Family dinner with unlimited green onion kimchi: Daewangam Dol

My all-time favorite food is Chinese food, hands down! I love everything — jjajangmyeon (black bean noodles), jjamppong (spicy seafood noodles), fried rice, sweet and sour pork, yusanseul (stir-fried vegetables and meat) — I don't discriminate, so hunting down good Chinese restaurants is one of my small joys in life haha.

This time I finally took my parents to Ulsan Daewangam Dol Jjamppong, a place near Ilsanjin-dong that I'd been eyeing every time I passed by! I went in with high expectations, and it exceeded them, so let me introduce it right away~!

Ulsan Daewangam Dol Jjamppong: location and hours

• Address: 6 Ilsanjin 5-gil, Dong-gu, Ulsan, South Korea, 1st floor
• Hours: 11:00 - 21:00
• Break time: 15:30 - 17:00
• Last order: 20:00
• Closed every Tuesday
• Parking: large, comfortable lot right in front of the restaurant

Zero parking worries — a dedicated lot right out front

When you're eating out with a car, isn't it low-key stressful if there's no parking or the lot is too small? But Ulsan Daewangam Dol Jjamppong has a really spacious dedicated parking area right in front, so I felt great the moment I arrived!

What's the vibe like at 7pm?

I visited around 7pm and the place was already pretty full of diners. It really lived up to its reputation as a well-known restaurant in Dong-gu, Ulsan.

As soon as we walked in, the person in charge of the hall greeted us — I'm not sure if it was staff or the owner, but they were so, so polite and kind that I was smiling before we'd even eaten!

Exploring the menu at Ulsan Daewangam Dol Jjamppong

Looking at the menu, there was a solid lineup built around the signature dol jjamppong (stone-pan spicy seafood noodles) and dol jjajang (stone-pan black bean noodles), plus various side dishes. We were curious about the jjamppong that gives the restaurant its name, so we ordered the whole squid stone jjamppong Large (serves 3) and, as a side, the homemade donttang-chitang (pork and chicken cutlets).

They say Daewangam Dol Jjamppong is cooked on a 250-degree amphibole stone pan, so you get to experience the flavor changing through three stages as you eat!

The owner's genius touch: unlimited self-bar and green onion kimchi

While waiting for the food, I went to the self-serve bar. Usually Chinese restaurants just give you radish pickle and raw onion, right? But here — there was a whole tub of green onion kimchi at the self-bar!!!! Wow.

Green onion kimchi is my mom's and my favorite kimchi, so I basically shrieked the moment I saw it. Is the owner not the ultimate flavor-savvy, thoughtful person?!

The radish pickle was clean-tasting, and the onion was so fresh it still had all its crunch.

The green onion kimchi was perfectly fermented, and they were generous with the seasoning almost to a fault! It tasted amazing, so I piled up a heap and went back for seconds haha. And free unlimited rice refills on top of that! I was almost worried the owner wasn't making any money off us.....

My mom, who loves the combo of white rice and green onion kimchi, said she was full but still cleaned an entire bowl of rice, haha.

How much is a Large whole squid stone jjamppong, serving 3?

Finally, the main dish we'd been waiting for — whole squid stone jjamppong Large (serves 3) — arrived~! The moment it came out, sizzling loudly with huge clouds of steam rising, my jaw dropped at the sheer size and visual! It was labeled as serving 3, but honestly four adults could've eaten it comfortably.

Following the tips posted on the wall for eating it right, I first mixed the crunchy bean sprouts and chewy noodles evenly, cut them into bite-sized pieces with scissors, then transferred them to plates in about three batches, eating along the way, and later scraped up the scorched rice at the bottom!

The noodles were perfectly chewy, and it was packed with plump shrimp and squid that gave a great bite! It sat somewhere between a brothy jjamppong and a drier stir-fried jjamppong — and since I love stir-fried jjamppong, this was basically the best jjamppong of my life haha.

Topping it with fresh onion and pairing it with the delicious green onion kimchi made it dangerously addictive — I couldn't stop eating!

And the true genius of dol jjamppong shows up at the very end! At the bottom of the stone pan, the rice turns into scorched rice, so after you finish all the noodles, scraping up that nutty, crisped rice at the bottom is... well, what more is there to say! So good.

The ultimate in crispiness: homemade donttang-chitang

Along with the dol jjamppong, we'd also ordered the homemade donttang-chitang, and it came out soon after. Think of donttang-chitang as pork cutlet and fried chicken — they must use clean, good oil, because the batter color was so even, and the moment you bit in, it was crisp! Truly crispy.

Alternating between the pork cutlet sauce and the sweet-spicy seasoned chicken sauce that came with it kept every bite interesting — no chance of getting tired of it!

The frying quality was so good that I thought — the menbosha (shrimp-stuffed fried toast) here has to be amazing too! I'm definitely coming back to try it next time.

The three of us — me and my parents — cleared our plates completely, haha. Owner, we did the dishes for you 😆

A thoughtful touch by the entrance: yogurt and okkoshi

After eating until we were stuffed, there's the owner's second touch of thoughtfulness by the entrance — in an ice box, cold yogurt drinks chilled with ice, and next to it, a neat stack of okkoshi (a Korean rice puff snack)!

My parents, who absolutely love okkoshi, had their eyes light up the moment they saw it, and they enjoyed their dessert to the fullest, looking so satisfied!

Finishing off a spicy dol jjamppong with a cool yogurt drink was the perfect clean finish!

Oh! For reference, they also have baby chairs and baby tableware ready to go!

Wrapping up •••

After stuffing ourselves with a delicious dinner with my parents for the first time in a while, we took a walk from Ilsanjin Beach all the way to Daewangam Park before heading home. My mom said she'd have to come back soon with her friends haha.

If you're visiting Dong-gu, Ulsan, or looking for a truly delicious restaurant near Ilsanjin, give Ulsan Daewangam Dol Jjamppong a try — a well-known spot in Dong-gu and Ilsanjin, Ulsan!