Euljiro's food street, decades before "newtro"
Euljiro's printing shops, hardware stores, and steel workshops have been getting written up as a "newtro" nightlife district since the late 2010s — young crowds drinking on plastic stools between working machine shops. That framing is recent. The food underneath it mostly isn't: Mugyodong Bugeo Gukjip (무교동북어국집), a dried-pollack hangover soup shop in nearby Da-dong, has been open since 1978. Bokgukjip Bbokjji (복국집뽁찌), a pufferfish soup specialist in Ojang-dong, opened in 1992. Mongdorine (몽돌이네), a pork belly grill, in 2007; Mapo Jjukkumi (마포쭈꾸미), a griddled octopus-and-pork-belly counter, in 2005.
The 11 listings here run across that timeline and across sub-neighborhoods — Euljiro 3-ga, Inhyeon-dong, Ojang-dong, Da-dong, and Jugyo-dong, where Woo Lae Oak sits on the same street as Munhwaok and has served Pyeongyang-style cold noodles since 1988. It carries a 2026 Michelin Bib Gourmand. Kim Three Meals accounts for most of the credits: Mongdorine, Mugyodong Bugeo Gukjip, Bokgukjip Bbokjji, Mapo Jjukkumi, and Buyeo Sikpum. Ddoganjip credits two of the soup-and-offal shops — Cheongwaok (청와옥, sundae blood-sausage soup) and Hwayukgye (화육계, chicken feet and pork trotter). Sung Si-kyung's Muktende credits Munhwaok (문화옥), a seolleongtang counter in Jugyo-dong.
One of these is a recent opening inside an older neighborhood: Buyeo Sikpum (부여식품), a Daegu-style makchang grill, opened in 2019 — a new business in a food street whose identity is otherwise older than most of its current customers.
Incheonjip, in Da-dong a few doors from Mugyodong Bugeo Gukjip, is a bossam and clam-kalguksu house that keeps weekday office hours with a mid-afternoon break. Eulji Kalguksu, open since 1996 on Chungmu-ro, is the eleventh: hand-cut noodles in bone broth at ₩11,000, credited by Muktende.
4.7Mapo Jjukkumi 마포쭈꾸미
A no-frills Euljiro-3(sam)-ga spot built around a single hero dish: cheolpan jju-sam, baby octopus and pork belly stir-fried together on a hot griddle.
under ₩15k1 rating sourceShort waits at peak
4.5Mugyodong Bugeo Gukjip 무교동북어국집
A single-dish dried-pollack hangover soup counter near Gwanghwamun that has run since a 1978 registered opening, popular with nearby office workers for its consistent 10,000-won bowl and self-serve side dishes.
under ₩15k4 rating sourcesExpect lines
4.2Woo Lae Oak 우래옥
A long-running Pyeongyang-style naengmyeon house in Jung-gu known for its mild, buckwheat-forward cold noodles alongside bulgogi and other grilled beef.
₩15–40k4 rating sourcesRisingMICHELIN Bib GourmandExpect lines
4.1Buyeo Sikpum 부여식품
A grilled-intestine (makchang) spot in Jung-gu's Inhyeon-dong printing-shop alley, known for Daegu-style pork makchang grilled at the table over an open-air (yajang) setup, alongside a spicy pork-and-kimchi jjaglagi stew.
₩15–40k4 rating sourcesShort waits at peak
4.0Cheongwaok 청와옥
An Euljiro sundaeguk shop pairing the soup with pyeonbaek-jjim, cypress-steamed pork — waits are common even on weekdays, and the Tabling app at the door lets you queue remotely instead of standing in line.
under ₩15k2 rating sourcesExpect lines
3.9Eulji Kalguksu 을지칼국수
Eulji Kalguksu pulls its noodles by hand into a beef-bone broth and sells them at ₩11,000, with the same bowl available under a lid of hand-folded dumplings.
under ₩15k3 rating sourcesShort waits at peak
3.7Mongdorine 몽돌이네
An outdoor-seating (yajang) pork belly grill tucked in a narrow Euljiro alley near the Nogari-golmok drinking district, with a distant view of Namsan Tower from its patio tables.
₩15–40k3 rating sourcesShort waits at peak
3.7Incheonjip 인천집
Incheonjip is a roughly 50-year-old tavern up a narrow staircase in Dadong, near Euljiro-ipgu Station.
₩15–40k3 rating sourcesExpect lines
3.7Munhwaok 문화옥
An Euljiro seolleongtang shop serving the milky ox-bone soup side by side with jok-tang, ox-foot soup — a straightforward walk-in operation open since morning, with most of the confusion travelers report actually belonging to the popular naengmyeon shop next door.
under ₩15k3 rating sourcesWalk right in
3.7Bokgukjip Bbokjji (Ojang-dong) 복국집뽁찌(오장동점)
A pufferfish (bok-eo) specialty restaurant in Ojang-dong, Jung-gu, serving bok-jiri (clear pufferfish soup), bok-bulgogi, and a multi-dish bbokjji course set — an accessibly priced way into a fish often treated as a special-occasion splurge elsewhere in Seoul.
under ₩15k3 rating sourcesWalk right in
3.3Hwayukgye 화육계
Hwayukgye is an Euljiro 3-ga chicken-feet-and-trotter bar where reviewers highlight the mubbyeo-dakbal (boneless spicy chicken feet) and a flying-fish-roe rice ball, with a wait considered a near-permanent fixture of the place.
₩15–40k4 rating sourcesExpect lines
Questions
Why does Euljiro keep getting called a "hip" neighborhood if the restaurants are decades old?
The renovated bars and cafés that opened inside old workshop buildings in the late 2010s are genuinely new — that's the "newtro" part. But most of the restaurants on this list predate that shift by decades: Mugyodong Bugeo Gukjip since 1978, Bokgukjip Bbokjji since 1992, Mapo Jjukkumi since 2005. The neighborhood's nightlife got younger; its food street mostly didn't change owners.
Is Euljiro cheap or expensive to eat in?
Cheap, mostly — 6 of the 11 listings here are price band ₩ (roughly ₩15,000 or under per person): Munhwaok, Cheongwaok, Mugyodong Bugeo Gukjip, Bokgukjip Bbokjji, Mapo Jjukkumi, and Eulji Kalguksu. The other five (Hwayukgye, Mongdorine, Buyeo Sikpum, Woo Lae Oak, Incheonjip) sit in the ₩₩ band.
Do I need a reservation for any of these?
Mostly — 9 of the 11 are walk-in. The exceptions are Woo Lae Oak and Cheongwaok, which both run remote waitlists. That's unusual for a neighborhood this associated with nightlife crowds, and it's part of why these particular shops made the list — for those eight there is no app, no Korean phone number, no minimum lead time.
How were these Euljiro picks actually sourced?
Each has at least one independent video credit from a tracked Korean food YouTuber — Kim Three Meals, Ddoganjip, or Sung Si-kyung's Muktende — and the video that put it here is linked on the listing, so you can watch the visit yourself. No restaurant can pay to be on this list; the full ranking formula is public.
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