Yangjae braised pork bone restaurant with rice balls: Chomu Gamjatang

I tried spicy-sweet grilled pork bone at Chomu Gamjatang, a Yangjae restaurant.

Where is Chomu Gamjatang, and is there parking?

Chomu Gamjatang is at 59 Nonhyeon-ro, 1st floor, Seocho-gu, Seoul, near Yangjae Citizens' Forest Station. I spotted the sign and walked in, only to realize afterward that it was actually the back door. Haha.

There's parking for about 6 cars in front of this Yangjae restaurant, including double parking.

Side dishes and the self-serve kimchi bar

After sitting down, they brought out the basic side dishes — both the seokbakji (diced radish kimchi) and geotjeori (fresh cabbage kimchi) were really good. If you like sweet, freshly mixed kimchi, Chomu is a Yangjae spot worth visiting just for that.

Kimchi can be refilled at the self-serve bar, and it was kept neat and clean, which I liked.

I tried the freshly made geotjeori and the sweet-spicy flavor was delicious.

Good for solo meals, family dinners and group outings

The menu ranges from ppyeo haejangguk, good for eating alone, to gamjatang ppyeo-jjim!! There were people eating haejangguk with kids, so it seems good for family meals too, and plenty of people were dining solo in Yangjae. If a child can't handle ppyeo haejangguk, there's also handmade pork cutlet, which is a nice option.

The tables are spaced pretty wide and there's plenty of seating, so it seems fine for group dinners in Yangjae too. In fact, about 10 people who looked like they'd just finished work came in for ppyeo haejangguk.

There are seats good for eating alone like this, plus plenty of 4-person tables for groups. The place is really spacious with high ceilings, but it was so busy I couldn't get interior shots. T_T I liked that the interior is clean and stylish for a pork bone soup restaurant.

What the ppyeo-jjim looks like when it arrives

When I ordered ppyeo-jjim at Chomu Gamjatang, it came with cabbage salad and haejangguk broth too!!! Since it's a jjim (braised) dish rather than a soup, I was a bit worried I'd miss hot broth, but getting haejangguk alongside it was a really nice touch.

The ppyeo-jjim is cooked to order, so it takes about 10 to 15 minutes, but it felt like it came out quickly.

It's slathered in a spicy-sweet sauce and comes with five large pieces of meat.

It felt like a spare rib sauce with extra spice added — spicy and sweet in a way that never gets tiring, so I kept eating more. It's also not too spicy, so I think kids could eat it too.

It's all lean meat, and the pieces are genuinely large and tender — I highly recommend this as a Yangjae restaurant!!

It does get spicy the more you eat, and that's when the cabbage salad comes in handy. It's refillable too, so I had seconds. Haha.

The ppyeo-jjim meat isn't dry at all — it's really tender, and there's plenty of sauce, so it's great for sharing with family or friends.

Adding a self-serve rice ball

Since I felt like I was missing some carbs, I ordered a self-serve rice ball too — it had so much sesame oil that some pooled at the bottom, and it was incredibly savory.

Mixing it with the ppyeo-jjim sauce was really delicious — highly recommend.

Eating the braised meat together with the self-serve rice ball like this makes for a totally delicious Yangjae meal.

Is Chomu Gamjatang worth a visit? Final verdict

The male owner and staff were really kind, and both the self-serve bar kimchi and the main dish, ppyeo-jjim, were very tasty, so I'd recommend Chomu Gamjatang to anyone looking for a good restaurant in Yangjae. The interior is also quite stylish, so it's a good place to bring guests too!