Seocho gimbap restaurant with spicy tuna rolls: Deokjane Bangatgan

Tteokbokki... truly my absolute favorite!! I actually like both wheat-flour rice cakes and rice rice cakes. But somehow, there’s always a different kind of rice cake I crave depending on the day. On days when I’m craving rice-cake tteokbokki, I honestly can’t think of anywhere else. It’s Deokjane Bangatgan, the Sinnonhyeon Station favorite!!

It comes with plump garaetteok (long cylindrical rice cakes), and the rice cakes themselves are wonderfully chewy and get softer the more you chew—so good. Then there’s plenty of sweet-and-spicy tteokbokki seasoning, too~ I’d been thinking about that flavor for ages, so I went back to Deokjane Bangatgan for tteokbokki again. Tteokbokki alone would be a little sad, so I properly ordered cheese gimbap, spicy Cheongyang chili tuna gimbap, and cola too!! Today, we’re having a full-on bunsik (Korean snack-food) feast, haha.

Deokjane Bangatgan location and how to order

It’s at L1, 62 Seocho-daero 77-gil, Seocho-gu, Seoul, about 118 m from Exit 7 of Sinnonhyeon Station. It’s in the alley behind Kyobo Tower. Open daily from 11:00 to 20:30, with a break from 14:30 to 16:00 and last orders at 20:00.

Menu

It can be hard to get a seat around mealtimes... Please find your seat first, then order at the kiosk :)

• Tteokbokki ₩6,000
• Fish cake ₩4,000
• Mul-tteok (rice cakes in broth) ₩4,000
• Fried items ₩6,000
• Sundae (Korean blood sausage) ₩6,000
• Bibim mandu (spicy mixed dumplings) ₩9,000
• Deokja gimbap ₩4,500
• Tuna gimbap ₩5,500
• Cheese gimbap ₩5,500
• Burdock gimbap ₩6,000
• Spicy Cheongyang chili tuna gimbap ₩6,000
• Spicy Cheongyang chili fish-cake gimbap ₩6,000
• Ramyun ₩5,000
• Rice-cake ramyun ₩6,000
• Cheese ramyun ₩6,000
• Hangover ramyun ₩6,500
• Jjolmyeon (chewy spicy noodles) ₩9,000
• Pork cutlet ₩10,000

• Garaetteok with jocheong (rice syrup) ₩3,000
• Five strands of garaetteok only ₩4,000
• Boiled eggs (2) ₩2,000
• Hot dog ₩3,000
• Jocheong (rice syrup) ₩1,000

• Basic Set A ₩20,500 (tteokbokki + fish cake + gimbap + fried items + drink)
• Basic Set B ₩22,500 (tteokbokki + sundae + gimbap + fried items + drink)
• Bibim Set ₩23,500 (tteokbokki + bibim mandu + fish cake + gimbap + drink)
• Fresh Set ₩23,500 (tteokbokki + jjolmyeon + fish cake + gimbap + drink)
• Hearty Set A ₩33,500 (tteokbokki + fish cake + gimbap + jjolmyeon + pork cutlet + drink)
• Hearty Set B ₩39,500 (tteokbokki + fish cake + sundae + gimbap + jjolmyeon + pork cutlet + drink)

The restaurant is spacious and absolutely spotless!! I saw people dining alone, and there are plenty of tables, so it has such an easy, comfortable atmosphere for coming in for bunsik~ You can also see food being made in the open kitchen, and I really like places like that.

What is the texture of the garaetteok tteokbokki like?

As expected, it’s all about the tteokbokki here!! Plump, generously sized garaetteok soak right into the rich tteokbokki sauce~ Maybe because they’re garaetteok, they have such a lovely chewy yet soft texture when you take a bite.

What I ordered that day was tteokbokki, cheese gimbap, spicy Cheongyang chili tuna gimbap, and cola!! I was about to have a proper bunsik party... haha.

The sauce is on the thick side, sweet at first with a spicy kick at the end, so you just keep eating it. The garaetteok are thick, so even one is surprisingly filling. As I ate, I could see why Deokjane Bangatgan’s tteokbokki is so famous.

“Chewy~~” is exactly the word for this, right?? They’re really soft and springy.

They say the rice cakes are made in the back kitchen every morning... That must be why the freshly made rice cakes have such a great texture.

Dipping cheese gimbap in tteokbokki sauce

You can’t leave out gimbap with tteokbokki~ First up, the cheese gimbap!! It has savory cheese inside, and it’s ridiculously good! And rather than eating it plain... dunk it right into the tteokbokki sauce!! This combination really is the best, haha. Dipping the cheese gimbap in the sweet-and-spicy tteokbokki sauce added even more savory flavor, so it was delicious.

It’s generously filled.

The spicy finish of the tuna gimbap

And this one was more my style!! The savory tuna has Cheongyang chili peppers in it, giving it just the right spicy finish~

I definitely found myself reaching for it more than regular tuna gimbap. The tteokbokki was spicy too, and adding the spicy tuna gimbap made my mouth gradually hotter, haha.

Still, I love that heat, so I keep going back for the spicy chili gimbap!

Garaetteok tteokbokki needs gimbap too

After tteokbokki, cheese gimbap, spicy tuna gimbap, and cola, I was absolutely stuffed~ Deokjane Bangatgan’s garaetteok tteokbokki really is the best~ Thick, chewy garaetteok with rich sweet-and-spicy sauce!!

I definitely recommend ordering gimbap with it too~ This was my review of Deokjane Bangatgan near Sinnonhyeon Station, a delicious place called a tteokbokki mecca for a reason.