Suwon chicken restaurant with hot-plate nurungji: Haenggung Jangjak

Following the oak smoke from Hwaseong Haenggung to Haenggung Jangjak Hanbang Tongdak

Haenggung Jangjak Hanbang Tongdak is an oak-fired whole chicken restaurant right on Haenggung-ro 28, Paldal-gu, Suwon, just next to Hwaseong Haenggung palace. The weather's been so nice lately that I took a little outing to Hwaseong Haenggung, one of Suwon's hottest spots these days!

I was just strolling around Hwaseong Haenggung when a savory, mellow scent of oak firewood brushed past my nose out of nowhere. The moment I caught that smell, I found myself walking toward it like I was in a trance — and like fate, I discovered a real Haenggung-dong gem: 'Haenggung Jangjak Hanbang Tongdak.'

Hours, parking and how to get there

• Address: 경기도 수원시 팔달구 행궁로 28 (28 Haenggung-ro, Paldal-gu, Suwon, Gyeonggi-do, South Korea)
• Daily 17:00–24:00 (last order 23:00)
• No parking on-site · Hwaseong Haenggung public street parking about a 3-minute walk away
• Nearby public and private lots recommended

The stacks of firewood piled up at the entrance really caught my eye haha

How the chicken is made: 24-hour herbal brine, then oak-fire roasting

The whole chicken at Haenggung Jangjak Hanbang Tongdak is brined and aged for 24 hours with various herbal ingredients, then roasted over an oak-wood fire pit for 1.5 to 2 hours. Even just the process of making the chicken shows a huge amount of care.

It's not just chicken thrown on the grill — they use a variety of herbal ingredients to carefully brine and age the chicken for a full 24 hours. This painstakingly aged chicken is then slowly turned and roasted over an oak-wood fire for 1.5 to 2 hours!

The intense heat of the wood fire and the subtle smoky aroma soak all the way into the chicken, so the skin turns cracker-crisp while the meat inside stays packed with juicy moisture.

Walking inside, the place had such a warm, cozy atmosphere.

Wi-Fi and a Catch Table order QR code!

Ugh, I really wanted a beer but held back...!

Ordering the smoked barbecue sauce oak-fired chicken with cola

What I ordered was the smoked BBQ sauce oak-fired chicken and a cola. Sauces, mu-chae, and kimchi as the basic side dishes!

Beer.............. holding back.............. I held off because I felt like beer would make me way too full, but a lot of other tables were enjoying it... I'd definitely recommend the chicken + beer combo... haha

I went with cola instead haha

Oh man, this makes me want to eat it again, bubbling away like that~ I love that it stays hot and doesn't get cold!!!

How the oak-fired chicken tastes: clean smoke, savory barbecue sauce

Unlike regular fried chicken drowning in sauce, the oak-fired chicken at Haenggung Jangjak Hanbang Tongdak was all about a clean, smoky flavor at its core. The moment the food arrived, I was genuinely amazed by the look and the smell...! It was on a completely different level from the strong, artificial-sauce-heavy chicken you usually get.

Its charm is the clean flavor that brings out the deep, natural taste of the ingredients, and on top of that, the smoked BBQ sauce adds an incredible savory depth.

The meat was so tender that it fell right off the bone, which made it genuinely easy to eat!

The moment you bite in, juicy moisture bursts out, and the more you chew the more a subtle aroma spreads through — no greasiness at all, leaving a really clean finish right to the last bite.

And it stays warm to enjoy even now haha

Nom nom nom

The mu-chae was tasty too whenever I had a bite of it!

The highlight: nurungji on the hot plate under the chicken

What I liked best at Haenggung Jangjak Hanbang Tongdak was the scorched rice sitting underneath the chicken. And honestly, the real highlight was that scorched rice under the whole chicken — eating the golden, crispy rice stuck to the hot plate together with the chicken was pure bliss.

Dipping it in plenty of sauce too!

I got to enjoy chewy, savory scorched rice while it was still warm, and I was so satisfied I scraped up every single last bite. It felt so good being able to scrape it all clean, haha lol. There's a kind of magical taste that keeps going even when you're already full.

Eating to my heart's content haha, cleared!

Is Haenggung Jangjak good for groups or a date night?

Haenggung Jangjak Hanbang Tongdak has plenty of seating toward the back, so it looked like it could easily handle a group gathering. And there's plenty of seating further inside the store too, so it'd be great for a group visit — plenty of seats to count on!

This is a place I'd recommend for when you've toured Hwaseong Haenggung in Suwon and want to fill up on a good meal somewhere with a nice atmosphere, or when you're coming with a partner on a date or with family for a meal out. If you want to feel the charm of Suwon while tasting a proper, traditional oak-fired chicken, give 'Haenggung Jangjak Hanbang Tongdak' a try!