Do the oki-dukkboki

Before you give up on deokboggi completely, please please please go to the deokboggi restaurant in Nampodong. From the main road, go straight through the Nampo Book Store/Art Valley building to the street on the other side. Turn left. It's a few shops down on your right. It has a bright orange sign with a cartoon of the owner holding a pot of deokboggi. Order deokboggi with extra ramyan (if you like) and cheese (highly recommended). They cook it in a pot right on your table. It has deok and fishcakes, but also noodles, veggies and hardboiled eggs. When you finish, if you ask for rice, they'll bring it over and fry it in the remainder of your deokboggi sauce. I've taken a lot of waygooks there, and everyone has loved it.