a whopping 48 hours 🔥

You can already tell how huge each piece is just from this •• With mozzarella cheese and a heap of scallions on top, one bite is pure bliss ..... 😇🪽 Absolute heaven. I also liked that you could choose your spice level — we ordered level 1, which is supposedly about as spicy as Shin Ramyun, but it felt much milder than that to me! We're both pretty weak with spice, so that was actually great for us haha. If you want to really feel the heat, I'd recommend ordering level 2 or above - !!

And the rice being just 500 won!!!! was also amazing. You can't have bone grill without plain white rice .. 🍚 The portion wasn't small either, so it was good for sharing between two.

Spicy mayo boneless fried chicken

Next up, the spicy mayo boneless seasoned fried chicken! The sauce on top is apparently a spicy mayo sauce they developed themselves. And it comes with a sweet cabbage salad, big pass 💯

One bite in, and it was totally crispy outside, juicy inside!!!!!! The chicken itself was so good it could rival any dedicated fried chicken shop ;; The taste reminded me of a certain famous supreme chicken.. but with a spicy kick added.. It could easily get greasy, but the spicy mayo sauce cuts right through, so we could enjoy it to the last bite without getting sick of it 🌶️

Strawberry smoothie makgeolli

With such a killer food combo, you can't skip the drinks haha. We picked strawberry from their signature smoothie makgeolli! You can see the strawberry chunks falling right in •• 🍓 Since it's freshly blended, it had a fresh, sweet-tart strawberry flavor that filled your whole mouth! It genuinely tasted almost like a regular drink, so sweet and delicious haha. Highly recommend for lightweight drinkers who love a tasty drink 👶🏻

There was also a QR code on one side of the table for collecting all kinds of customer feedback! Little details like that really showed the owner's care for the place 🙌🏻

In summary

From the private individual room space to the thoughtfully made Korean dishes and the generous refill service, this was a highly satisfying spot! If you're looking for a group-friendly bar or a private-room bar with good vibes near Gunja Station, be sure to visit Saechamjip Gunja Direct Branch 🤍