Gukbap restaurant in Gamsam-dong, Daegu with clean bone broth: Mubokka

At a lot of gukbap (rice soup) places these days, you get plenty of meat but the broth is a bit disappointing, right? At Mubokka Gukbap (무보까국밥) Gamsam Branch, what I remembered first was actually the broth, not the meat. It's made with 100% bone broth, so it had real depth from the first spoonful, and the surprising part was that the flavor didn't fall apart even after it cooled down a bit.

Mubokka Gukbap Gamsam Branch opening hours

Mubokka Gukbap Gamsam Branch is open Monday to Saturday, 07:00–22:30. It's closed on the first and third Sundays of the month, and on other Sundays it's open 07:00–14:00.

Since it opens at 7 a.m., it works for breakfast before work or a hangover meal, a solo lunch, or suyuk (boiled pork slices) with a glass of soju in the evening.

Mubokka Gukbap Gamsam Branch menu and suyuk set price

The menu had a really wide range of gukbap. Familiar ones like pork gukbap, spicy gukbap, sundae gukbap (blood sausage soup) and offal gukbap, plus things like jjamppong sundubu gukbap and galbi siraegi gukbap (braised ribs with dried radish greens), so it looked good for drinks as well as meals. If you want suyuk along with your gukbap rather than a single bowl, I personally felt the suyuk set was the most filling choice.

So I ordered the suyuk set (수육정식)! It's ₩19,000.

Mubokka Gukbap Gamsam Branch 5th anniversary event

When I visited, Mubokka Gukbap Gamsam Branch was running a 5th anniversary event: ₩1,000 off pork gukbap, and a drink or a bottle of soju free for parties of two or more.

On top of that, soju is ₩2,000. It's not easy to find soju under ₩3,000 when eating out these days... it's the perfect price if you came for hangover gukbap and end up having a hair-of-the-dog drink too. Good value and good feeling, both.

Atmosphere: is it okay for solo dining?

The inside of Mubokka Gukbap Gamsam Branch was bigger and tidier than I expected. It was a bit after the weekday lunch rush, yet plenty of customers were still eating, and delivery and takeout orders kept coming in. The tables weren't cramped, and it felt totally fine to come alone for a bowl of gukbap!

A self bar with sundae and offal, too

On one side there's a self bar where you can take side dishes like onions, chili peppers, garlic and kkakdugi (cubed radish kimchi) as you need. And the even crazier part: you can eat as much sundae and offal as you want!

The ₩19,000 suyuk set spread

The suyuk set at Mubokka Gukbap Gamsam Branch comes with bubbling pork gukbap, a bowl of rice, and a plate piled with Korean pork (hanwoo-style hanyeon, 한돈) front-leg suyuk. Quite a hearty table already, isn't it?

For ₩19,000 I thought it would just be gukbap with a few slices of suyuk on the side, but there was a decent amount of suyuk, so I was satisfied.

How does Mubokka's pork gukbap broth taste?

The first thing I want to talk about at Mubokka Gukbap Gamsam Branch is the broth. They say Mubokka uses 100% bone broth, and it isn't the thick, heavy, mouth-coating kind. It has that characteristic bone-broth depth but stays clean and mild.

Ah, this broth was properly simmered.

I got that feeling with the very first spoonful. No muddiness, no gamey smell, just a broth that keeps pulling your spoon back.

A broth that's good even when it cools

This is what impressed me most at Mubokka Gukbap Gamsam Branch. While you eat gukbap, it naturally cools down little by little. Usually gukbap tastes great when hot, but as it cools the gamey smell or greasiness can come through more. Here, though, the broth was still quite tasty even when cooled. You can quietly sense the owner's skill in that.

Loading it up with chives

I tried the plain broth first, then threw in lots of chives. The aroma came alive and it felt like it added to the savory depth of the broth.

Scooping up meat and chives together makes the texture much better too.

Pork gukbap with glass noodles instead of wheat noodles

Unusually, the pork gukbap at Mubokka Gukbap Gamsam Branch has dangmyeon (glass noodles) rather than somyeon (thin wheat noodles). Glass noodles in pork gukbap, would that work? I took one bite and wow... these noodles go really well with gukbap. I've switched from team wheat noodles to team glass noodles. haha

Is the kimchi and kkakdugi made in Korea?

Mubokka Gukbap Gamsam Branch says it makes side dishes like kimchi and kkakdugi by hand every morning. Another thing I liked!

Lots of people quietly care about where their kimchi comes from these days. This isn't Chinese kimchi, so I personally could eat with peace of mind. Gukbap is only complete when the kimchi is good, and a spoonful of hot gukbap followed by a bite of crunchy kkakdugi really goes well together.

The texture of Korean pork front-leg suyuk

They say the suyuk at Mubokka Gukbap uses Korean pork front leg. Personally, this suyuk was as much a favorite as the gukbap. If pork belly suyuk is soft and rich, front-leg suyuk has a chewier, more springy texture.

The difference was quite clear. The fatty part was bouncy and chewy, and the lean meat wasn't dry but moist. The more you chew, the more nutty flavor comes up, so I think people who prefer this style over pork belly suyuk will be quite satisfied.

Good combinations for eating suyuk

At Mubokka Gukbap Gamsam Branch I tried the suyuk with different sides. First, suyuk + mumallaengi (seasoned dried radish strips).

Suyuk + kimchi

Suyuk + saeujeot (salted shrimp)

Suyuk + lettuce + garlic + kimchi

I tried them one by one like this, and my favorite was suyuk + kimchi. The kimchi balances the savory richness of the suyuk perfectly, so you keep going back for more. Suyuk means kimchi, after all!! haha

Mubokka Gukbap Gamsam Branch: overall verdict

Mubokka Gukbap Gamsam Branch isn't just a gukbap place stuffed with meat; the broth is good too. It has the deep flavor of 100% bone broth without being too heavy and stays clean, and the broth that still tasted good after cooling a bit is what stuck with me.

The suyuk uses Korean pork front leg, and I liked its chewy, springy texture, different from pork belly suyuk. If you're in Duryu-dong or Gamsam-dong looking for a filling gukbap meal or want suyuk with a glass of soju, it's worth a visit.