[Seoul - Samcheongdong] Apgujeong Bonggu Beer - Bar famous for cheap beer, French Fries, and Cheese Sticks (Various Locations)

Bonggu Beer (봉구비어) is a pretty popular chain of beer bars (pubs) through out Seoul known for its cheap beer, freshly made French fries, and homemade cheese sticks.

After going to Bonggu Beer for many a visit with friends, I realized I had never blogged about it because it's so commonplace (kind of like McDonald's or Applebee's).

So, I decided to introduce you to it today because I thought that maybe you wanted to visit a place that normal Koreans go to when they want to grab a quick drink with friends without eating a full on meal.

This wasn't the best visit to blog about because my friend and I had eaten dinner before going, so we didn't really want to order any of their signature items (as you can see later, we ended up ordering the cheapest anju on the menu).

As with most drinking establishments in Korea, you do have to buy a food item for your table in order to buy beer. We went with the most Korean of bar food items...maybe ever - crispy fried filefish.

We both also went with the Cream Draft Beer ( 크림생맥주) because, again, it was the cheapest option and we didn't necessarily want the flavored beers (which are delicious, too...I'll write the flavors in the menu translation part of this post, so scroll down).
This particular location was pretty big and it was oddly empty on the day we visited. There are about 50 stools throughout.



Ok, so there's no English on this menu at all and minimal pictures, so I'll do panel by panel translations, so I hope it's clear.
*Indicates the "heart" recommended items

Left panel: (Top to bottom)
Chili chicken cheese stick
Fried squid pieces served with a spicy dipping sauce (Obadi)
Honey butter chips <-- signature item
Chicken tenders
Spicy fried pollack served on a shimp chip (Bool tae po) <-- signature item
Crispy shrimp croquettes

Beverages (under the guy with Mickey Mouse ears)
2.0 Cola, Cider, Welch's, Tropicana
3.0 Ade (Grapefruit, cherry, lime, sweet tea, grape, pomegranate)
4.0 Dutch coffee (hot/cold)

Middle Panel: Everything is made with fresh domestic potatoes and 100% canola oil (I believe most locations make everything in house, but they may have changed since I first went to Bonggu Beer)
Beer list:
Cream Draft Beer line:
3.0 *Cream Draft Beer (cream has one free refill)
4.0 Flavored beers: Dutch beer, *honey grapefruit flavor, honey cherry flavor, honey lime flavor, honey sweet tea flavor, *honey grape flavor, and honey pomegranate flavor
(Anecdotally, my friends who cannot drink well, but wanted to have an experience in a Korean bar have been able to drink a fair amount of this beer before they became hit with the Asian flush and have mentioned that they cannot taste the alcohol very much)

International beer (below the black line):
3.0 Cream Icing (I believe this is the carbonated "Icing" makgeolli).
3.5 Cloud (the Korean beer I prefer), Budweiser
4.5 <blank>
5.0 Hoegaarden, Heineken, San Miguel
5.5 Cruzer, Corona, Tsingtao (big bottle)
6.0 Pilsner
6.5 Asahi, Edelweiss, Desperados, Bernini
7.0 (sorry can't read, but it's draft), Duvel Desperados
7.5 <crossed out>
9.0 Cannabis Club, Indica

Fries (left side): You can add onion seasoning for 0.5
3.0 French fries (regular size) + 1 sauce
5.0 *French fries (large size) + 2 sauces
5.0 Sliced fresh potato chips
6.0 *Honey butter chips
6.0 Honey barbecue chips

Other snacks (right side):
3.0 *Crispy fried file fish (typical Korean bar snack and what we got)
4.0 Spicy fried pollack served on a shimp chip (Bool tae po) - from the picture
4.5 Bonggu Round Sausages, comes with free seasoning if you ask for it
5.0 *Fried squid pieces served with a spicy dipping sauce (Obadi) - from the picture
5.0 Ice peaches - typical Korean bar snack, not sure why it came to be, but it is
5.5 Bonggu Chicken Drumsticks (Spicy, not spicy, half and half)
6.0 Fried chicken fingers/chicken tenders
6.0 Crispy fried shrimp croquettes
8.0 Crispy pollack and peanuts or dried cuttlefish and peanuts (typical Korean bar snack)
12.0 Dried pollack
7.0 Beef jerky
15.0 Boneless fried chicken

Cheese sticks:
2.0 *Cheese stick (1 piece) - these are actually quite big and the workers will cut it for you into pieces, usually about 4 pieces
2.5 Chili chicken cheese stick

Sauces (available for 500 won each):
Hot barbecue, sour cream, chili sauce (think like sweet Thai chili sauce), creamy onion, gochu mustard, cheese garlic dipping sauce

Right panel:
Set menu:
11.0 Gammaek Set - Big size fries and two cream draft beers
12.5 *Gamchimaek Set - big size fries, one cheese stick, and two cream draft beers
!! You can change the beers if you order the set for 1.0 extra and you can choose between the flavored cream draft beer line I translated above !!
6.5 1. Big size fries + cheese stick
7.5 2. big size fries + crispy fried file fish
9.0 3. big size fries + sausage
9.0 4. big size fries + iced peaches
9.5 5. big size fries + obadi
!! With every set menu order, you get 2 sauces !!

Pictures:
Top left: Pollack and peanuts 8.0
Bottom left: Cuttlefish and peanuts 8.0
Top right: Fresh salad 4.0
Bottom right: Boneless fried chicken

*FTC Disclosure: Some of the links in this post are affiliate links which means, at no additional cost to you, I may earn a commission if you click through the links provided and make a purchase.*

Comments

  1. I like to eat french fry. Sometimes I try to make french fries in my home. It takes much oil to make. Thanks for sharing your idea.

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