Itaewon bone stew and special galbitang with free broth: Nuri Maeul

A 24-hour haejangguk and gukbap spot right at Itaewon Station Exit 4

Nuri Maeul Gamjatang Itaewon Branch is a 24-hour haejangguk (hangover soup) and gukbap (rice soup) restaurant on Itaewon's main road, right in front of Itaewon Station Exit 4. Given the location, it's incredibly easy to find.

Nuri Maeul's menu: gamjatang, bone stew, jeyuk bokkeum and kimchi jjigae

Just the gamjatang section alone at Nuri Maeul Gamjatang Itaewon Branch has a huge variety. Mala gamjatang, house gamjatang, spicy gamjatang, aged kimchi gamjatang, sundae gamjatang, and more.

There are also simpler meal options — jeyuk bokkeum (stir-fried pork), grilled bulgogi, kimchi jjigae, sundubu jjigae, kongguksu (cold soybean noodles), naengmyeon (cold noodles), yukjeon naengmyeon, and more. There's also a drier, stir-fried version of the bone stew without broth.

A whole second floor, roomy enough for group bookings

Nuri Maeul Gamjatang Itaewon Branch uses the entire second floor of the building as its dining space, and it's spacious enough to be great for group bookings and dinners. The window seats look out over Itaewon's main street.

The self-serve bar has napa cabbage kimchi, kkakdugi (radish kimchi), onion, pickles, and cheongyang chili peppers.

How spicy is the medium-spice spicy bone stew?

After a lot of back and forth, I ordered the bone stew, specifically the spicy version, at medium spice level. (It's not the kind of spicy that numbs your mouth, but more like a slightly spicy yangnyeom chicken level that gets your eyes and nose running a bit.)

Free gamjatang broth, plus add-ons you can order

At Nuri Maeul Gamjatang Itaewon Branch, a free broth comes out in the morning. You don't need to order anything extra for the soup base.

You can also add extras — fried rice, egg, a bowl of rice, cheese, ramyeon noodles, sujebi noodles, and more.

Served by a cute robot

A robot comes over to serve the food.

The second dish: special galbitang (rib soup)

The second meal we ordered was Nuri Maeul Gamjatang Itaewon Branch's special galbitang (rib soup). Once I carefully picked off the meat from the bone, this much came off, as shown in the photo.

The meat is so tender it just falls right off the bone, haha.

Is Nuri Maeul Gamjatang good with kids?

The rice was in great condition too, and with galbitang broth, white rice, and a piece of meat, babies would probably love this too.

How much food is in a small spicy bone stew?

The spicy bone stew at medium spice that I ordered arrived. It was covered in udon noodles, and clearing them aside gently revealed more bones than I expected.

A size you absolutely cannot pick up with chopsticks — only tongs will do. Thick, with a lot of meat on it, haha.

But the sauce on this thing is seriously delicious. It's definitely not the kind of spicy that stings your mouth — it's a sweet-and-spicy flavor that's just amazing. And the meat just crumbles right off the bone. So tender.

The complimentary broth — the gamjatang soup — comes out too.

Ah. Thick, spicy, deep, rich, and delicious.

Looking at these photos, I want to eat it again,,,,, mouth watering. After days of eating nothing but salad, getting hit with this much dopamine at once has me losing my mind.

Udon noodles, rice cakes and sujebi: what to do with all those carbs

Oh my, especially these carbs, what am I supposed to do. The udon noodles are so well seasoned and delicious, the rice cakes are chewy, the sujebi is chewy too — it's chaos in the best way.

Along with the onion, mushroom, carrot, and cabbage mixed in. I really love the cabbage you usually get in tteokbokki, and the cabbage in this bone stew is well seasoned and so delicious too. I scraped the plate all the way to the bottom, haha.