Hannam-dong Hanbang Tongdak: Oak-Roasted Chicken in Seoul
Photos added in July 2019
Hannam-dong (a neighborhood in central Seoul) is where I lived before moving near Korea University. I think I lived there for about seven years. What I loved about living in this neighborhood was having the Han River and Namsan Mountain nearby, offering great paths for biking or walking to clear my head, plus there are several delicious restaurants. It has the environmental factors (which I consider important) that make high housing prices inevitable.
If you ask why I haven't posted about these great places, I'd tell you it's because of my sheer laziness, not because the food isn't good. Besides the brunch spot I posted about before, there are so many tasty places here that I have about four or five others I want to introduce. The place I'm posting about today is one of them, but because I'm posting so late, it's already become incredibly famous, so whether I post about it or not, everyone goes there anyway.
The place has a rather unremarkable name: 'Hannam-dong Hanbang Tongdak Gui' (Hannam-dong Herbal Roasted Whole Chicken). Even though it looks like a typical neighborhood chicken joint, it must have been on TV recently because the lines have gotten insanely long compared to before. When I lived in this neighborhood, I used to grab a whole chicken to go in the evening and enjoy it at home while watching Infinite Challenge or baseball. But now, in 2017, even getting takeout takes an hour. Honestly, it's hard to say this place has something so special that it's worth waiting an hour or two for. (That doesn't mean it's not good. It's incredibly delicious.)
In Korea, where fried chicken dominates the whole country, charcoal-grilled chicken is hard to find. Since it takes about two hours to roast one chicken, you can fully enjoy the feeling of eating a proper meal rather than fast food. In the past, it was a great place to wrap up the day by setting up a table in the parking lot out front, chatting away with a chicken and a beer. But maybe there were too many noise complaints from residents, because they don't set up tables outside anymore. (When I asked, they said it was just too hot to do it... and it is really hot.)
Even though the chicken here is delicious, it's not vastly different from other places that roast it similarly. How different can chicken really be? There might be slight differences, but it's not worth waiting two hours to experience them. The owner mentioned that people visiting from out of town for their summer vacation are coming to eat here, so it definitely seems like it was on TV. They said things usually go back to normal around September when the vacation crowds disappear, so I recommend going after the summer holiday season. Even if the chicken were coated in gold, two hours is overkill.
Nevertheless, I prefer it over franchise chicken because it suits my taste better, and the shabby atmosphere brings back memories of when I used to live in this neighborhood. Plus, the prices are cheaper than franchises, making it a perfect spot for locals to enjoy every week. The key point here is 'locals.' I'll arbitrarily define 'local' as anyone within a 5km radius.
Personally, I recommend getting it to go and eating it by the Han River. Even better would be eating it at the pavilion in front of the military base by Hannam Bridge, but I'll skip that since I don't know if it's still there. The entrance to the Han River park is just 200 meters from the restaurant. It's literally right in front of your nose. Once you enter the river park and walk a little to the right, you'll find long wooden platforms or benches where you can sit and rest, making it a great spot to eat while watching the river and the Banpo Bridge fountain show. If you're riding a bike, crossing over to Seoul Forest or Jamsu Bridge and eating at the riverside park is another option. Just please don't drink and ride.