Rice bowls near Konkuk Univ.: daechang with pickled onions, Hekbap

This is a rice bowl spot near Children's Grand Park, Hekbap Konkuk University Main Branch (핵밥 건대본점), where the bowls sell out if you go late.

Summer heat is starting, and you need a solid meal to get through it! Hekbap is the Konkuk Univ. place where you can sit in cool air conditioning and try many kinds of rice bowls, so all your worries are solved. Whenever I look for a filling meal or something good with rice, this spot near Children's Grand Park pops into my head, so I went back again.

Why do I keep revisiting Hekbap Konkuk University Main Branch?

I keep coming back for the variety of the menu, the clean restaurant and the great-value prices. It's good for lunch, and I think of it whenever I'm out on a date or with friends.

How to get to Hekbap and find the entrance

Hekbap sits right between Konkuk Univ. Station and Children's Grand Park Station. From Konkuk Univ. Station, come out of Exit 7 and walk straight up, and you'll find it quickly.

It's on the 2nd floor, but there's a standing sign at the entrance, so it's not hard to find.

Check the stairs up to Hekbap carefully, and be sure to check the break time too!

I just showed up and hit the break time, so I came back 2 hours later for the bowl set.

Atmosphere and seating on the 2nd floor

The air conditioning is cool, so it's a great place to escape the heat in summer. I revisited on a ridiculously hot day at the start of summer, and the cool air instantly revived me. If you're losing your temper while out on a summer date, this is the place to cool down.

The tables are widely spaced and bright, and with the chandelier décor the place feels clean and pretty. Lots of couples come on dates, but it's also comfortable for eating alone, so there's a reason people who visit once come back.

The view from the window tables is especially lovely, and the window seats are for solo diners, so you can enjoy your meal even more.

Each table has a drawer with spoons, chopsticks and tissues.

There are even hair ties on the table, such a thoughtful touch ♡ There's also a fun book to enjoy while you wait for your food. You think of something in your mind, open the book, and it gives you an answer~

Hekbap is on the 2nd floor and the restroom is to the left of the entrance. It has a door lock, so you ask staff before using it.

Menu and how to order at the kiosk

There's a kiosk at every seat, so you can just look at the photos and choose, and the food comes out super fast after ordering. The menu is huge, from rice bowls to bukkake udon (udon with a cold or hot dipping broth poured over), zaru soba, cold soba, soba, ramen, sides and drinks, so choosing was fun.

The kiosk shows how carefully they've thought about things: receipt review instructions, Wi-Fi and even how to eat the rice bowls tastily, all in one place.

What I ordered this day

• Pork jowl bowl - ₩11,900
• Hanwoo daechang bowl - ₩16,900
• Receipt review - Pepsi Zero

In the afternoon, items like salmon and marinated shrimp show as sold out. Hekbap is so popular among Konkuk Univ. eateries that you have to rush at lunchtime to taste them.

I liked that everything at Hekbap is served neatly on wooden trays.

Hekbap Hanwoo daechang bowl set: portion and taste

The Hanwoo daechang bowl (한우대창덮밥, Hanwoo beef small intestine bowl, ₩16,900) is one of Hekbap's best-loved menu items. Along with the bowl, you get a bowl of udon, jorangi tteok (small rice cakes), and a salad with 2 pieces of karaage (Japanese fried chicken) as a set.

Because it's a set with udon, the portion feels really big. It's plenty for men, but a woman eating alone will find it hard to finish ♡

It's loaded with really plump pieces of Hanwoo daechang, so it's fun to eat the whole way through. They're tender and nutty, and the seasoning is tasty and not spicy, so I inhaled it.

Tip for the daechang bowl: eat it with pickled onions

With the Hanwoo daechang bowl, it's tastier if you take a spoonful of rice with daechang and pickled onion. They say onion helps flush out greasiness when you eat oily food, which is why onions come out at Chinese restaurants too. It's a tip worth following, so be sure to eat the non-spicy pickled onions with the daechang bowl!!!

The karaage salad and udon in the set

Two modest pieces of chicken karaage come on a salad with sesame dressing, and wow, it was tastier than it looked, which surprised me. It's really tender and juicy when you chew, the flavor is great, and it's even better with the cabbage salad in sesame dressing~~~

The udon portion is generous too, and I nearly burst.

How spicy is Hekbap's pork jowl bowl?

The pork jowl bowl (항정살덮밥, ₩11,900) has 2 chili marks on the menu, but it's less spicy than Shin Ramyun. I'm a spice wimp who can never eat Shin Ramyun, and this was moderately spicy, so I had no trouble eating it.

The pork jowl bowl comes with pork jowl, king oyster mushrooms, onion and green onion, so you get a mix of textures.

The pork jowl itself is springy, which felt really nice and made it taste even better. It's similar to jeyuk bokkeum (spicy stir-fried pork), so I think men and women alike will love it, and office workers will have a great lunch here. How nice it would be if there were one near my company....

The broth is deeper and richer than the udon broth, so a sip whenever I took too big a bite of the bowl felt refreshing. There's fried shrimp in the broth too, and every bite was full of savory flavor.

As with the set, the side that came along, cheese jorangi tteok, was a great dessert-like finish eaten with honey. It hit the spot so much that I want to buy cheese jorangi tteok at home and dip it in honey~~

Final verdict on revisiting Hekbap Konkuk University Main Branch

• Taste: ★★★☆
• Price: ★★★☆
• Atmosphere: ★★★☆

I'd stopped by Hekbap before while looking for a Konkuk Univ. restaurant with a varied menu, and it was good then too. On this revisit it was still delicious, and I could really feel why it's famous.