Yesan samgyetang restaurant for nurungji chicken soup: Ppongnamujip

Slow City Yesan—true to the slogan, this trip came together on a whim, yet it was so, so perfect and restorative.

Sometimes it is just so nice to suddenly take off, see clear skies somewhere nearby, and eat something delicious.

We had such a fun time, and it is a shame to go back to everyday life—but we have to work hard so we can come travel again!! And to work hard, we need food that gives us energy, right?!!!

The last meal of our Yesan trip: Ppongnamujip

Our final Yesan meal was at Ppongnamujip (뽕나무집), a well-known spot in Sapgyo, Yesan.

There was plenty of parking in front. On the Sunday we visited, they were only open until 14:00, so I called ahead and the owner said, “It would be good if you could come a little early today~” Opening-run time!!!

The dining room was spacious. Even though we arrived almost exactly at 11, locals had already claimed tables, and right as we entered, a stream of family guests with a group reservation came in.

Samgyetang made with Korean ingredients only

Ppongnamujip, already famous in Sapgyo, Yesan, apparently operated under another name in the past. The owner specialized in samgyetang (ginseng chicken soup), then added jeongol (Korean hot pot), remodeled the restaurant, and now refuses to use anything but Korean-grown ingredients.

We chatted briefly with the owner while ordering. They personally source every single ingredient from markets, and for the boss-owner who insists on Korean ingredients, expensive local ingredients such as mung beans are especially hard to find.

They even posted a notice saying they would buy mung beans from local people who grow them. ...I thought I had read it wrong?!!

They pay such close attention to every side dish, and even make their own soy sauce. I could taste the owner’s insistence in every bite. We ordered one nurungji samgyetang and one mung bean samgyetang!

How to eat it with soy sauce and Cheongyang chili peppers

At Ppongnamujip, they recommend dipping the samgyetang in soy sauce. According to the locals, though, the neighborhood rule has become adding generous amounts of soy sauce and Cheongyang chili peppers—available at the self-service bar—into the samgyetang later on.

Here it comes, here it comes~

What the nurungji and mung bean samgyetang tasted like

Here comes the nurungji samgyetang~~~~~ It is a clear samgyetang blanketed with nurungji (scorched rice). Lift the nurungji a little and there is a whole, generously filled chicken underneath.

There were chestnuts and ginseng (?) inside, and the point is its clear broth, almost like dakgaejang (spicy chicken soup)! The mung bean samgyetang has a richer-style broth and is packed with mung beans beneath the chicken. I ordered it because mung beans are said to detoxify all poisons, and it was nutty and delicious.

There was none of that grainy mung bean texture at all; it melted away smoothly. And there was a very substantial whole chicken in there, too.

The chicken was so tender that when you just slid the meat off like this, only the bones slipped right out. Even the breast meat was moist, with absolutely none of that dry texture. Maybe that is why it did not need salt at all, and it went incredibly well topped with soy sauce and Cheongyang peppers.

The house-made kimchi was so delicious. Putting a piece right on top of the clear soup with rice made it even more heavenly.

There was green onion kimchi at the self-service bar, so I brought some over. My boyfriend said, “Hey, I want to eat this with Chapagetti!!!” That kind of flavor.

While my boyfriend, totally smitten with this mung bean porridge, was eating away, I was diligently working on the chicken. Thinking of me, he handed me a drumstick..................

He definitely gave it to me because he was thinking of me, but the meat was so tender that as he took a big bite of the drumstick and passed it over, the meat ended up on his plate and only the bone came to me. ^^ He did not do it on purpose........haha Thank you^^ I will enjoy this thoughtful drumstick bone,,,haha

A Sapgyo, Yesan favorite finished to the very last bowl

Once it looks like this, we are nearly done—but to truly finish, you have to pick up that final bowl and drink from it. They said pork intestines (?) and makchang (grilled pork rectum) were famous on the Sapgyo restaurant list... But in my opinion, forget gopchang and all that—Ppongnamujip is the best in Sapgyo. A true local gem: “our land, our food,” handmade with Korean ingredients.

Honestly, it should not be one of the eight flavors—it should be the ninth, with “Yedang Nurungji Samgyetang” added. Bang bang bang!