Tteokbokki, sundae and tuna gimbap to go in Seocho: Deokjane Bangatgan

Today I visited Deokjane Bangatgan (덕자네방앗간) near Sinnonhyeon Station, known among tteokbokki fans as a life-changing rice tteokbokki spot haha :) They mill rice and make garaetteok (cylindrical rice cakes) fresh in-store every single morning, and it's been featured on Sooyoomisikhoe as one of the go-to tteokbokki pilgrimage sites ❤️

Location and hours of Deokjane Bangatgan

• Location: 62 Seochodae-ro 77-gil, L1F, Seocho-gu, Seoul (about 3-5 min walk from Sinnonhyeon Station Exit 7)
• Hours: 11:00-20:30 (may close early if ingredients sell out)
• Note: takeout and dine-in both available; expect waits at peak times

What I ordered to go

I ordered tteokbokki, sundae (Korean blood sausage), eomuk (fish cake), and tuna gimbap to take home!

There are lots of set menus too, so next time I want to try the Deundeun (hearty) set 💛 While I was waiting for my order, someone next to me was eating jjolmyeon (chewy cold noodles) and it looked so good haha.

Watching tteokbokki cooked fresh in the open kitchen

The first thing you notice walking into Deokjane Bangatgan is the wide-open kitchen. Watching the cooking unfold right in front of you the moment your order goes in is fun to watch and also builds trust in the food 👍

From above, the bright red, thick gochujang-based sauce simmers slowly, giving off a spicy-sweet aroma that gets your appetite going. Watching the tteokbokki made me so hungry, but thankfully my takeout order came out really fast lol.

If you're eating in, there's a self-serve corner for sauce and side dishes. Since they make rice cakes fresh every day, there was a huge stock of rice ready to go 🤩👍

Everything was packed neatly so I could carry it home easily haha. Now let's eat!!! By the way, if you're eating in and then decide to pack up leftovers, there's a ₩500 container fee :)

The signature rice garaetteok tteokbokki

The thick whole rice cakes have an unmatched heavy chewiness. The more you chew, the more you notice a subtle rice sweetness, and the thick, spicy-sweet gochujang sauce coats it so well inside and out that I never needed to dip it again haha.

Since the rice cakes are freshly made in-store every day, the chewiness was on another level!

Warm eomuk to balance out the spice

An essential menu item to balance out the spicy, thick tteokbokki between bites. The Busan-style fish cake stays springy without getting soggy, and the deeply brewed warm broth cleanly resets your mouth from the heat.

I re-skewered it on wooden chopsticks at home haha. Eomuk is a must when you order tteokbokki!

Chewy sundae with no off smell

Cleanly steamed sundae (blood sausage) with no fishy smell — the outer skin isn't tough, and it keeps a springy texture. It's not dry, so it's moist enough to enjoy dipped in salt on its own, or paired with the tteokbokki sauce :)

I'm actually more of an offal-in-my-sundae person, and this was really chewy and satisfying! I dipped it in salt and it also went great with the rich tteokbokki sauce ❤️

Tuna gimbap packed full

Generously filled with tuna mixed with nutty mayo, with the excess oil drained off. The balance with crunchy vegetables like danmuji (pickled radish), burdock root, and carrot is great, making it hearty but not heavy. The well-seasoned burdock root and the perilla leaf wrapping the tuna were the real kicker!!! The rice cake tteokbokki was amazing too, but I'm a tuna gimbap fanatic so next time I'm definitely ordering the gimbap too haha.

How to get there

Deokjane Bangatgan, a well-known spot near Sinnonhyeon Station, is located behind Kyobo Book Centre! If you're coming from Gangnam Station, the alley between the cafés in front of Exit 7 is a shortcut :)