No-break-time pork soup restaurant in Changwon: Yongho Dwaeji Gukbap

Today I visited Yongho Dwaeji Gukbap, a Changwon Garosu-gil favorite! It's one of the few really good pork gukbap (pork and rice soup) places in Changwon, and it's a true local-approved spot: I don't even like pork gukbap, and I emptied the whole bowl.

So let me tell you about Yongho Dwaeji Gukbap, the real deal among the must-visit places on Changwon's Garosu-gil.

Yongho Dwaeji Gukbap location and parking

• Address: 233 Yongji-ro, Seongsan-gu, Changwon, Gyeongnam, South Korea (1st floor, Lotte Apartment shops)
• Parking: Available

Exterior of Yongho Dwaeji Gukbap, a gukbap restaurant with no break time

Yongho Dwaeji Gukbap sits in the Lotte Apartment shops in Yongho-dong, Changwon. Word about how tasty it is has spread all over town, so everyone already knows it. The thing that made it perfect for me: there's no break time! You can come in for a meal whenever you get hungry, which I loved.

Inside the restaurant: good for group gatherings and company dinners?

The restaurant is way bigger than I expected. It's ideal for gatherings and company dinners, and the prices aren't a burden, so it's great for club meetups and the like too.

Honestly, Changwon doesn't have many good pork gukbap places. People around me keep asking if I know any, haha. I always said no.. where are all the good pork gukbap places?! From now on I'll tell them to go to Yongho Dwaeji Gukbap. I really enjoyed my meal so much.

Besides the area you see in the photos, there are separate rooms too, so you can enjoy a meal privately. Each room has a temporary door you can open and close freely, so groups can fit there as well! The lights were off in that section when I visited, but the inside was very clean and tidy. You can see how neat it is even from the photos, right?

Self-serve bar

There's also a self-serve bar where you can grab more side dishes if you run out, and I was so surprised by how good all the basic side dishes were, haha.

There was also a guide on how to best enjoy the gukbap and suyuk (boiled pork slices). There was nothing to throw away, everything was so good that I scraped my bowl clean, T_T. A taste I'd want to eat every day!

Yongho Dwaeji Gukbap says it uses only clean, filtered water from a water purifier for all its food.

Yongho Dwaeji Gukbap menu and prices

• Suyuk baekban (boiled pork set) ₩13,000
• Spicy sundae gukbap (blood sausage soup with rice) ₩11,000
• Cider ₩2,000
• Total ₩26,000

From bottled cider to side dishes

Wow, I was really touched: Yongho Dwaeji Gukbap still serves cider in a bottle?! Oh my T_T. Bottled cider is so hard to find these days.. I thought, this place is the real deal starting from the drinks. I was so moved.

Ahh, the nostalgic bottled cider, it's been forever, right? T_T The bottle really surprised me.

The basic side dishes come out so neat and tidy, don't they? At old-style gukbap places the side dishes often weren't very hygienic, so a lot of people avoid pork gukbap restaurants, right? But Yongho Dwaeji Gukbap is really clean, so there was nothing to worry about.

The side dishes were really good T_T. Even if they sold the kimchi on its own, I'd want to take some home.

I could trust the food even more because the whole kitchen is visible from the hall. It's not an open kitchen in name only: you can see everything from prepping the basic ingredients onward.

The Yongho Dwaeji Gukbap spread arrived quickly, and I was amazed at how good it was. Lots of gukbap places these days serve lukewarm broth, but here it came out piping hot, at just the right temperature, which touched me even more T_T

They even packed the rice bowl down firmly and filled it to the brim. So touching..

What's in the ₩13,000 suyuk baekban

A suyuk baekban for ₩13,000, and I thought the value was just unreal.. You get a mini suyuk plate, pork gukbap, alssam (lettuce-style wraps) and onion geotjeori (fresh-tossed salad). It's seriously generous.

The pork gukbap has no gamey smell at all, and that clean taste is truly a work of art. No wonder Yongho Dwaeji Gukbap keeps getting mentioned as a top Changwon gukbap spot.

Spicy sundae gukbap, ₩11,000: perfect as a hangover cure

Pure emotion.

Ahh, the spicy sundae gukbap really surprised me. It was so good T_T I ate it almost crying by myself. I'd never had such a good spicy gukbap before..

Whenever I crave something spicy from now on, I'm definitely coming to Yongho Dwaeji Gukbap. Just the right kind of spicy, you know? Please try it.

And it's not just sundae (Korean blood sausage) in the sundae gukbap: it also has offal and pork.. amazing...

Tender suyuk

The suyuk is just killer, isn't it? It's so, so good T_T

This tender suyuk is better than at suyuk specialty shops. Why is it so good here.. why did I only come now.. The kimchi is really good too. If they sold it, I'd buy it for sure, a hundred percent.. such a great place T_T

The sundae is packed full of filling and nutty and really tasty. The spicy sundae gukbap is already on my mind again. I don't usually like gukbap, and I like trying lots of different foods, so I can't normally finish just one dish.. but this spicy sundae gukbap was so good that I finished the whole bowl by myself...

Wrapping up

Me, finishing a whole bowl of gukbap?! Everyone around me would be shocked by this.. It's a seriously good restaurant..

Now I understand why Yongho Dwaeji Gukbap on Changwon's Garosu-gil is so famous for its pork gukbap. From now on, pork gukbap means Yongho Dwaeji Gukbap, no question! Please, please try the suyuk baekban set and the spicy sundae gukbap.