Spice level 0 clear broth beef rib hot pot in Gyeongju Bomun: Hyoeunok

Why Hyoeunok in Bomun was our first meal in Gyeongju

A Gyeongju trip with my friend Baek-eonni >_< The moment we met at Gyeongju Station, we weren't scanning for sightseeing — we were scanning for lunch. Eating matters just as much as touring on our trips, so we choose every meal carefully. For the first one, we went looking for a sure-thing meat dish and found Hyoeunok, a well-known spot in Gyeongju's Bomun district.

Fill up first, then start the trip — We put Hyoeunok into the navigation as our first stop in Gyeongju and headed over.

Hyoeunok's opening hours and parking

Hyoeunok, a well-known restaurant in Gyeongju's Bomun district. Hours Daily 11:00–21:00 Break time 15:30–17:00 Private parking lot behind the building

This place is mainly known for beef rib hot pot, but it also has gopchang hot pot, whole beef bone soup, tteokgalbi, Korean beef tartare mulhoe, and more — quite a wide range, so there was plenty to choose from.

We came in a bit late for lunch, but there were still other diners there.

Ppyeoberest Original 5-piece set for two at spice level 0

What we ordered was the Ppyeoberest Original 5-piece set for two. The name alone sounds serious, right? It gives you the feeling of a mountain of bones piled up — (and yes, that's exactly what it is!) The side dishes come as kimchi and kkakdugi (radish kimchi) on one plate, and they're good — a bite of that when the meat gets rich cuts right through it, a nice pairing.

This is Hyoeunok Gyeongju's Ppyeoberest beef rib hot pot. It really lives up to the name. The ribs stacked up bone by bone looked like an actual mountain.

You can choose the spice level for Ppyeoberest — clear broth or red broth, and we went with spice level 0, clear broth. Bottom line up front: the broth was milky and pale, like a proper tonic meal.

Course order: galbi, beef brisket, kalguksu, then porridge

Honestly the hot pot alone would be plenty of food, but since it's served as a course, everything gets set up from the start. Once you've cleared out the galbi, you shabu-shabu the beef brisket next.

Finish it off with kalguksu and porridge and the course is complete.

At first I thought there was no broth at all. There was so much minari (water dropwort) and mung bean sprouts piled under the meat that you couldn't even see the broth. Once the heat went on and it started simmering, the vegetables wilted down, and only then did that hidden milky broth start bubbling up. The vegetables packing the bottom of the pot were just as generous as the meat. A mountain of tender ribs — the star of Hyoeunok's beef rib hot pot. Since it's already cooked, you don't need to boil it long — just warm it through — but there were so many ribs piled up that they didn't all fit under the broth, so we dunked them in a little at a time to heat up.

Crunchy minari and mung bean sprouts alongside it made for a fragrant, refined flavor. Glad we picked this as our first meal at Hyoeunok in Bomun.

Tiger yuzu makgeolli and non-alcoholic beer at Hyoeunok

Hyoeunok also had Tiger Yuzu Makgeolli, known as the toast drink at the Gyeongju APEC summit. You have to try something like that, right? ^_^ Baek-eonni had the yuzu makgeolli, I had a sip of non-alcoholic beer — non-alcoholic beer is such a lifesaver for the person driving. If you like makgeolli, try the Tiger Yuzu Makgeolli — the yuzu flavor isn't artificial at all, it's rich and natural and genuinely good.

How the rib meat tasted in the clear broth

A light touch with the tongs and the meat just slid right off the bone. We ended up pulling the bones out of the ribs one by one and leaving just the meat to go back into the hot pot. Full-on meat flavor! The ribs were braised so tenderly, not dry at all — they melted softly away in the mouth. With all the vegetables, I expected more of a shabu-shabu feel, but from start to finish it was pure meat, meat, meat — the vegetables were just a supporting act; the star at Hyoeunok was the meat.

After working through a good amount of the ribs, on to the beef brisket shabu-shabu — thinly sliced brisket has a different charm from the ribs. And look how rich that broth is — clear broth, but never bland, no strong seasoning at all, just the deep flavor pulled from the ribs that kept pulling my spoon back in! We came looking for a good restaurant in Bomun, Gyeongju, and ended up with a tonic meal as a bonus.

Once I cut the meat off the big rib bones with scissors —

— it was a full bowl of hot pot all over again. The meat just doesn't seem to run out no matter how much we eat. So happy >_< ♥ At first I thought Ppyeoberest at Hyoeunok would be on the pricier side, but the more we ate, the more affordable it felt. For this quality and this quantity, it's a genuinely good-value price.

Finishing with kalguksu and gondre porridge

Honestly the beef rib hot pot alone was already plenty, but there was still the last course — kalguksu and porridge — left, so we pushed on.

The kalguksu portion wasn't huge, so it was nice for a few bites. The broth got richer and saltier as it went.

Finally, the gondre porridge — mincing the meat before cooking made it even better. The gondre (mountain vegetable) gave off a subtle, fragrant herbal scent — refined and healthy-tasting.

Already full, and still pushing in the kalguksu and porridge — from galbi to beef brisket to kalguksu to gondre porridge for our very first meal in Gyeongju, it felt like a proper tonic meal. Highly recommend Hyoeunok's Ppyeoberest as a restorative Gyeongju meal.