Gaya

My first night back in Korea saw me heading without delay straight to one of my favorite places to drink on earth – Hof Gaya.

A great start.

In Korea the custom is to drink from evening until morning in traditional beer houses called Hofs (호프).  Hof comes from the German hoffbrau and basically just means a hybrid restaurant/bar where you can drink copious amount of beer and soju while eating a lot of tasty Korean style bar food.  In our time in Korea we spent a few (probably more) nights exploring district by district in search of the best of the best, but at the end of the day most Hofs are more or less the same.  The exception to this rule was Shinchon’s Gaya.

Classy (ish), Dark, Awesome, Tasty, Social.

This Hof can be found in Shinchon just off the main street a few stories below ground.  The whole place is covered by slightly raised platforms with cutouts for each table which is lit by its own spotlight.  The effect is a classy, social, and overall just fun place to drink.  The food is good, the prices as with most hofs, are quite reasonable.  And we certainly had no problem spending hours here.

It doesn’t matter if you’re just visiting Seoul or a resident, you owe it to yourself to spend a solid night drinking and eating here.

Shinhye rocks the soju crown.

We have had ourselves no shortage of  good nights out while we were there and have actually written about this place before (worth a look).  But I think this image sums it up pretty well.  And while our friend Shinhye is not the offical spokesgirl of Gaya, I for one think that she should be.