Gunsan grilled pork bones with melted cheese: Insaeng Gamjatang

I recently went back to my favorite gamjatang (pork bone stew) restaurant in Gunsan, Insaeng Gamjatang. I genuinely think this place is the number one gamjatang spot in Gunsan! This time, instead of gamjatang, I decided to try the grilled pork bones.

Where is Insaeng Gamjatang Gunsan Branch, and when is it open?

• Insaeng Gamjatang Gunsan Branch
• Address: 197 Gongdan-daero, 1st floor, Gunsan, Jeonbuk, South Korea
• Hours: 07:00–03:00 the next day (break time 15:00–17:00)
• Reservations: By phone
• Parking: Free lot behind the building

There's a huge parking lot behind Insaeng Gamjatang! It fits about 80 cars, so it's really convenient if you're driving.

What is the restaurant like inside? Partitioned seats for families and group dinners

Insaeng Gamjatang Gunsan Branch has a fairly spacious dining room! Each seating area is divided by partitions, so you get an open yet private feel, and the interior has a warm atmosphere too, which I liked! It seems like a great spot for family meals or company dinners. Every time I've visited, I've actually seen a lot of people using it that way.

Insaeng Gamjatang Gunsan Branch menu and prices

• Ugeoji (napa cabbage leaf) gamjatang: Small ₩38,000 / Medium ₩47,000 / Large ₩56,000 / X-Large ₩62,000
• Mukeunji (aged kimchi) gamjatang: Small ₩38,000 / Medium ₩47,000 / Large ₩56,000 / X-Large ₩62,000
• Green onion kimchi gamjatang: Small ₩38,000 / Medium ₩47,000 / Large ₩56,000 / X-Large ₩62,000
• Gat kimchi (mustard leaf kimchi) gamjatang: Small ₩39,000 / Medium ₩48,000 / Large ₩57,000
• Bean-curd residue gamjatang: Small ₩38,000 / Medium ₩47,000 / Large ₩56,000
• Half-and-half gamjatang: Small ₩39,000 / Medium ₩48,000 / Large ₩57,000
• Cheese spicy grilled pork bones: ₩50,000
• Spicy tulip chicken feet: ₩20,000
• Yukjeon (pan-fried beef): ₩14,000

The main event here is gamjatang! There are several types — ugeoji, green onion kimchi, mukeunji, bean-curd residue — so you can pick whatever suits your taste. Beyond that, there's grilled pork bones and chicken feet, plus a single-serve hangover soup menu. I heard the hangover soup can also be made boneless.

Which spice level should you order: mild, medium or spicy?

You order through the table-order tablet! I ordered the cheese spicy grilled pork bones. Both the gamjatang and the grilled pork bones let you choose your spice level — mild, medium, or spicy — and if you don't choose, it comes out medium by default. My partner can't handle super spicy food, so I went with medium!

Side dishes and the pollock roe mayo sauce at the self-serve bar

These are the basic side dishes. You get diced radish kimchi, white kimchi, pickles, and a sauce. The sauce comes to your table, and it's best to grab the rest from the self-serve bar! There was also a pollack roe mayo sauce at the self-serve bar, and dipping the grilled pork bones in it was seriously amazing, haha.

Rice balls and hangover soup included with the grilled pork bones

The grilled pork bones come with a free rice ball and hangover soup. I thought Insaeng Gamjatang, this Gunsan gamjatang restaurant, was only good at gamjatang and fried rice, but the rice ball was amazing too... 👍 Sometimes rice balls have the ingredients lumped unevenly on one side, but this one had a perfect ratio, haha. It went so well with the grilled pork bones. I barely stopped myself from ordering another one!

The hangover soup came too! It was a green onion kimchi version. Last time I had the green onion kimchi gamjatang and it was really good, and here I am eating it again, haha. There's no meat in it, but the broth alone is delicious. It's perfect to spoon up right when the grilled pork bones start feeling a bit rich.

Cheese spicy grilled pork bones for 50,000 won: how big is the portion?

And now the main event, the cheese spicy grilled pork bones! The pork bones are piled up high and smothered in cheese :) They bring a torch to melt the cheese for you! And then they add another round of cheese on top, haha. A cheese bomb of grilled pork bones!! There's so much cheese that even spice lovers would be totally satisfied ordering it spicy. 👍

Here's the finished dish. There's a bit of cheese and broth pooled at the bottom, so it stays moist rather than dry. Pull the meat off the bones, dip it in the mayo sauce or the house special sauce, top with cheese, and it's incredibly good. 👍

And the crazy thing about this grilled pork bones dish is the sheer amount of food. At first I thought, wow, ₩50,000 is a lot. But as I kept eating, I started thinking, why is this only ₩50,000... haha. It felt like there were about 8 to 10 bones in there. My partner and I kept eating and eating and it barely went down, so we ended up leaving some behind, haha. This would be perfect to order with a group. It's genuinely delicious.

Is Insaeng Gamjatang Gunsan Branch worth a return visit?

After not visiting for a while, Insaeng Gamjatang, my favorite gamjatang restaurant in Gunsan, was still exactly the kind of place I love! Both the gamjatang and the grilled pork bones are consistently delicious :) There's also a single-serve hangover soup option, so it seems perfect for breakfast or lunch too. The hours are pretty long, so I hope more people get a chance to visit!