Dog-friendly Korean restaurant in Gyeongju: Hyoeunok hot pot

There’s one place I make sure to visit whenever I come to Gyeongju. It’s Hyoeunok (효은옥), a restaurant famous among Gyeongju locals!

I keep coming back because the food is delicious, but above all, dogs are welcome too, so it’s an easy place to visit whenever I travel around Gyeongju with Mungchi.

So if you’re planning a dog-friendly trip to Gyeongju, this is a place I really want to recommend adding to your meal itinerary.

Today, let me introduce Hyoeunok, the Gyeongju local favorite I visit every time I’m in town.

Hyoeunok information

The address is 12-6 Bukgun 3-gil, Gyeongju-si, and it is open from 11:00 to 21:00. Break time is from 15:00 to 17:00.

How does it fit into a dog-friendly itinerary?

When you’re on a dog-friendly trip to Gyeongju, the standards for choosing a restaurant naturally get much stricter, don’t they?

Are there attractions nearby that you can visit with your dog? Is indoor dining with dogs allowed? Is there adequate parking? Once you check off these three things one by one, there are fewer choices than you’d think.

But Hyoeunok, the place I visit every time I come to Gyeongju, meets all three conditions!

It is about 3.9 km away, or a 6-minute drive, from the Bomun Tourist Complex that many Gyeongju travelers visit. Bunny Bear Museum, where you can look around with your dog, is also about 2.6 km away, or 5 minutes by car.

It is also not too far from Bulguk Park and Tohamji, both nice for walking your dog, so it worked well as a meal stop on a dog-friendly Gyeongju itinerary.

That day, our route was: check out of Wiclad Dog Pool Villa → eat at Hyoeunok → visit Bunny Bear Museum.

The distances between places were short and the route lined up perfectly, so we could travel comfortably.

Parking has become much easier too. Unlike when I visited before, it looked like the area in front of the restaurant had been newly organized, and the parking lot was considerably bigger. It was nice not having to worry about finding a space even when arriving by car.

Hanok atmosphere and the dog-friendly seating area

Inside Hyoeunok, the elegant atmosphere distinctive to a hanok (traditional Korean house) was fully intact. The window-side seats have floor-to-ceiling windows, offering a clear view of the fresh garden outside, and the Korean-style patterns added to the glass made it feel even more charming.

Further inside, there was a separate room area. The spaces were divided with mother-of-pearl-style partitions, which suited the Korean restaurant atmosphere beautifully.

And this inner area is where you can dine with your dog! When I visited previously, I was told that holding your dog or taking it out was not possible, and that it needed to stay in a carrier while you ate.

There were no separate restrictions on whether the carrier had a lid or not, though.

Dog-friendly rules may change, so please check once more before visiting. If you are coming on a dog-friendly trip to Gyeongju, I recommend definitely bringing a carrier!

Ordering the beef brisket and intestines hot pot

Hyoeunok’s signature dish is Ppyeoberest, a mountain of beef short ribs piled high and enjoyed like shabu-shabu! I had eaten almost only that menu item every time I came to Hyoeunok, but this time I was curious about something else, so I ordered the beef brisket and intestines hot pot.

That day, we ordered the beef brisket and intestines hot pot for ₩44,000, extra glass noodles for ₩3,000, and steamed rice for ₩1,000.

One tip here! The intestines hot pot already comes with glass noodles, and there was more than I expected. We added extra glass noodles right when ordering without knowing that, so there were more noodles than expected and we were slightly taken aback, haha. Rather than adding them from the start, I recommend trying the noodles that come with it first and ordering more only if you need them!

The spicy, punchy beef brisket and intestines hot pot

A little while later, our beef brisket and intestines hot pot arrived!!! The sight alone was incredible, with beef brisket, wood ear mushrooms, glass noodles, and minced garlic heaped high over the pot.

When I gently moved aside the brisket, there were loads of intestines underneath too, making it much more generous than I expected.

Let the hot pot bubble away for about 10 minutes before eating, then add more broth to suit your taste as you go.

I tasted the broth first. It tasted spicy and peppery with a slight tang, as though it had well-fermented sour kimchi in it, making it perfect both as a drinking snack and with rice.

Especially at the finish, the fragrant scent of minari (water celery) rose gently, so the broth ended cleanly without feeling heavy.

With intestines and beef brisket together, the broth could have been rich and potentially greasy, but the minari felt like it balanced that out perfectly!

The beef brisket was tender and savory, while the hot pot included tripe and intestines. The tripe was soft rather than tough, as if it had been simmered for a long time, and the intestines were packed with gop (creamy intestinal filling).

When you bite into an intestine that has soaked up plenty of broth, the filling and hot broth burst out like juices and fill your mouth! This was seriously delicious... but watch out for your tongue, haha.

The glass noodles had thoroughly absorbed the spicy, peppery broth too, so every slurp brought up plenty of broth along with them. So tasty!

This was my first time ordering the beef brisket and intestines hot pot instead of my usual Ppyeoberest, and it was so delicious and satisfying overall that I found myself wondering why I had waited so long to try it.

Hyoeunok is a Gyeongju local favorite I end up visiting every time I come! I had only eaten its signature Ppyeoberest until now, but the beef brisket and intestines hot pot I tried for the first time this visit was even tastier than expected, so choosing a menu may be difficult from now on, haha.

Most of all, indoor dining with dogs is possible, and it is easy to pair with nearby attractions such as the Bomun Tourist Complex and Bunny Bear Museum, making it a great addition to a dog-friendly Gyeongju itinerary.

From the spacious parking to the elegant hanok atmosphere and generous food, this was a thoroughly satisfying place!

If you are looking for somewhere to eat comfortably with your dog in Gyeongju, I recommend stopping by Hyoeunok.