Yeongdeungpo bar spicy beef bibim noodles: Ho Samchon

Lulu and Pipi went on a date in Yeongdeungpo's food alley! After work, we wanted to shake off all that built-up stress with tasty bar food and cold drinks, so we visited Ho Samchon Yeongdeungpo Main Branch, a Yeongdeungpo Station bar known for its great atmosphere!! It had such a cool vibe and a huge range of dishes, making it a nice choice not only for dates but also for work dinners and get-togethers in Yeongdeungpo!! More than anything, the cream jjamppong and beef brisket bibim noodle combination we had that day was exactly our kind of thing!!

Ho Samchon Yeongdeungpo Main Branch

A Yeongdeungpo food-alley bar that looks cool from the entrance

Even Ho Samchon's door looks incredibly cool, right?! Hahaha

There was an old public telephone attached right to the door, and it instantly brought back memories hahaha. If you were born in the '80s or '90s, it is the kind of retro detail that makes you look twice for no reason!

Once inside, the flashy lights and cool atmosphere really hit you. There were plenty of seating options, from tables that work well for two to four people to group tables for larger parties, so it looked easy to visit with whatever size group you have.

It would be great for a casual drink with friends, a couple's date, a Yeongdeungpo bar gathering, or even a work dinner near Yeongdeungpo Station!! The neon lighting did make the food photos look a little less appetizing, though ㅠㅠㅠㅠ It was really delicious ㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠ

What we ordered

• Cream jjamppong ₩21,900
• Beef brisket bibim noodles ₩19,900
• Flying-fish-roe rice balls ₩6,900
• Hanmac creamy draft beer ₩4,500

True to its reputation for great bar food in Yeongdeungpo, Ho Samchon has an absolutely enormous menu hahaha. From soups and stews to stir-fries and fried dishes, plus mains and sides, there were so many choices that we spent ages studying the menu!

I was surprised that, despite the huge selection, the prices were not overly burdensome overall. Considering prices these days, being able to enjoy such generous bar food at these prices felt pretty great haha.

A real blast from the past: chicken-leg crackers as the table snack

Ho Samchon's complimentary table snack is chicken-leg crackers!! Lots of you ate these as kids, right?! Hahaha. Seeing them again after so long was oddly nice, and once I started picking at them one by one, I just could not stop.

They were salty and crunchy, and the moment I tried them, I thought, “This needs beer!” So we immediately ordered a Hanmac creamy draft beer hahaha. With a cold glass of draft beer in hand, we were all set to properly dig into the food!!

What does Ho Samchon's signature cream jjamppong taste like?

The first dish to arrive was cream jjamppong, one of Ho Samchon's signature dishes!

Rather than regular red jjamppong (spicy seafood noodle soup), this dish has a spicy cream base with seafood and udon noodles. It came in a large pot piled generously with mung bean sprouts and seafood, and the visual alone was impressive!!

When I tasted the broth, the gentle, nutty cream flavor was followed by a subtle heat. It was less heavy than expected and kept drawing me back!! It tasted somewhere between cream pasta and jjamppong, while the savoriness from the seafood made the broth truly special!!

The udon noodles had soaked up the sauce beautifully too, making them so satisfying to slurp! Eat noodles, pick out some seafood, take another sip of broth, and naturally take a sip of draft beer hahaha. This feels like a dish that would be especially popular at a Yeongdeungpo bar work dinner, where you absolutely need one hot stew or brothy dish!

A new favorite bar snack: beef brisket bibim noodles

And the dish we enjoyed most that day was the beef brisket bibim noodles!! One plate comes half-and-half with spicy bibim noodles and stir-fried beef brisket with mung bean sprouts.

With red bibim noodles beside nuttily stir-fried beef brisket and sprouts, it looked mouthwatering from the start hahaha. At first, we tried the two separately. The bibim noodles were spicier than expected!

To me, they tasted just a little spicier than Shin Ramyun, but it was not simply heat—the seasoning was sweet, tangy, and addictive. My tongue was on fire, but I could not put my chopsticks down hahaha.

Even while going “phew, phew...” I kept eating. It was seriously addictive!!

But Lulu, who cannot handle much spice, decided after about half the noodles to mix them with the stir-fried beef brisket and sprouts beside them. This was truly the genius move hahaha.

The nutty richness of the beef brisket and the clean flavor of the sprouts joined the spicy-tangy bibim noodle sauce, balancing the heat to just the right level. Salty, nutty, and pleasantly spicy—it was the perfect drink companion!!

We ate them separately at first, but eventually mixed everything together for the last bites, and I personally totally recommend eating it this way hahaha. If you visit Ho Samchon, you have to try this at least once!!

Flying-fish-roe rice balls to soothe a spicy mouth

Just as our mouths were starting to feel spicy from the bibim noodles, the flying-fish-roe rice balls arrived!

You really cannot leave out rice balls beside spicy bar food like this hahaha.

The rice, mixed with seaweed flakes and flying-fish roe, is shaped into little balls yourself, so making them one by one was fun too haha.

One bite of a nutty rice ball took the edge off the bibim noodles' heat, and we were ready for more noodles again hahaha.

The popping texture of the flying-fish roe was especially nice, so although it is a side dish, I kept reaching for it!!

A place I want to revisit to work through the bar-food menu

From the cream jjamppong to the beef brisket bibim noodles and flying-fish-roe rice balls, every dish at Ho Samchon paired so well with drinks that we were very satisfied! There are so many types of bar food that next time I want to slowly check off the dishes we did not get to try haha.

If you are looking for a Yeongdeungpo bar gathering spot in the food alley with a good atmosphere and delicious food, I totally recommend it!! Lulu and Pipi plan to return to Ho Samchon the next time we have drinks in Yeongdeungpo!