A full night ends on a full stomach

The history of hangover stews in the Republic of Korea began in 1937 with the opening of Cheongjinok. The clean-tasting, Seoul-style blood stew for hangovers served at this establishment has been consistently beloved by drinkers for many years. Blood stew is, as the name implies, a soup made by stewing the blood of a cow with the broth. A soup bone is stewed for a long time, and then added to that are generous chunks of radish, bean sprouts, blood, then finally doenjang (soybean paste) for flavor before the entire stew is boiled again. The hangover stew of Cheongjinok is faithful to the fundamentals. The broth, with the reddish brown color unique to blood stew, is characterized by the refreshing flavor of the bean sprout and dried radish stems, and the subtle sweetness that comes from letting quality meat stew for a long time. Because the soup isn’t boiled outright for flavor, but rather allowed to simmer at the appropriate temperature, there’s a complexity to the broth that you can taste. Cheongjinok also makes a great one-stop shop for drinking: after drinking some soju with cooked beef intestines, you can preemptively alleviate the hangover on the spot with hangover stew.

Ah, the good ‘ol days when all the last men standing from clubs like FF and NB2 gathered around this ramen truck and ended their nights as the sun peeked over the horizon. The famous tonkotsu ramen truck has an actual store now.Unlike other ramen places, Cheongyang red pepper replaces green onion and garlic to spice up the soup here. The tender chashu pork and Japanese style soft-boiled eggs are also reasonably priced at 7,000 won. The flavorful yet clean-tasting broth brings all the clubbers to the yard.

Even though their sign has a disclaimer that they have no connection to the restaurant of the same name in popular Japanese comic series “Shinya Shokudo,” Shimya Sikdang still sees a steady stream of people coming here with expectations of consolation. And not completely unlike the book, Shimya Sikdang also allows customers to order whatever they would like to eat (as long as they have the ingredients at hand), and closes late at night (around 5am). Chef Kwon Ju-seong's Shimya Sikdang is filled with love for food and travel. He puts his own twist on dishes that he tried while traveling through 100 different cities around the world. Some of his favorites include tom yum goong, Japanese donkatsu, "Itaewon soup" blended with Nagasaki broth, and Swiss potato pancakes made from thin potato slivers in an egg batter with grated cheese. There's also the “daebahk” (which means jackpot in Korean) shrimp paste, 14-week old ham, a bomb cocktail concocted with Mt. Hall and Thai Chang beer, and the notorious yeomyeong (hangover drink) as a chaser, all humorous yet delicious creations.