Gwanghwamun private-room Korean restaurant, broth nurungji: Wongiok

I visited Wongiok Gwanghwamun, a well-known spot near Gwanghwamun Station located in the basement of the D Palace (덕수궁 디팰리스) building.

Where is Wongiok Gwanghwamun, and how is the parking?

The D Palace building itself looks clean and modern from the outside, and

the parking facilities are spacious and well laid out, so it's really convenient if you're driving. There are a lot of luxurious, atmospheric restaurants inside that I visit from time to time, and today, wanting to treat my parents to a neat but hearty health meal, I chose Wongiok without hesitation.

What is on the menu at Wongiok Gwanghwamun?

They have a very diverse lineup, from lighter weekday lunch options like clear gomtang (beef bone soup) and hanwoo beef tartare bibimbap, to hearty, energizing dishes like bulgogi hot pot, tripe hot pot, grilled short ribs, and hanwoo striploin.

In particular, they have a solid set-menu system that lets you enjoy various signature dishes together like a course meal, which makes it easy to order according to the occasion.

How many guests fit in the private rooms?

Stepping inside, everything from the lighting to the furniture gives off a very upscale, luxurious atmosphere. It really feels like you're being treated well, more than enough for hosting elders or setting up an important gathering.

In particular, they have private rooms in various sizes, cleanly arranged for groups of 4, 6, 8, and 12, so it's very well optimized not only for family meals but also for company group gatherings, dinners, and business meetings.

Corkage-free: can you bring your own wine?

What was also impressive was that despite having a diverse drink lineup, they offer corkage-free service! You can bring your own good bottle and pair it with the food without worrying about extra cost, which makes it a great spot for business meetings or gatherings on special occasions.

The Pujim Set, 110,000 won, dish by dish

Wanting to try a bit of everything properly, we ordered their signature

Pujim Set (110,000 won)

At first, just looking at the number on the menu, I thought it seemed a bit pricey, but once I actually saw the sheer number and quality of dishes piled onto the table, I naturally thought, 'For this spread, it's actually great value.'

Not long after ordering, the neatly plated basic banchan (side dishes) arrived. Along with the clean, chewy cold pork slices,

there was spicy-tangy pollack sashimi salad that whets the appetite, savory japchae (glass noodle stir-fry) that felt like something from a feast, and green salad with a refreshing dressing — every side dish had real depth.

Next came the signature dishes included in the set, one after another — thinly sliced hanwoo roast beef and a tangy mustard cold salad,

followed by three large, golden-fried hand-made stuffed pepper fritters. The fritters, packed full of meat filling inside a crispy coating, were crunchy outside and juicy inside, and the pungent mustard salad cut right through the richness of the meat.

The stir-fried octopus that followed had chewy octopus coated in an addictively spicy, smoky sauce that made you want rice with it. By the way, you can upgrade the stir-fried octopus to charcoal-grilled short ribs for an extra fee. For the main hot pot, you choose one of health hot pot, tripe hot pot, or bulgogi hot pot (bulgogi hot pot adds 20,000 won). We went with the ☆tripe hot pot☆, since it's genuinely hard to find a good version of this dish.

How do the tripe hot pot and nutritious pot rice taste?

Overall, Wongiok's food isn't heavy on seasoning and lets the deep natural flavors of the ingredients shine through — very clean. The portions were genuinely generous, enough to fill up three adults, big eaters included, to the point of bursting. The tripe hot pot I'd been especially looking forward to had zero off smell, and the broth was insanely rich and deep.

The pot was packed with chewy, savory tripe full of fat, and every bite had a burst of savoriness that was pure art. My parents kept praising it too, saying the broth was truly rich with no gaminess at all.

The nutrition rice pot was also excellent. Lifting the lid revealed it topped generously with healthy ingredients like ginkgo nuts and dried radish greens — wrapping a bit with the crispy seaweed and sauce that came alongside sent a gentle aroma and savoriness spreading through my mouth.

Nurungji finished with special broth, not plain water

And Wongiok's real highlight, its unique specialty, was how they make the scorched rice (nurungji) soup! Normally you scoop out the rice and pour in plain water to make sungnyung (scorched rice tea), but here they pour in a deeply simmered special broth instead of water. As the warm broth soaks into the scorched rice grains, it creates a rich, savory flavor, and this single bowl of nurungji soup was the perfect ending. Finishing it off with the cool, spiced sujeonggwa (cinnamon punch) dessert made my stomach feel warm and satisfied all the way through.

From the upscale atmosphere to the perfect parking, the corkage-free benefit, and the neat yet hearty health-food dishes, Wongiok Gwanghwamun near Gwanghwamun Station had it all. If you're looking for a refined gathering spot in Gwanghwamun or a place for a meal with your parents, I highly recommend stopping by.