Cheonan chicken stew restaurant for families: Sottture Dakdoritang

I visited Sottture Dakdoritang, a Seongjeong-dong favorite in Cheonan known for dakdoritang (spicy braised chicken stew). A whole chicken arrives simmering in a special sauce inside a huge pot lid, topped with an adorable chick-shaped egg—Sottture’s signature look! It is a Cheonan chicken stew spot loved equally for family meals, company dinners, get-togethers, and dates.

Visiting Sottture in Seongjeong-dong and parking

True to its reputation as a real Seongjeong-dong favorite, Sottture Dakdoritang in Cheonan is popular not only for dining in but also for delivery and takeout; delivery drivers kept coming by. There is also a parking lot behind the building, so we parked without any trouble before heading in.

We arrived just after noon on a weekend, and most tables were already occupied. By the time we were eating, the restaurant was full, which really showed Sottture’s popularity in Seongjeong-dong.

The whole chicken menu and our order

The menu is simple: a whole chicken for 2–3 people at ₩35,000, or one and a half chickens for 3–4 people at ₩45,000. That’s it! Simple, right? Haha. Extras include flat dumplings, potato pancakes, rolled omelet, ramen noodles, DIY fried rice, and steamed rice. There is also an old-fashioned pork cutlet, making it a great lineup for a family meal with children like ours.

Orders are placed on the tablet installed at the table. We ordered one whole chicken, one old-fashioned pork cutlet, and one order of flat dumplings.

Just a note: there is a ₩5,000 lunch discount from 11:00 to 14:00. You also get ₩5,000 off for takeout!

Five basic side dishes came out: cubed radish and cucumber pickles, red-seasoned danmuji (pickled yellow radish), pickled onions, a vegetable salad, and kimchi. They were all nice to nibble on before the dakdoritang arrived and between bites.

Pot-lid dakdoritang topped with a chick egg

Here is today’s main event, Sottture’s dakdoritang. The chicken pieces were bigger than expected, and the pot lid itself was enormous, so it looked seriously generous.

The real eye-catcher, though, was of course the chick-shaped egg! The little comb and beak made from carrot were just too cute, haha.

The kids still cannot eat dakdoritang because it is spicy, but they were intrigued by the chick’s appearance, haha. You need to let it boil vigorously for around three minutes before eating, but watching the little chick made the time fly by, haha.

How to enjoy the dakdoritang

To properly enjoy this Seongjeong-dong favorite, first boil it vigorously over high heat for 2–3 minutes, then lower the heat and start with the rice cakes and vegetables. The sauce is so rich that the sliced rice-cake noodles went especially well with it.

Next, let the broth reduce as you eat the wings, breast meat, and drumsticks in that order. The chicken must have been fresh—just look at that lovely pale breast meat, haha. Even though it was breast meat, it was moist rather than dry, and dunking it deeply in the dakdoritang broth made it wonderfully moreish~ The drumstick meat was tender and delicious too, but the breast meat tasted particularly good here ^^

Flat dumplings and old-fashioned pork cutlet

One of Sottture’s recommended tips is to pull off some chicken, then dip it generously with flat dumplings into the broth, so we decided to order the flat dumplings too.

These flat dumplings are just crispy-fried, hollow dumpling wrappers. Soaking them in the rich dakdoritang broth and eating them with vegetables and chicken was another little treat. The seasoning was so good that I thought fried rice would be amazing too, but after eating this way, we were far too full to even try it ㅠ

Our children do not eat much, so we ordered just one old-fashioned pork cutlet—but wow ;; They did not give us extra because there were two kids, did they?;; This is a ₩10,000-happiness kind of visual, lol. The portion was huge, so even after both kids shared it, they could not finish it, and my husband and I picked at the rest, haha. The owner has such generous hands!! Haha.

Even with just one whole chicken, the portion at Sottture Dakdoritang in Cheonan was so generous that I thought three people should come together if they wanted to properly enjoy the flat dumplings, ramen noodles, and fried rice as well! It tasted great and was plentiful, and there were dishes for the kids too—definitely a Seongjeong-dong favorite I will think of whenever I crave dakdoritang :)