Goyang Korean set-meal lunch with boribulbi add-on: Kim Myeongju

A great hanjeongsik spot for a family meal in Wondang — Kim Myeongju Tteuranchae Bapsang: weekday lunch waiting / menu / parking

When eating out with my parents, nothing beats hanjeongsik. Piling all kinds of irresistible side dishes onto sticky stone-pot rice and finishing off by scraping the crispy scorched rice at the bottom — nothing more satisfying than that. Kim Myeongju Tteuranchae Bapsang Wondang Station Branch, which I'm introducing today, felt like a drive out to a quiet suburb, with delicious food to match — a Wondang restaurant I really enjoyed.

Where is Kim Myeongju Tteuranchae Bapsang, and is there parking?

Kim Myeongju Tteuranchae Bapsang Wondang Station Branch is located at 1445-28 Goyang-daero, Deogyang-gu, Goyang-si, Gyeonggi-do, 1F, easily reached from Exit 1 of Wondang Station (Line 3). There's a wide parking lot in front of the restaurant, so it's also easy to visit by car.

This was my first time at Wondang Station, and I was surprised how different the scenery is on each side of the station. One side is completely urban, while the side with this restaurant felt like a trip out to the outskirts of Seoul. It was nice to be able to enjoy some nature and a good meal without having to drive all the way out to the countryside.

What time does the weekday lunch wait start?

When I arrived at Kim Myeongju Tteuranchae Bapsang Wondang Station Branch around 11:30am, there were still some seats open, but by around noon it was completely full. Not a single empty seat, even on a weekday.

Here's the interior. Finished in calm wood tones, the space feels cozy and warm despite being quite spacious. If you arrive a bit after noon, there might be a short wait. Rather than timing your visit exactly for mealtime, come a little early and you can eat comfortably without waiting.

What's on the Tteuranchae Bapsang menu?

At Kim Myeongju Tteuranchae Bapsang, you can order a full set meal, or order the basic Tteuranchae Bapsang set and add à la carte dishes on top. The à la carte menu includes grilled mackerel, charcoal-grilled pork, soy marinated crab, cockle salad, and boribulbi.

Every single item pairs perfectly with rice, so it was genuinely hard to decide what to order. Every menu comes with freshly made stone-pot rice and cheonggukjang. Both the cheonggukjang and the side dishes are refillable — and when you ask for a cheonggukjang refill, they bring it back out freshly boiled and piping hot!

The 12-side-dish table with boribulbi added

For our à la carte add-on, we ordered boribulbi. It comes with a refreshing glass of green tea. The side dishes included braised potatoes, lettuce, eggplant fritters, burdock root, spinach, dried radish green namul, japchae, and more — 12 side dishes in total.

If that's not enough, you can get more from the self-serve bar. Everything is easily refillable, and for japchae you just ask a staff member and they'll dish it up right away. Honestly there wasn't a single side dish I'd skip — none of them felt like filler just to pad out the spread. From the kimchi to the namul, every one of them was rice-stealing good!

And the eggplant fritters were seriously delicious. I really hate eggplant, haha. I have no idea how they fried it to taste this good — I went back for refills about three times.

A bowl of hot cheonggukjang alone can make two bowls of rice disappear. It's thick and savory, packed with beans and tofu, and once you mix it into rice, there's no stopping.

What does the boribulbi taste like?

It had been a while since I last had boribulbi, so I gave it a try. The flesh was plump and glistening. It's already deboned, so all you need to do is cut it into bite-size pieces and remove the tiny bones — ready to eat right away.

Not too salty and no fishy taste at all! Delicious over warm rice, and just as good over rice mixed with cool green tea! A Wondang restaurant that the kids and my parents alike really loved.

Freshly made stone-pot rice tastes amazing even with just kimchi! Pile on the various side dishes and a whole bowl just disappears.

We ate every last bit of that precious boribulbi. There was even more rice at the self-serve bar, and it was genuinely hard to hold myself back from getting more.

It was great that the side dishes got refilled right away. Fried items especially taste best fresh out of the fryer, and having freshly-fried refills brought out regularly made the meal genuinely delicious.

Is Kim Myeongju Tteuranchae Bapsang worth it in Wondang?

• A great menu for a family meal out
• Cozy atmosphere and convenient parking
• Fully packed even on weekdays! Come a bit early to eat comfortably.
• Rice-stealing side dishes that get refilled right away
• Recommend the boribulbi — savory, no fishy taste.