Review of Deogiwa Hapjeong Branch in Hapjeong-dong: Disappointing Lunch Menu Despite Great Ambiance

Don't get me wrong, I don't always just review restaurants. Ah... come to think of it, I've already reviewed many places as 'not good enough' so you might already know that.

Anyway, I'm introducing a restaurant with an amazing atmosphere! It's really great in terms of ambiance, but I don't recommend it for lunch. For dinner, the atmosphere is nice, and if you're drinking and getting drunk, you might not mind the taste so much. I definitely wouldn't recommend it to foreign friends. The reasons are explained in detail below.

Today's Restaurant: Deogiwa Hapjeong Branch

Address: 25, Dokmak-ro 3-gil, Mapo-gu, Seoul 1st floor

Clicking [View larger map] will allow you to check it on Google Maps.

Business hours: 11:00 ~ 20:30

Break time: 15:00 ~ 17:00

Regularly closed on Mondays

Phone number: 02-2654-2645

I won't bother giving directions. (Since I don't recommend it, I don't think it's worth mentioning.)

- Menu -

Deogiwa Hansang (Deogiwa Set Meal)

Payment is done via a table kiosk, so it's convenient as it can be changed to multiple languages.

• Eel Bibimbap (takes 17 minutes): 21,000 KRW
• Abalone Bibimbap (takes 17 minutes): 17,000 KRW

• Yukhoe Bibimbap Set Meal: 14,000 KRW

• Bossam Set Meal: 14,000 KRW
• Spicy Pork Set Meal: 12,000 KRW
• Cockle Set Meal: 12,000 KRW
• Change to Bibimbap: +2,000 KRW

Korean Pub

• Deogiwa Hansang: 55,000 KRW
• Chicken Pancakes: 19,000 KRW
• Hanwoo 1++ Yuk Sashimi: 49,000 KRW
• Pork Belly Kimchi Pancakes: 18,000 KRW
• Sundubu Flower Crab Jjamppong: 28,000 KRW
• Hot Plate Kimchi Stew: 30,000 KRW
• Boiled Pork & Spicy Noodles: 21,000 KRW

Brief Comments Before the Restaurant Review

I learned about this restaurant through Korea's Toss app.

Toss is a banking app, but it's also widely used for app-based promotions. They offer services that give you points for walking 10,000 steps or clicking buttons. As shown above, they also have a service that gives you 5 Korean won for clicking a button. This generates traffic (visitors) to Naver, Korea's search portal company. By generating more visitors, advertisers (here, the restaurant owner) advertise because they get more exposure based on Naver's search algorithm.

That's not all. Under Korea's Fair Trade Act, if you write a blog post for money, you must state that you received payment. However, there are no legal penalties for leaving reviews, so there's no legal problem with receiving payment from advertisers to write reviews on their behalf. This is how they get paid to write reviews on restaurants and products.

In short, the reliability of reviews is low. If you get a bad review, you can just pay for a good one to cover it up.Related Article

So, for blog posts, if you see a statement like 'This review was written in exchange for compensation,' consider it an advertisement. You shouldn't blindly trust reviews. There are often reviews posted for 500 to 2,000 won.

It was close to my activity range, so I went to this restaurant... well... I was fooled. T_T

Restaurant Review

Bossam Set MealUsually includes bossam kimchi, which is different from regular kimchi. Bossam kimchi is made sweeter and softer to be eaten with meat. They add extra sweetness to the kimchi to complement the fatty taste of the boiled pork.

So, what kind of bossam kimchi did 'Deogiwa Hapjeong' use? It was dried radish. It's dried radish with seasoning. Of course, there are times when they serve radish kimchi, but here it's just ordinary dried radish. T_T It's not sweet or crunchy, it's really dry. It's the kind you'd buy from a side dish store, and it's not the type of kimchi you eat with bossam.

Beef and Radish SoupComes with this, and it's very salty;;

Lastly, the Braised Beefis tough. I guess it's better to say it's chewy.

For these reasons, it's a bit difficult to recommend this as Korean food to foreign friends visiting Korea. It's not really fusion, nor is it traditional Korean food, and it's hard to say it offers a differentiated taste through a unique interpretation. The atmosphere is upscale, but it seems targeted at people who only visit once. A restaurant needs to be a place people want to visit multiple times to be recommended and increase its visitors... it's a shame.