Yongin Korean restaurant with a pumpkin porridge bar: Sotbap Hansang

Where is Sotbap Hansang in Yongin, and is there parking?

Sotbap Hansang is a pot rice Korean restaurant at 68-1 Sangdeok-ro, Idong-eup, Cheoin-gu, Yongin-si, Gyeonggi-do, open 10:00–21:00 with its own parking lot. It had been a while since I'd found a proper, well-set Korean restaurant near a golf course like this.

Past the building and a little way up to the right is Sotbap Hansang's dedicated parking lot. We arrived around 6:20pm that day and it was already packed with cars, haha. The access road is a country lane, so I worried — did we come to the wrong place? Is this spot so out of the way we'd be the only ones there? But no... it was basically full, haha.

The landscaping and the stone statues around make it clear this isn't an ordinary house. Being near Haesollia CC and Sehyeon CC, the greenery is gorgeous too.

Coming down the stone-wall path from the parking lot, this pretty garden appears... exactly the atmosphere you'd expect from a proper Korean restaurant.

Not a red carpet, but wooden steps so you don't slip, haha. The building entrance is no joke.

I thought no one would be around, but it was already bustling with people, haha. For such an out-of-the-way spot, this place is really thriving, haha.

The exterior has an old, earthy ochre feel, but the interior is completely modern and spotless.

Sotbap Hansang's menu and how ordering works

The menu at Sotbap Hansang was reasonably priced with a lot of options. The owner's recommendations are the female crab soy marinade set and the braised beef short ribs (galbi-jjim), but it said single orders weren't possible, so we ordered galbi-jjim for two.

The self-serve pumpkin porridge and seaweed soup

After we ordered, we found out there's a separate self-serve corner for extra side dishes, porridge, and seaweed soup, so I rushed over, haha, and grabbed a shot beforehand. The side dishes were sitting there neatly arranged.

Seeing the delicious-looking pumpkin porridge and seaweed soup, I decided to try them first on an empty stomach.

Brought it over like this — tastes like a place that makes it in-house. It was so good I went back for seconds twice before the rice even arrived, haha. Looking around, a lot of people seemed to have come after rounds at Haesollia CC to find this restaurant.

What the galbi-jjim set for two comes with

Soon our galbi-jjim came out as a full spread. Like a proper Korean set meal, it arrives generously all at once. The rice comes as pot rice — hence the name Sotbap Hansang, pot rice set — and it's incredibly good, haha.

The braised short ribs were seasoned just right, salty in the best way, and cooked so well that the bone slipped right out with one bite. Really properly picked rib meat came out.

The meat was tender and soft, and it went so well with the rice — delicious, and the portion was generous. The radish that came with it was so well cooked that we cut up the big piece and ate almost all of it.

The fried fish side dish was the bigger surprise

I figured it was just a regular side dish so I didn't expect much, but it came out freshly fried and warm — so crispy, like fish and chips but even flakier and more delicious. I was genuinely surprised.

Crispy outside, tender inside. The batter is crunchy and the white flesh inside is savory and delicious. You couldn't call it a mere side dish, haha.

I thought there were fewer side dishes than expected... but eating through each one, they weren't just there to fill up the table. There wasn't a single one to skip — everything was delicious.

The various namul (seasoned vegetable) sides were perfectly seasoned and the kimchi was so well fermented that I kept gasping in admiration as I ate.

Pot rice nurungji, and what to order for four

The pot rice was scorched just right so I ended up scraping it all up like sungnyung (scorched rice tea) at the end, and the rice was cooked so perfectly it paired beautifully with the ribs and side dishes. It's a great spread for four people after golf — if you're a group of four, galbi-jjim for two plus borigulbi for two would be just right.

After the meal: the unmanned café with ₩1,000 Americanos

Walking out from Sotbap Hansang, there's an unmanned café right next door on the right.

As you can see, an Americano here is ₩1,000, and the rest of the menu runs around ₩2,000, all from a clean self-service vending setup. That flower bed in the middle of the table is real too — pretty impressive. I've already saved this place to come back to with the group next time we're at Haesollia or Sehyeon CC. Such a satisfying meal.