Boneless hairtail pot rice lunch special in Cheongju: Jeju Badang

Today I want to introduce Jeju Badang (제주바당), the only Korean restaurant in Cheongju where you can get boneless braised hairtail!

Where is Jeju Badang, and what are the hours?

Jeju Badang is on the 2nd floor at 28 Seohyeonnam-ro, Heungdeok-gu, Cheongju-si, Chungcheongbuk-do, South Korea.

• Hours: Daily 10:30–22:00
• Last order: 14:30 / 20:30
• Break time: 15:00–17:00

Parking at Jeju Badang: two free lots

Jeju Badang sits in a building shared with several restaurants, so parking is well set up! There's a spacious lot right in front, and if you go around the back of the building there's an even bigger one there. No registration needed — parking is free!

How long is the wait at 1pm on a Saturday?

The moment I walked in, the interior gave off such an upscale Korean restaurant feel — I loved it! We visited a little after 1pm on a Saturday, and there was just one party ahead of us waiting.

We were called in after about 5–10 minutes, and while we waited there was a separate waiting area where we could sit comfortably. The waiting zone was full of Jeju stone-wall vibes too .. 🪨🌊

Jeju Badang's menu and lunch special prices

Here's the full menu board at Jeju Badang! 📕 I came with only boneless braised hairtail on my mind, so I hadn't even considered the other dishes — but there's actually a wide range, from mackerel to atka mackerel, black jade tilefish, horned turban shell, and hairtail.

And this is the lunch special menu board! 📕 Lunch specials are usually weekday-only at most places, but at Jeju Badang you can get the discounted prices any day of the week until 3pm, no worries!

The unlimited salad bar, fried chicken included

And even though this is a fish-focused Korean restaurant, the really great thing is there's a mini salad bar!

Fried chicken and two kinds of rice crackers aren't things you usually see at other salad bars, so I loved it! They keep refilling everything continuously!

Couldn't resist the chicken ,, they even set out a seasoned sauce for it, so I drizzled some on and brought it right back to the table.

And if you're reading this, you have to try the chicken — it's genuinely crispy and delicious, not that cheap frozen taste ❌

There's also iced tea and iced plum tea, so you can enjoy them with your meal or as a dessert. There was a vending-style coffee machine right next to it too!

I filmed the salad bar on video too, so check it out if you're curious!

When we came back to our table from the salad bar, they'd already brought over seaweed soup and stir-fried pork. They told us the stir-fried pork is refillable if you ask, and it was genuinely as good as something you'd order separately!!!

There's also a play space for kids in one corner of the restaurant, which makes it look like a really great spot for families to visit together!

Jeju boneless braised hairtail lunch special, 23,000 won per person

We ordered the lunch special Jeju boneless braised hairtail (with pot rice) for two, priced at ₩23,000 per person! Choosing regular rice instead brings it down to ₩21,000!

The main event .. boneless braised hairtail 🫪❤️ Honestly I never used to be a big fan of braised fish, but ever since I had boneless braised hairtail in Jeju last year, my whole perspective changed.

But after my Jeju trip, when I actually went looking, there were barely any places serving the 'boneless' version of braised hairtail.

So I went hunting for boneless braised hairtail elsewhere .. deliberately sought it out on a trip to Busan too .. but nothing recreated that same taste, or the fish still had bones.

Is the hairtail really bone-free?

But I found it !!!! The place for boneless braised hairtail !!!!

I once had a fish bone stuck in my throat and had to go to the hospital, so ever since then I'm genuinely wary of fish bones and eat slowly — but this is truly, actually boneless hairtail. Not a single bone.

And you can see how the hairtail looks, right?????

Being boneless is great, but the fish itself and the sauce really matter too — the hairtail was insanely tender, savory, and moist... and the sauce, to my taste, was bold and packed with umami, pairing amazingly with the rice ㅠㅠ

My partner turned theirs into a full-on mixed rice with the braised hairtail sauce ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ that's how perfectly it goes with rice.

The radish pieces in there are big too, and genuinely soft — you can see how smoothly it cuts with just chopsticks. Kids who hate fish and are picky eaters might just have their eyes opened to braised fish here, like I did ... 😆

Finishing it off with the pot rice makes for the perfect ending ✨

Why Jeju Badang tastes like Jeju: the owner's hometown

I've finally escaped my boneless-braised-hairtail nomad life and settled down. No more missing that Jeju taste ••🥹

When I told the owner at checkout that it tasted surprisingly just like what I had in Jeju, they said they're actually from Jeju and had researched the dish a lot. No wonder ... ❤

If you're looking for braised hairtail or fish dishes in Cheongju, you really have to visit Jeju Badang at least once 🫪👍🏻