Nawon-dong duck restaurant in Gunsan: half-and-half set at Gunsan

I visited Gunsan Jumulreok, a duck jumulreok (spicy stir-fried duck) restaurant in Nawon-dong, Gunsan. I ordered the half-and-half set so I could try both the roast and the jumulreok.

Where is Gunsan Jumulreok, and what is the restaurant like?

Gunsan Jumulreok is located at 91 Nawon-ro, Gunsan-si, Jeollabuk-do, and is open from 4:00 PM to 10:00 PM. Gunsan Love Gift Certificates are accepted here too.

Inside, there were quite a lot of tables. Toward the back there were also separate tables big enough for groups, which looked handy for family gatherings or group meals. Several group parties were dining there while we ate too.

On the wall there was a sign noting that they use 100% domestic sulfur duck. The duck here is apparently high-quality "sulfur duck," raised on sulfur, which is good for the body. Since they run their own farm directly, the meat is fresh, tender, and chewy, they say.

Half-and-half set 65,000 won, soju and beer 3,000 won

On the menu: duck jumulreok 1kg for ₩59,000, raw duck roast 1kg for ₩59,000, and the half-and-half set 1kg for ₩65,000. We ordered the half-and-half set.

What also caught my eye on the menu was the price of soju and beer — ₩3,000 each. That's not an easy price to find eating out these days, so I looked twice. Drinks are self-serve though, so you grab them yourself from the fridge.

Banchan as generous as a Korean home-style set meal

Even before the meat arrived, the table was set quite generously. Kimchi, seasoned bean sprouts, salad, scallion shreds, lettuce wraps — so many kinds of side dishes that at a glance it felt like a home-style meal (baekban) setup. Not just a lot of dishes, but tasty ones too, so my chopsticks kept moving while we waited for the meat.

You can grab more banchan yourself from the self-serve bar. Extra minari (water celery) and jumulreok vegetables are ₩3,000 each.

Raw duck roast comes first at Gunsan Jumulreok

The half-and-half set started with the raw duck roast. The meat on the plate had a bright reddish color that already looked fresh.

We grilled the roast on the pan and ate it with minari, and also wrapped it in lettuce.

There were two sauces to go with the roast: sesame oil salt sauce and mustard sauce. I tried both, and for my taste the mustard sauce in particular went really well with the duck roast. It cut through the richness, so it was good even dipped plain without a wrap.

Piling roast and minari onto lettuce with a bit of sauce made for a pretty full bite. It was clean-tasting with no gamey smell, so my kid ate it well too.

After the plain roast, the red duck jumulreok

Once we finished the roast, I told the staff and they swapped in a pan for the jumulreok. Rather than continuing on the same pan, they switched it out to match the menu, so we could eat the next dish cleanly.

The jumulreok, coated evenly in red seasoning, had potato and tteok (rice cake) mixed in with the duck.

It had a completely different charm from the roast. The sauce was spicy-sweet, and it was delicious wrapped in lettuce.

Eating the roast first and then moving on to the jumulreok meant we got to taste the clean flavor and the seasoned flavor in order — that seems like the real advantage of the half-and-half set. And of course, the perfect ending to that seasoning would be fried rice... I was thinking about it the whole time I was eating... but I got too full and never got to it, ugh. Frying rice in the leftover jumulreok sauce would have been perfect, so that's a bit of a regret.

Doenjang jjigae (soybean paste stew) made mild for our child

We also ordered a doenjang jjigae (soybean paste stew) to cleanse the palate. When the staff saw we had a child with us, they asked first whether the kid would be eating it too and offered to make it without the spice. It might seem like a small thing, but details like this really stick with you when eating out with a child. Thanks to that, we ate comfortably right to the end.

Roast or jumulreok? Why the half-and-half set wins

If you're torn between the roast and the seasoned jumulreok, I'd recommend the half-and-half set. I'm still disappointed I missed out on the fried rice with the jumulreok sauce, haha. Next time I'll definitely save room for it. Thanks for the delicious meal today :)