Boseung Hall Hongdae • 보승회관 홍대직영점

Boseung Hall Hongdae (보승회관 홍대직영점) is a Korean restaurant that’s specializes in Korean traditional soups and well-known for their delicious Sundae Gukbap (순대국밥). The restaurant is located near Hongik University Station (홍대입구역) Exit 8, a 2-minute walk (172m away) from the subway station making it easy for locals and tourists alike to find the place (and I’m pretty sure if you’re visiting Hongdae, there’s a good chance you’ll pass by this place). The interior of the restaurant is decorated with wooden furnitures and has about 35 seatings on the first floor. It’s one of those no-frills places where the service is quick, the food tastes great and you leave with your stomach full and satisfied. 

I don’t know if I have mentioned this before but I am a sucker for soups. So naturally, when I’m in Korea, I usually try to eat as much soup as possible because they do be tasting better in Korea (imho). And after eating a bunch of different soups, I have a list of my favorites and Gukbap (국밥) is included in that list alongside Gomtang (곰탕) and Galbitang (갈비탕).

What do the three have in common you may ask? Their broth already has that rich, deep, umami flavors when served so I don’t have to self-seasoned my soup before eating (like let’s say Seolleongtang 설렁탕 or Samgyetang 삼계탕 where you usually have to self-seasoned the broth with salt and pepper) and it always make that first sip of soup super satisfying. 

If you don’t know already, Gukbap (국밥) literally means soup (국 ‘guk’) with rice (밥 ‘bap’). It’s a hearty Korean dish consisting of rice and meat (usually pork) already submerged in pipping hot, savory milky broth that is served on a thick, black earthenware pot called a ttukbaegi (뚝배기). Koreans usually associated Gukbap with a fast, comforting, and affordable meal and a lot of places that serve Gukbap are usually specialty restaurants that have served the dish for generations.

Boseung Hall Hongdae is no different. Started with one small shop in 1987, Boseung Hall has been serving gukbap made with high quality ingredients for almost 39 years and has expanded their brand to multiple locations across the country. Their location in Hongdae is actually one of the spots I frequently passed by but never tried until two years ago when my friend who’s also a soup enthusiast agreed to try this place that has been on my ‘To-Try List’ for a while. We got there a little before 10 pm on a Friday night and there was a line in in front of the restaurant. Not too bad though because I’ve seen longer/bigger crowds waiting before, especially on the weekends. We waited for about 15 mins before finally got seated. 

Placed our order using the tablet order system on the table (and they do have the English option so ordering for non-Koreans shouldn’t be a problem) and our food came out 5 minutes later. Super quick service.

For the banchan, they serve kimchi (김치), Korean garlic chives (Buchu 부추), cubed radish kimchi (Kkakdugi 깍두기) and fermented shrimp (Seujot 새우젓). Pretty standard for a gukbap place and they all tasted good.

🍽️ Sundae Platter (접시순대) ₩7,000 | 9/10

If you never had sundae (순대) before, sundae is essentially Korean blood sausage filled with vegetables, glass noodles, and pork intestines. We ordered the sundae platter to try because we’re curious on what the three different sundaes taste like. Honestly, I don’t know what’s the difference between these three, but the flavors definitely reflected in the colors. The darker sundae has bolder flavors while the lighter sundae has lighter flavors. But they all tasted good though. I liked them all. Easily one of the best sundaes I’ve had in recent times.

🍽️ Sundae Gukbap (순대국밥) ₩11,000 | 9.5/10

The Sundae Gukbap includes various pieces of sundae and slices of boiled pork inside the ttukbaegi with seasoned red chili paste (dadegi 다대기) and (what I think is) perilla seed powder (deulkkaegaru 들깨가루) on top. The broth was savory and umami and the red chili paste and perilla seed powder definitely added an extra layer to the overall flavors. No additional seasoning was needed from me because the taste was already spot on. Super flavorful and comforting and oh so gooood. Pro tip: eat every spoonful of the gukbap with different banchan combination and you’ll get different flavors from each bite. Definitely recommending this menu if you want to try this place. They also have the spicy option if you want it spicy (I ordered the regular one and there’s a bit of a kick for me who doesn’t really eat really spicy food) or if you want to get the large portion, it’s available for an additional cost of  ₩2,000. 

Also, if you’re not into sundae, you can always order their Suyuk Gukbap (수육국밥) which only consists of the boiled pork slices and not the sundae.  

Other menus that they are well-known for is their Ppyeo Haejangguk (뼈해장국) which is a spicy Korean pork bone soup that’s usually the cure for hangover for Koreans (ramyeon option—Haejang Ramyeon 해장라면—is available for this one too) and that’s also why this place is a popular spot for people to go after drinking. 

Anyways, at the end of the meal, we were fully stuffed and super happy with the food (we were so happy that we actually went back again 4 days later for the second time during that trip). If you’re in Hongdae area and want to get a great soup, Boseung Hall Hongdae (보승회관 홍대직영점) is definitely a place that I’d recommend for you to try. Plus the place is open 24 hours so it’s also a perfect spot for a late-night dinner or a post-drinks meal.

 

Boseung Hall Hongdae • 보승회관 홍대직영점

Address: 서울 마포구 어울마당로 131
Telephone: 02-322-8111
Hours: Open 24 Hours

Instagram: @boseunghall
Boseung Hall Website

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Hongs Zzuggumi Hongdae • 홍스쭈꾸미 홍대본점

Hongs Zzuggumi Hongdae (홍스쭈꾸미 홍대본점) is a restaurant in Hongdae that specializes in spicy stir-fried webfoot/baby octopus or jjukkumi how the Koreans say it. Their special red sauce is made out of natural ingredients with over 20 kinds of seasonings. The restaurant is actually pretty popular among Asian tourists and at some point was pretty hyped up among Indonesians as one of the must visit restaurants in Seoul as well. 

Although I’ve been hearing a lot of good reviews about the place from my friends who already went, it actually took me this long to finally visit the place. Mainly because I don’t eat spicy food well so I kind of need somebody who does and likes baby octopus to go with to help me finish my food just in case I can’t handle the spiciness. The time finally came last fall when my cousin was visiting Seoul. She’s a big fan of octopus, can eat spicy food better than I do and actually had Hongs Zzuggumi on her want-to-try-restaurants list. 

So we went with a couple of friends who were on the trip with her. It was a Saturday night and we arrived at the restaurant around 8:15 pm. There was a line, not a long one but there seemed to be 2-3 groups ahead of us. We waited about 20 minutes before our name was called and got seated right after.

There are only 4 items on the menu and it all feature their signature Spicy Stir-Fried Jjukkumi (쭈꾸미). We ordered the one with the pork belly and requested less spicy for the spiciness level.

Service was pretty quick at this restaurant because not too long after we placed our order, the pan filled with thinly sliced pork belly, rice cakes, green onions, cabbage and the jjukkumi in the middle was served on our table along with four different kinds of banchan. After the pan was starting to get hot and the red sauce was bubbling, the server came back to mixed everything for us until it was all nicely cooked. 

Stir-Fried Webfoot Octopus + Pork Belly (쭈삼겹 + 볶음밥 ) ₩32,000 | 9/10

*Portion in picture is 2 servings for 2 people. Each portion costs ₩16,000 and comes with the Armani fried rice.

After tasting my first jjukkumi, I get what the hype is all about. It is gooood. The size of the baby octopus wasn’t too big or too small, a perfect size for a nice bite. The meat was tender and springy. And their special spicy gochujang (Korean red chili pepper paste) sauce was super good. It’s spicy and salty with a hint of sweetness in the sauce. The flavor was pretty bold and it’s really nice having it with warm rice. The pork belly (samgyeopsal) was also really good. I think the fat of the pork belly also added another layer of flavor to the jjukkumi and the sauce. Such a great combo. 

The less spicy version was actually still a little spicy for me. Even so, the spiciness was manageable and I could eat it without feeling that I’m being tortured by the heat of the sauce. But I did do my usual work around for eating spicy food though which is to wait until the food is not too hot before taking a bite and eat it with rice. I found that it helps me to enjoy spicy food a little better.

One other special menu that Hongs Zzuggumi has is their Armani Fried Rice. They had signs outside and inside the restaurant with writings like ‘If you order jjukkumi, you’ll have a free Armani Fried Rice’ and ‘Jjukkumi Armani Service’. For English speakers, the meaning of these sentences may be a little confusing. At least I was confused when I first read it and it took me a minute to understand what they mean. The ‘service’ they wrote doesn’t mean the usual action of helping or doing work for someone. But instead, in Korea, when you get something on the house, they usually call it ‘service’. So I guess what they’re trying to say is you get Armani Fried Rice on the house if you order jjukkumi. 

When we’re almost done with our jjukkumi, we asked the staff for the fried rice. They took away the pan and came back with the fried rice already covering the whole pan. Once I saw the fried rice, I get why they call it Armani. The word Armani itself was a little bit random (for me) and doesn’t sound like a Korean word (it reminded me of the famous Italian brand though). But (cmiiw) I think it’s a play on words between ‘al’ (알) which means egg in Korean and ‘mani’ (많이) which means many/a lot. Because living up to its name, the fried rice was covered with copious amount of (fish) eggs. 

Armani Fried Rice is essentially fried rice covered with Hongs Zzuggumi’s special red sauce, seaweed and fish eggs. And it was gooood. One of my favorite thing was feeling the crunch of the fish eggs popping in my mouth in every spoonful of fried rice, making me go back for more every single time even though I’m already full. 

One tip, since the staff usually waited until you (almost) finished everything on the pan before serving the fried rice, if you want to eat the fried rice with the jjukkumi and samgyeopsal, set them aside on your plate to empty the pan so you can ask for the fried rice right away. I did that on my second visit and it was so good eating them with the fried rice. 

Another thing worth mentioning is on my previous visits during dinner rush, there seemed to always be a line for a table and most of the tables in the restaurant are for smaller groups (3-4 people). So if you want to avoid waiting for too long, I’d suggest to come a little earlier, split into smaller groups if you’re traveling with a big group or maybe try coming during lunch time where they serve Lunch Specials from 11:30-16:00. 

After my first visit, Hongs Zzuggumi has been one of the restaurants I’d recommend to my friends when they ask me where to eat when they’re in Seoul. If you haven’t tried this place already, now I’m recommending it to you too.

 

Hongs Zzuggumi Hongdae • 홍스쭈꾸미 홍대본점

Address: 서울 마포구 어울마당로 146
Telephone: 0507-1407-7943
Hours: Everyday 11:00 - 02:00

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