Restaurants, Bars, Clubs and Nightlife in Seoul, Korea

Soju is drunk in Gangnam. Champagne in Cheongdam, and coffee or wine in Garosu-gil, Sinsa.

So which drinks fit the Hongdae scene?

If anything, Hongdae has it all. Hole-in-the-wall soju and beer places are everywhere. Jagermeister and tequila shots are commonplace in clubs. There are plenty of wine bars and other bars that sell hard liquor. But can you think of a place where you can have some sangria?

El Bliss is a dining lounge that you would expect to see in Cheongdam. El Bliss is reminiscent of Bliss in Itaewon, with similar wall design and light lamps that hang low.

But if anything El Bliss feels more like a cocktail lounge. In other words, totally un-Hongdae-like.

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Having a private party in Korea always comes as a challenge. Hotels are pricey and it can be hard to make reservations, while karaoke places usually don’t provide enough space for a large group of people. The solution to this problem is Awesome Lounge — a hidden gem in Cheongdam which offers private rooms with sufficient space for your event, as well as an extensive bottle menu and finger foods.

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Pregaming in Korea usually involves soju, beer, and a host of greasy side dishes which are less than satisfying. Although this is to save money, there are better options. Oversound in Hongdae offers extremely affordable prices, yet provides a chic atmosphere with quality music (and a sound system setup which can only be described in pictures).

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March First Thursdays Afterwork party is back, hosted by HSK and Nodus at Copacabana @ Cheongdam.  It’s an event where professionals come together for relaxing after work to decompress and to meet like-minded other professionals.  Around 150-200 guests participate, and it’s one of the hottest monthly parties in town!  Feature champagne can be ordered by the glass or bottles.  To have a space for guests to sit, bottle orders are necessary.  To request an invitation, go visit the Afterwork website.  To get glimpse of what the parties are like, see SeoulGrid photo gallery of Feb First Thursdays Afterwork post.

Event information after the jump.

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It’s not every day that I get to go over to Hongdae, since it’s a little far from where I live.  But make no mistake, Hongdae has one of the liveliest streets in Seoul.  Hongdae actually is an abbreviation for Hongik University (Daehak, or 대학).  Other universities such as Yongsei and Ewha are located nearby, so Shinchon/Hongdae is the area where the youth controls the scene; restaurants and bars cater to this specific demographic.  Prices are lower, and atmosphere is generally rowdier than your average bar in Cheongdam or Shinsa.

Hongdae also boasts the highest club densities in Seoul.  There are more than 20 clubs located within the area including M2, NB and Harlem, and on every last Friday of the month, there is Club Day, where pretty much everyone comes out to go club hopping.  Essentially, if you pay for cover charge for one club, you get to go into other clubs for free (for participating clubs, that is).  In other words, clubs around the area get so packed to a point where you can’t really dance, since you are squashed in the dance floor shoulder-to-shoulder, but at the same time you can’t quite fall down either.

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Bliss is probably one of the classiest restaurant/bar in Itaewon.  The place definitely made it to my top hot-spot list in Seoul, and SeoulGrid will cover everything there is for you to know to make your next visit to Itaewon totally blissful!

Former member of Drunken Tiger and celebrity DJ Shine (Mark Yim) runs this place, and he’s usually around his shop making sure everything is operating smoothly.  I met and talked to him on a few occasions and he was a real nice guy, and a good host as well.

So the interior is quite posh, with lighting and classy furniture to make it definitely one of the nicest places in Itaewon.  Bliss also has a nice outdoor patio seats, which I imagine will be very nice in spring, summer and fall.  For me though, I preferred to sit in a corner where I could overlook at the venue.

The inside is actually quite large, easily able to accommodate around 80 or so people.

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When I heard Copacabana opened behind ex-Club Circle building at Cheongdam-dong, I was expecting this:

So I went to check it out.  Well, I was off by a bit.

As soon as I stepped into the venue, I found myself in a nearly all-white decor with light green lighting, which conjured up an interesting mixture of energizing and relaxing  ambiance.  Then I noticed the furniture, especially the chairs.  Looking half alien-ish and half jellyfish-ish, the chairs and other decorations on the wall, and lighting made me feel like I was a fish that came to chill out at some underwater hideout… I promise you I wasn’t under the influence of anything when I thought this!

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One of the latest additions of the club scene in Seoul, Ark Lounge is located one block from Lound lounge or S-Bar in Cheongdam area, right across from Apgujeong Rodeo. It is across from KooBar, if you are more familiar with the location of that venue.

Ark is a smaller private lounge club, which I guess is mainly used for private events. I have not seen them promote their venue in public, which I see as a mechanism to encourage only those familiar with the scene or the neighborhood of Cheongdam to know about the venue (and hopefully come regularly! That’s the most important part for any venue-owner).

I wrote in my previous article that smaller private clubs are emerging at a rapid rate. Maybe this will turn out to be a short-lived trend in a few months or years to come, but Ark lounge is a great example of what a private club should be; suitable for throwing a closed party, for guest numbers in between 50 to a 150. I can see the venue easily accommodating up to 200 guests, but anything more would jam the place.

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Sometimes you just need your own space – which is the reason why I was rather hesitant to write this article to begin with.  I sort of wanted to keep this venue out of everyone’s sight, which I am sure the venue owner will strongly disagree with, but I decided to share my hidden gem with everyone on the site.

The venue in question is titled Social Club, in the middle of Shinsa Garosu-gil.  It is located smack in the middle of the main street, right across from 7/11.  I ended up checking out the place when I noticed a sign that I didn’t notice before.  Fairly conspicuous with its minimalist design, the square sign suggested it must be a new trendy place in Shinsa.

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Lound is amongst the new players in Cheongdam-dong area, known to be a destrict with luxurious upscale bars, restaurants and lounges. I rated mojitos from this place to be one of the better ones you can find in Seoul, and their other cocktails certainly do not disappoint.

I tried their Rose Lychee Martini which was a pleasant surprise. Their apple martini was also expectedly reasonable as well. Then again if you are paying 20,000 Won for a cocktail you wouldn’t expect it to be nothing short of brilliant.

So what does the place actually look like and where is it? What is with all the hype about Lound, which seems to be taking business away from S-bar, an establishment which stood the test of time for more than 10 years?

Read more after the jump.

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