Spicy gamjatang with flat noodles and fried rice in Siheung

A late weekend lunch for gamjatang in Jeongwang-dong, Siheung

My husband and I slept in on the weekend, woke up hungry, and figured out what to eat for lunch — so off we went for gamjatang (pork bone stew), a well-known dish in Jeongwang-dong.

For reference, parking is available both above and below ground if you pull in beside the restaurant. Once you're done eating, just tell the staff and they'll register your parking.

Here's the outside of this well-known bone stew place in Jeongwang-dong!!! The restaurant itself wasn't big. One thing I noticed while eating — probably because there are so many apartments nearby, delivery orders were nonstop. While we were eating, a delivery rider seemed to come by about every 7 minutes! It seems like this bar-and-haejangguk (hangover soup) area already has a lot of regulars.

Most places only do gamjatang, but this spot seems to serve gamjatang, bulbbyeojjim (spicy braised bone), and gungjung bbyeojjim (royal-style braised bone) all together. And they open ridiculously early, so grabbing a bowl of bone haejangguk (hangover soup) before work sounds amazing!!!!

Inside Cheongchun Bulbbyeojjim & Gamjatang and its menu

Here's the inside of this well-known bone stew spot in Jeongwang-dong!!!! It wasn't spacious, but it was clean, with about six tables.

There was a poster that basically made ordering soju feel mandatory when you get bone stew here. Haha. Back in my twenties, I used to drink with friends practically every single day, and every next morning I'd swear I'd never drink again — swear I wasn't even human if I did!! And then that evening I'd somehow end up with plans again. Haha.

This place is famous for its bone dishes!!! And the gamjatang is just as famous! The set menus were especially well put together, which was nice — good for two people to try a bit of everything. So many options, and I loved it.

What we ordered and what it cost

The delivery app kept buzzing nonstop, with delivery riders coming and going constantly!!! This well-known gamjatang spot in Jeongwang-dong also delivers, so you can enjoy it comfortably at home!!!

• Gamjatang (medium) - ₩34,000
• Flat noodles - ₩2,500
• Fried rice - ₩3,000
• Cider - ₩2,000
• Total - ₩41,500

How much food is in the medium gamjatang pot?

The food didn't take long to come out!!! But the portion size really surprised me. Compare the pot to the paper cup next to it — can you imagine how big it was!!!!

The basic side dishes were just what you'd need: diced radish kimchi, napa cabbage kimchi, seasoned chives, and pickled radish. I liked that they gave us plenty of kimchi from the start.

You're supposed to simmer it a bit until the enoki mushrooms and bean sprouts wilt and the noodles cook through, but there was so much in the pot that the broth kept trying to escape, so I kept busy with the ladle, pushing the vegetables down to wilt them as it cooked.

The complimentary steamed egg! This steamed egg was totally my style!! How do you make it like this at home? It's a bit wobbly, almost like pudding — that kind of steamed egg.

Here's the full spread at this well-known gamjatang place in Jeongwang-dong!

Maybe because we ordered the medium size, there were tons of bones in there, and each piece was big with plenty of meat still attached.

To be stable you really need to hold the plate with one hand and use chopsticks with the other, but since I was also holding my phone in one hand, it got a little wobbly — still, here I am working hard to pick the meat off the bones. I'm not great with chopsticks, but the meat came off smoothly anyway.

How do you like to eat yours!!! I'm not great with chopsticks, so I hate having the flow interrupted mid-meal — I set aside the vegetables and noodles to let them cool a bit, and picked all the meat off the bones ahead of time so I could just scoop and eat. Here are the prepped photos!!

The spicy broth and what goes into it

I worked hard picking the meat off the bones and eating it. Eating the dried radish greens, enoki mushrooms, and meat together gave a really nice range of textures. The greens were simmered long enough to be tender instead of tough, the enoki mushrooms had a springy crunch, and the meat itself was tender, not chewy! They went so well together. The dried greens seemed to give the broth a savory depth that made the flavor even richer. With the crunchy bean sprouts too, having so many different ingredients made it even more fun to eat — I was super, super satisfied.

For reference, we asked beforehand if they could make it a little spicy, and that's how we ordered it — the spice level was exactly right, which I loved!

The fluffy potatoes were delicious too — usually potatoes come in big chunks, but here they were thinly sliced, so they cooked quickly, and more importantly, they soaked up the broth even better. The potatoes were well-seasoned even on their own, no side dish needed, and mashed together with the broth they tasted even nuttier.

The kimchi and radish kimchi served as side dishes were solid too, nice for cleansing the palate between bites.

Why the flat noodles are a must-add

It wasn't the regular glass noodles I usually like, but the wide flat noodles instead — still, noodles are love no matter what! Eating noodles that had soaked up all that gamjatang broth was chewy and well-seasoned, so good. Adding the noodle sarie (extra portion) is an absolute must!!

The complimentary steamed egg

And this steamed egg was really, really delicious! Can you see it! Not the dry kind of steamed egg at all — the softest kind in the world. Even my husband, who doesn't usually like steamed egg, ate it saying it was good. I really wanted to learn the secret from the owner! One warning though... I ate it right when it came out and burned the roof of my mouth. Haha. Be careful!!

Finishing with self-serve fried rice

We were full, but it felt wrong not to have the fried rice! The fried rice is self-serve. You just leave a small amount of gamjatang broth in the pot and stir-fry it yourself. Fried rice usually has a bit of kimchi mixed in, but it didn't seem like this one did.

Bottom line: order the fried rice even if you're full!!!

When we ordered the fried rice, they gave us raw bean sprouts on the side — with a generous amount of bean sprouts and gim (seaweed) flakes mixed in, it didn't need kimchi at all; the gim flakes seasoned it just right, and the bean sprouts added great texture. We kept saying we were full, but we couldn't put our spoons down. We'd left a bit too much broth in the pot so it wasn't perfectly crumbly fried rice, but it was still absolutely delicious.

This well-known gamjatang place in Jeongwang-dong left us so full and satisfied. Thanks for the meal!!!

Cheongchun Bulbbyeojjim & Gamjatang Jeongwang Station branch: hours, parking and address

• Address: 18 Mayu-ro 418beon-gil, Siheung-si, Gyeonggi-do, South Korea
• Hours: Mon–Fri 07:00–23:55 / Sat–Sun 08:00–21:00
• Parking: Above and below ground next to the restaurant, register at the counter after eating