Euljiro tteokbokki restaurant rice cake texture test: Hyeonseoni-ne

I visited Hyeonseoni-ne Cheonggye Instant Branch once before and it was better than expected, so I came back! Last time my husband and I ordered instant tteokbokki for two and cooked it up properly at the table. This time I wanted to try something other than that, so I ordered the Hyeonseoni combo set (₩25,000)!

Honestly I was pretty curious about a set that brings tteokbokki, sundae (Korean blood sausage), fried snacks, and gimbap (seaweed rice roll) all at once haha. But spoiler: the combo set tasted fine, but next time I'm definitely getting the instant tteokbokki again haha. Why? Because the fried rice cake I got as a service item here made me miss the instant tteokbokki even more! Haha

Where Hyeonseoni-ne Cheonggye Instant Branch is and when it opens

Hyeonseoni-ne Cheonggye Instant Branch is an instant tteokbokki spot on the 1st floor of 112 Namdaemun-ro, Jung-gu, Seoul, right next to Mega Coffee by Euljiro 1-ga Station Exit 3. It's open Mon–Fri 10:40–21:00.

It's right near Cheonggyecheon, so it's easy to stop by after work, and it's also walkable from Euljiro 1-ga or Myeongdong, so I often come here when I want a simple meal at a solid Cheonggyecheon snack bar.

As you can see, it's right next to Mega Coffee by Euljiro 1-ga Station Exit 3, so it's not hard to find once you're in the area, and thanks to the good taste and accessibility, it's always crowded.

Waiting time and the old-school snack bar atmosphere

Hyeonseoni-ne Cheonggye Instant Branch has a decent turnover rate, and it goes deeper inside than it looks from outside, so the wait isn't too bad haha. The purple fluorescent lighting also gives off that old-school Euljiro tteokbokki restaurant vibe, very Hyeonseoni-ne!

You can also see straight into the cooking area where the tteokbokki is made, so even if you're worried about hygiene at snack bars, this instant tteokbokki restaurant should put you at ease :)

What comes in the 25,000-won Hyeonseoni combo set

The Hyeonseoni combo set at Hyeonseoni-ne Cheonggye Instant Branch is ₩25,000 and comes with tteokbokki + sundae + fried snacks + gimbap, letting you eat several kinds of snacks at once. With the warm fish cake broth included too, the table looked plentiful at a glance — great value for money!

There are often times eating tteokbokki when you also want rice, sundae, and fried snacks all at once, and the combo set solves that dilemma nicely,

and eating a piece of gimbap between bites of tteokbokki, then dipping fried snacks while eating sundae, was exactly my style haha. I think this is a great choice for anyone who wants to eat a bit of everything like me!

How many people can share the combo set?

Portion-wise, it's quite generous even for three people. Considering prices at snack bars near Euljiro 1-ga Station these days, the biggest advantage of the Hyeonseoni combo set is that splitting it three ways comes to about ₩8,000 per person for a full spread of tteokbokki, sundae, gimbap, and fried snacks! So ₩25,000 might look a bit pricey at first, but once the table arrives with such generous and varied portions, it's actually a pretty reasonable price if you're sharing with three people haha.

Combo set tteokbokki vs instant tteokbokki: which rice cakes win?

The tteokbokki in Hyeonseoni-ne's combo set uses a slightly chewy wheat rice cake style! But if tteokbokki matters most to you — if the softness of wheat rice cake tteokbokki is what you care about above all — I'd recommend the instant tteokbokki! The combo tteokbokki was tasty too, but as someone firmly on Team Instant Tteokbokki, I find it hard to forget the soft, chewy texture of the rice cake in the instant version~~

The sauce was delicious, of course, but the combo set's tteokbokki had a slightly firmer, chewier texture rather than the soft rice cake of the instant version — a properly spicy-sweet snack bar style tteokbokki — so it was a bit disappointing not to get that same soft, melty texture as the instant tteokbokki.

So if portion matters most to you at the same ₩25,000, the combo set with its full, varied spread would be great, but if taste and texture matter more, I think you'd enjoy the instant tteokbokki much more~:)

Hmm... it's good, but isn't the instant tteokbokki better?

That's kind of the feeling I got with the combo set's tteokbokki! I asked my husband too, and he said the instant tteokbokki at this old-school Euljiro tteokbokki restaurant is far tastier, though he did say the sundae's chewiness and the gimbap's savory flavor in the combo set were definitely appealing, so it might come down to personal preference haha.

If you're curious about Hyeonseoni-ne's instant tteokbokki, check out the instant tteokbokki review — last time I had instant tteokbokki for two plus a rice ball from the Naver review service haha.

Don't skip the receipt-review fried rice cake

The service item I got at Hyeonseoni-ne Cheonggye Instant Branch for a Naver receipt review was fried rice cake. So — how does this differ from the rice cake in the combo set, you might wonder? This fried rice cake was exactly what answered that question!! Honestly, at first I just grabbed one thinking, "it's free, might as well try it," but it had exactly the soft, chewy texture of the instant tteokbokki I'd had at Hyeonseoni-ne before!! Haha

The outside was lightly fried and savory, but the inside was really soft and chewy — jMT (just my type)!!! That's it, I thought — this is exactly the texture I recommend Hyeonseoni-ne's tteokbokki for as a Cheonggyecheon snack bar!! Very satisfied haha

It wasn't a hard or tough fried rice cake at all — one bite was chewy yet soft, the sauce was delicious too, and being a freebie made it even better, so I found myself thinking, "ugh... I should've ordered the instant tteokbokki today," with real regret haha. I was enjoying the combo set just fine, but one piece of this service fried rice cake suddenly made me crave instant tteokbokki!? The rice cake itself was that good, leading me to conclude, "yeah, this place is really meant for instant tteokbokki..." So if you visit this popular snack bar near Euljiro 1-ga Station, please be sure to order the instant tteokbokki!

Final verdict on Hyeonseoni-ne, an Euljiro 1-ga tteokbokki restaurant

• If portion and value matter most, get the Hyeonseoni combo set for ₩25,000 (about ₩8,000 per person split three ways)
• If a soft, chewy rice cake texture matters most, go with the instant tteokbokki
• The sundae's chewiness and gimbap's savory flavor are more satisfying in the combo set
• Don't forget to claim the fried rice cake from the Naver receipt review service

So if you're looking for a good-value snack bar near Myeongdong, I recommend this old-school Euljiro tteokbokki restaurant, Hyeonseoni-ne Cheonggye Instant Branch! And please, definitely order the instant tteokbokki and the fried rice cake haha!