- Name: 동대문엽기떡볶이 (Dongdaemun Yeopgi Tteokbokki), Gildong branch (길동점) in Gangdong-gu, Seoul
- How we had it: delivery from the Gildong branch to our home in Hanam, November 2025
- Who ate: my wife, our son, our daughter and me. The kids ate it too, though they found it spicy.
- Spice level we chose: 초보맛 (chobo-mat, “beginner”), the second-mildest of five when we ordered; third-mildest of six since September 2026
- On our table: Yeopgi tteokbokki with melted cheese on top, a plate of fried sides, jumeok-gimbap rice balls, sundae and pickled radish
- Menu prices: Yeopgi tteokbokki 14,000 won as of early 2026 (full table below)
- Our order at 2026 menu prices: 24,000 won for four people (worked out below)
- Branch address: 16 Yangjae-daero 116-gil, Gangdong-gu, Seoul, 1F (서울 강동구 양재대로116길 16, 고려빌딩 1층) · Google Maps
- Our family’s score: 4.3 out of 5, with points lost only for how hot the beginner level was for the kids
- Info checked: October 21, 2026
Our daughter came home from school last November asking why we had never ordered 엽떡. Her friends talked about it all the time, she said, mostly about how hot it was. So that weekend the four of us sat around one phone in our living room in Hanam and spent longer arguing over the spice level than choosing the food. We settled on 초보맛 (chobo-mat, “beginner”), which back then was the second-mildest of five levels. To me it came out about as hot as Shin Ramyun. My wife and I had no trouble with it. Our son and daughter kept eating, but they were reaching for water and pickled radish between bites.
The Gildong branch, just over the line from Hanam
Our tub did not come from Dongdaemun. Yeopgi is a franchise, and the app sends each order to the store that covers your address. For our home in Hanam that was the Gildong branch (길동점), on the ground floor of the Koryo Building (고려빌딩) at 16 Yangjae-daero 116-gil in Gangdong-gu. Gangdong-gu is the Seoul district on Hanam’s western edge, so a Seoul store bringing food to a Gyeonggi-do address is ordinary on our side of the city line.
Everything we know about this branch came through a phone screen and a delivery bag. I have not been inside, so I can’t tell you how many seats it has, whether there is parking nearby or which hours are busiest. If you want to eat in, open the Google Maps link in the box above and look at the store’s own listing for photos of the room and its current hours before making the trip.
From the delivery side, Gildong did its part well. When we lifted the lid there was still steam coming off the sauce, the cheese was soft enough to pull up with chopsticks, and the fried sides had not gone soggy in their box. One thing to know before you read the price tables further down: they are the franchise list, not a photo of the Gildong menu board, so the numbers this branch shows in the app may be slightly different.
What came in our delivery
The tteokbokki arrived in a round white tub lined with a paper sheet. On top there was a layer of melted cheese, and under it you can see sliced sausages, flat fish cake, green onion and the red sauce. Most of the rice cakes were hidden under the cheese and fish cake in my photos.
It looked like that for about ten seconds after I took the picture. Our son spotted the sausage slices first and moved three of them into his own bowl before anyone else had picked up chopsticks. The fish cake is the flat sheet kind, cut into wide pieces that fold over in the sauce. Those pieces soak up more chili than the rice cakes do, and they were the hottest bites in the tub even though they looked harmless. The rice cakes I dug out from under the cheese were soft on the outside with a chewy center, and the cheese clinging to them took a little of the edge off the heat.
Around the tub we had four sides. The paper box held jumeok-gimbap (주먹김밥), small rice balls rolled in crumbled seasoned seaweed. The round plate had the fried sides, including gimmari (김말이, glass noodles rolled in seaweed, battered and fried). The long tray at the front was sundae (순대), Korean blood sausage, and the small tray on the right was yellow pickled radish.
That small tray of radish turned out to matter more than anything else on the table for the kids. Our daughter ate a cube after almost every bite of tteokbokki, and by the end the radish tray was empty while half the sundae was still sitting there. The rice balls disappeared quickly as well. The seaweed crumbs stick to your fingers, so the kids gave up on chopsticks and ate them by hand, using them the way you would use plain rice to cool your mouth down.
How the four of us ate it
We spread everything out on the low table in the living room and ate straight from the containers, each of us with a small bowl. My wife and I went for the tteokbokki first. At the 초보맛 level, the heat felt close to a bowl of Shin Ramyun (신라면), Korea’s best-known spicy instant noodle. For us adults it was easy to eat. The kids ate it too, but for them it was spicy. We didn’t try the milder 착한맛 or anything hotter that night.
My favorite part was dunking the gimmari into the red sauce. The batter drinks it up and goes soft at the edges, while the middle stays crisp for a minute or two if you eat it quickly. I ate the sundae plain at first, then started dragging slices through the sauce once the cheese had melted down into it, which made it rich enough that I slowed down.
The kids went at it from the other end. They started with the rice balls and the fried sides and only moved on to the tteokbokki once they had something in their stomachs. Our son ate more of it than I expected. Every few bites he announced that it was spicy, then kept going, and about halfway through he got up for a glass of milk. Our daughter, the one who had asked for 엽떡 in the first place, ate a few rice cakes, told us it was “really, really spicy” and went back to the gimbap and radish. She still says she liked it.
When the rice cakes were gone, a layer of sauce and melted cheese was left at the bottom of the tub. My wife broke the last rice ball into it, stirred it around with a spoon, and the two of us finished that as well. If you are ordering for a family, keep that sauce in mind. The menu has a 1,000-won bowl of rice (공깃밥) that would do the same job; we didn’t add one that night and ended up sharing a single rice ball between two adults.
What our order comes to
I didn’t keep the receipt. The total below is our order priced with the 2026 franchise menu in the tables further down, so it is what the same order costs at those prices, not the exact amount charged to us in November 2025.
- Yeopgi tteokbokki (엽기메뉴), 1 tub: 14,000 won
- Cheese topping (치즈), 1: 3,000 won
- Jumeok-gimbap (주먹김밥), 1: 2,000 won
- Assorted fried sides (모둠튀김), 1: 2,000 won
- Sundae (순대), 1: 3,000 won
14,000 + 3,000 + 2,000 + 2,000 + 3,000 = 24,000 won, which works out to 6,000 won each for the four of us.
Two things are not in that sum. I can’t remember whether the sausage slices in the first photo came with the dish or whether we added the 1,000-won sausage topping; if we added it, the order comes to 25,000 won. The pickled radish and the delivery fee are not on the price list I am using, so I left them out rather than guess.
What the name means
The full brand name is 동대문엽기떡볶이, Dongdaemun Yeopgi Tteokbokki. Dongdaemun (동대문) is the area of Seoul where the brand started, in Dongdaemun Market. Yeopgi (엽기) means “bizarre” or “outrageous”, and tteokbokki (떡볶이) is rice cakes cooked in a red chili sauce. Koreans shorten the whole thing to 엽떡, Yeopddeok, and you will also see it spelled Yupgi, Yeopgi or Yupdduk in English, which matches the brand’s own web address, yupdduk.com. The brand’s slogan is “맛있게 맵다”, “deliciously spicy”, and judging by our daughter’s classmates, the spicy half is what people remember.
According to Namuwiki, the business began in 2002 as a small spicy chicken feet (불닭발) shop in Dongdaemun Market and moved on to tteokbokki after that, with the company behind it, Hot Seasoner (핫시즈너), set up in 2009. The chicken feet set that is still on the menu goes back to that start.
Yeopgi Tteokbokki spice levels explained
Yeopgi now has six spice levels. When we ordered in November 2025, 초보맛 was the second-mildest of five. A new, milder level, 더착한맛, was announced for the Yupdduk app on September 16, 2026 (announcement), so 초보맛 is now the third-mildest of six. When you order, you choose one. From mildest to hottest, based on Namuwiki:
| Level | Korean | Romanization | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 (mildest) | 더착한맛 | Deo-chakan-mat | “Even kinder” flavor, added in September 2026 |
| 2 | 착한맛 | Chakan-mat | “Kind” or “gentle” flavor |
| 3 | 초보맛 | Chobo-mat | “Beginner” flavor, the level of our Gildong tub, about Shin Ramyun hot |
| 4 | 덜매운맛 | Deol-maeun-mat | “Less spicy” flavor |
| 5 | 오리지널 | Orijineol | Original |
| 6 (hottest) | 매운맛 | Maeun-mat | “Spicy” flavor |
The names are relative to Yeopgi’s own scale. “Less spicy” is level 4 of 6, and “original” is one step below the hottest. Our only data point is level 3 on this table: about Shin Ramyun hot, fine for adults and spicy for our kids. Going by how our son and daughter handled it, I would not start a child on anything above 초보맛, and with younger kids I would try one of the two levels below it.
Yeopgi Tteokbokki menu and prices in English
I don’t have our receipt, so the prices below are the 2026 franchise menu as listed by Pocket O (posted December 22, 2025), with the two-person tteokbokki and the chicken feet sets updated from Namuwiki in September 2026. Yeopgi branches and the different delivery apps don’t always show the same numbers, so treat these as a guide to what the Gildong app page will say.
Main dishes
| Korean | English | Price (won) |
|---|---|---|
| 엽기메뉴 | Yeopgi tteokbokki (the original red sauce) | 14,000 |
| 2인엽떡 | Two-person Yeopgi tteokbokki | 9,000 |
| 로제메뉴 | Rosé tteokbokki (creamy chili sauce) | 16,000 |
| 마라떡볶이 | Mala tteokbokki | 16,000 |
| 마라로제떡볶이 | Mala rosé tteokbokki | 18,000 |
| 엽기닭볶음탕 | Yeopgi spicy braised chicken | 24,000 |
Sets
| Korean | English | Price (won) |
|---|---|---|
| 실속세트 | Value set | 17,500 |
| 베스트세트 | Best set | 20,000 |
| 스페셜세트 | Special set | 25,000 |
| 숯불닭발세트 | Charcoal-grilled chicken feet set | 18,500 |
| 국물닭발세트 | Chicken feet in broth set | 19,500 |
Sides
| Korean | English | Price (won) |
|---|---|---|
| 주먹김밥 | Jumeok-gimbap, seaweed rice balls | 2,000 |
| 모둠튀김 | Assorted fried sides | 2,000 |
| 오뎅튀김 (15개) | Fried fish cake, 15 pieces | 2,000 |
| 만두 (4개) | Fried dumplings, 4 pieces | 2,000 |
| 김말이 (3개) | Gimmari, 3 pieces | 2,000 |
| 순대 | Sundae, Korean blood sausage | 3,000 |
| 계란찜 | Steamed egg | 2,000 |
| 참치마요밥 | Tuna mayo rice | 3,500 |
| 공깃밥 | Bowl of rice | 1,000 |
Which main dish to pick
- 엽기메뉴 (Yeopgi tteokbokki): the original red chili sauce, the one under the melted cheese in our first photo.
- 로제 (Rosé): tteokbokki in a creamy, pink chili sauce, a newer style of tteokbokki in Korea.
- 마라 (Mala): made with mala, the numbing Sichuan pepper and chili seasoning.
- 마라로제 (Mala rosé): the mala seasoning in the creamy rosé sauce.
- 엽기닭볶음탕 (Yeopgi dakbokkeumtang): chicken pieces braised in a spicy sauce, the most expensive main on the menu.
- 닭발세트 (Dakbal sets): dakbal is spicy chicken feet, the dish the business started with. There is a charcoal-grilled version and one in broth.
What the sides are
- Jumeok-gimbap (주먹김밥): “fist gimbap”, rice mixed with seasoning and rolled into small balls in crumbled seaweed.
- Sundae (순대): Korean blood sausage made with glass noodles, usually served in slices.
- Gimmari (김말이): glass noodles rolled in seaweed, battered and fried.
- Gyeran-jjim (계란찜): Korean steamed egg.
Toppings you can add
The cheese on our tteokbokki is one of the add-on toppings. According to Namuwiki, these are the toppings and their prices:
| Korean | English | Price (won) |
|---|---|---|
| 치즈 | Cheese | 3,000 |
| 소세지 | Sausage | 1,000 |
| 베이컨 | Bacon | 3,000 |
| 우삼겹 | Thin-sliced beef brisket | 3,000 |
| 중국당면 | Wide Chinese glass noodles | 2,500 |
| 분모자 | Bunmoja, chewy potato-starch balls | 2,500 |
| 통유부 | Whole fried tofu pockets | 1,000 |
Cheese is the one topping we have tried, and I would add it again. It sits on top in a thick sheet, so the first rice cakes you pull out come wrapped in it and taste noticeably milder than the ones lower down. For kids who are nervous about the heat, those top bites are the place to start.
How to order Yeopgi Tteokbokki for delivery
- Yeopgi is on the big Korean delivery apps, such as Baemin (배달의민족) and Coupang Eats, and it also has its own ordering app, 엽기떡볶이, on Google Play and the App Store.
- Search for 엽기떡볶이 in the app. The branch that delivers to you depends on your address; for us in Hanam it was the Gildong branch, just across the border in Seoul’s Gangdong-gu.
- Pick the main dish, then the spice level. If kids are eating, keep in mind that ours found the beginner level (초보맛) spicy. There are now two milder levels below it: 착한맛 and the newer 더착한맛.
- Add sides and toppings on the same order. The sides in our photos are jumeok-gimbap, fried sides and sundae.
If we ordered again
Since the whole tub comes at one spice level, every order for a family is a compromise. Next time I would try 착한맛 or the new 더착한맛 so the kids can eat the main dish properly instead of filling up on rice balls, and I would let my wife and me make up the difference with the sauce at the bottom. I would also add the steamed egg (계란찜, 2,000 won) as something soft and plain for the kids to go back to, and a bowl of rice for that leftover sauce.
The size was right for us. One full 14,000-won tub with three sides fed two adults and two school-age kids, and all that was left at the end was about half the sundae. For two people, the two-person Yeopgi tteokbokki at 9,000 won with one or two sides looks like the better buy on this menu, though we haven’t ordered it ourselves.
Useful Korean for ordering in a store
If you go to a Yeopgi store instead of ordering through an app, these short phrases cover the choices you have to make:
| Korean | Romanization | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 초보맛으로 주세요 | Chobo-mas-euro juseyo | The beginner spice level, please |
| 착한맛으로 주세요 | Chakan-mas-euro juseyo | The “kind” spice level (level 2), please |
| 치즈 추가해 주세요 | Chijeu chuga-hae juseyo | Please add cheese |
| 주먹김밥 하나 주세요 | Jumeok-gimbap hana juseyo | One jumeok-gimbap, please |
| 포장해 주세요 | Pojang-hae juseyo | To go, please |
The original store in Dongdaemun
If you want to eat at the place the brand is named after, the original store (본점) is listed on DiningCode at 17 Dasan-ro 46-gil, Jung-gu, Seoul (서울 중구 다산로46길 17), near Exit 10 of Sindang Station. DiningCode shows it open late into the night with a break from 15:00 to 16:00. Its hours shift from one day of the week to the next, so look the 본점 up on Naver Map on the day you plan to go. I have not eaten at the original store; everything I describe above is from our delivery order in Hanam.
More places we eat around Gamil and Misa in Hanam
At the beginner level, all four of us ate from the same tub from the Gildong branch, the kids with the radish tray pulled close. I give it 4.3 out of 5, and the missing points are mostly about the heat for our children, which a milder level should fix next time.