Yongsan Korean snack restaurant: mild tteokbokki at Hyeonseonine

Last weekend, we headed out from Cheorwon to Seoul early in the morning to go to the Han River fireworks festival! We parked at Ichon Hangang Park in the morning and started the day planning to spend it with our child at the Children’s Garden, where we had visited last year.

Hyeonseonine Main Branch near Yongsan Children’s Garden

While looking up good places to eat near Yongsan Children’s Garden, I found Hyeonseonine Main Branch!! Actually, I worked in Yongsan for 13 years. I’m retired now, but! Haha. So whenever I ordered delivery during overtime, tteokbokki was always from Hyeonseonine!! Haha.

That brought back all those warm old memories, and I wanted to taste that tteokbokki again, so my husband, child, and I chose Hyeonseonine for lunch! It was actually my first time visiting a branch to eat in person—after living in Yongsan for over 15 years, why had I only come now?

Hyeonseonine has a tall yellow chimney that looks as if Santa might come down it, plus a bright red roof that really catches your eye! Even though we arrived around 11:30 on a weekend, we were number 5 in line!! Truly... a favorite among favorites.

A hip interior with pojangmacha charm

Who knew Hyeonseonine’s interior would be this hip! Rather than a straightforward Korean-snack concept, it felt a little like an old-school beer pub. I learned that Hyeonseonine began as a pojangmacha (street-food tent) and has continued for 20 years, so the interior keeps that feeling while looking stylish.

Even at lunch, customers were having a beer with instant tteokbokki or the standard menu, showing off exactly the hip vibe of a good Yongridan-gil restaurant.

The Hyeonseonine set, ordered mild

Hyeonseonine’s menu is affordable and the portions are really well put together! I used to eat the Hyeonseonine Combo a lot, but they have a Hyeonseonine Beer Set too!! Oohhh—and even made-to-order dishes you can only have here!

You can also choose your tteokbokki heat level at Hyeonseonine, from mild to spicy!! Their signature is the spicy flavor, but my husband can’t handle heat, so we ordered mild!!

Ahh, the delicious Hyeonseonine set arrived at our table! The selection was seriously generous: tteokbokki, fried snacks, gimbap, sundae (Korean blood sausage), and fish cake! Such a delicious combination, right?

It is not easy to get all of this in one order, but this set let us try a bit of everything. Along with Korean-snack staples such as fried snacks, sundae, and mini gimbap (seaweed rice rolls), it makes a satisfying meal and is also a great pairing with a drink.

Dipping everything into the thick tteokbokki sauce

The mild Hyeonseonine tteokbokki was so good with a topping of fried-batter crumbs. So, so good. Hyeonseonine’s tteokbokki has an amazing thick, rich sauce that clings nicely to the rice cakes and fish cake. The crisp little crumbs go with it perfectly too!

The mini gimbap contained pickled radish, spinach, ham, and egg. The seasoning was just right, so it was savory and delicious~

The assorted fried snacks were packed with vegetable fritters, squid, sweet potato, dumplings, and gim-mari (seaweed-wrapped glass noodles). Every single one was crisp, perfect for dipping in the tteokbokki.

The fish cake came on skewers and was tender and nicely cooked, so even our baby could hold a skewer and eat it. It was great because it was easy to hold!

The tteokbokki was truly thick and delicious, so it became like a base sauce for everything. Dipping the gimbap and sundae into that delicious tteokbokki sauce made the seasoning just right~

Why it was good to eat with a child

I was worried our baby might not manage Korean snacks well, but Hyeonseonine was great because the baby could eat along with us. They had a high chair and children’s tableware ready, and the baby ate the rice balls, gimbap, and everything except the tteokbokki really well, which was so nice!

As one of Seoul’s five great tteokbokki spots, it is a long-running favorite that still has a line—and that alone proves how good the tteokbokki is! Starting as a pojangmacha and focusing on one dish for more than 20 years, this skilled Yongsan tteokbokki restaurant has become a local representative. I definitely recommend trying this Yongsan Korean-snack institution with 20 years of history!

We had a wonderful time running around at Yongsan Children’s Garden, ate a delicious lunch at Hyeonseonine, then returned to the garden to play some more. It is a perfect route to do with a child, so keep it in mind!!