Seoulbam: Pocha featured in Kdrama Itaewon Class

One of Kelvin’s favourite Kdramas is Itaewon Class, a series where a calm chill dude opens his own bar/restaurant in Itaewon, a popular neighbourhood in Seoul for foreigners and nightlife.

Well, we certainly couldn’t miss checking out Itaewon ourselves during our trip to South Korea so we did spend a Saturday night partying in Itaewon with some friends, and even ate and drank at the restaurant where the drama was filmed!

Recommended: Read about my first few days in Seoul in my travel recap blog post.

The vibe

They film the exterior and interior at different locations – we went to the exterior one. In the drama, the restaurant looks like this and is called ‘Danbam’:

The actual restaurant used to be a tripe restaurant called Undukjib, but now it’s something else called Seoulbam. It looks like it targets fans of the kdrama and is under different management (more foreigner focused – all the staff were foreigners as well). The exterior looks like this:

Seoulbam is located on one of the main streets in Itaewon, but that actually put it in a more quiet location. The really busy area where all the clubs and bars are through more narrow alleyways, but it’s roughly a 5-10 minute walk from that street to Seoulbam.

The interior is actually very small. It can seat maybe around 6 tables of 4 and they use those circular metal tables and stools so it’s not the most comfortable (small table and no back support). We asked if we could be seated at the rooftop because there are scenes where the characters drink up there, but they said the roof was closed.

Food and drinks review

This is everything we ordered for 4 people. Prices are converted basically 1000:1 (KRW:CAD) and rounded to the nearest dollar.

Soft tofu stew + stir-fried pork with bean sprouts ($30)

The server recommends one of the first 2 set menus, which both include a soft tofu stew since that is the signature dish from the kdrama.

The tofu stew comes with its own little hot pot stove and the size of the pot is kind of small – the menu recommends it for 1-2 people but we were 4 people. My two Korean friends said it is a little pricey.

Flavour-wise, I thought it was quite good and had a bit of a kick (my spice tolerance is mild). The tofu was very soft and paired really well with some soju.

I forgot to take a photo of the stir-fried pork dish with beansprouts, but it’s kind of a small dish with more bean sprouts than pork. However, it tasted pretty good and the beansprouts was cooked well with the pork and had a bit of a meaty flavour to them.

Stir-fried pork with spicy chewy noodle ($22)

I quite liked this spicy chewy noodle – it was more spicy than the soup in my opinion, and the chewiness gave it some nice texture. There was also quite a bit of pork in it and tasted very saucy. At $22 though, it is pricey for the portion but I enjoyed eating it.

Rice ball ($3)

This is a pretty cheap side dish – a bowl of rice with roasted seaweed and other toppings. You are supposed to mix and roll them into little rice balls yourself – a task that my friend does well at (we joke that it is her talent).

Soju + Tonic water + lemon ($22-36)

I don’t have photos because our small table quickly ran out of room as the food and drinks arrived, but essentially they have different combos for alcohol and they are all combinations of soju, tonic water and lemon. We ordered bottles of soju and 4 tonic waters, and everyone had a slice of lemon – a refreshing drink where you can’t really taste the soju.

Final thoughts

Loewe’s rating: ⭐⭐⭐

I think it’s closer to a 3.5 but for now I will give it 3 stars. I am a big fan of Itaewon Class and that was the main reason we ended up eating and drinking here, but the reality is that there are a lot of restaurant/bar options to choose from in Itaewon.

Things I liked about Seoulbam aside from the fact that Itaewon Class was filmed here are: the food was actually decent, drinks were not a bad price and I actually liked that we were in a quieter part of Itaewon because we could hear each other speak without yelling (the bars on the actual busy street are blasting music). I think it would be a nice option as a first or pre-drinking spot.

Things I didn’t like so much include the uncomfortable seating/limited tables, and the small portion with higher prices.

So overall, I would say that if you are a fan of the kdrama, it’s worth checking out and actually eating/drinking there for a bit. But eventually you should roam back onto the more bustling alleyway streets of Itaewon!

Sincerely, Loewe