Gwangju bar with sashimi gujeolpan and rice soju: Ju Myeongdang

Hi, it's Marom! The weather's been so nice lately that I went out for a stroll in Dongmyeong-dong. I had a drink at Ju Myeongdang, a Korean pub on the 2nd floor of a building in Dongmyeong-dong.

Ju Myeongdang hours and where to park in Dongmyeong-dong

Ju Myeongdang is open from 11:30 to 23:30. During the day there's a lunch table, and in the evening a drinking table with a variety of side dishes, so you can eat and drink here. Even from outside you can tell it has a great vibe.

Ju Myeongdang is located on the 2nd floor like this, and we went up via the stairs. The attached parking lot at the Asia Culture Center allows 24-hour exit, and Ju Myeongdang supports 1 hour of parking for visitors.

Ju Myeongdang serves everything on a generous shared tray, so you can enjoy a variety of dishes at once — that's the dining style here.

Inside Ju Myeongdang: 6 private rooms and dogs welcome

The interior of Ju Myeongdang was spacious with a great atmosphere. Good for larger groups too.

Further inside there are private rooms, so you can enjoy your meal privately. There are 6 rooms in total, and dogs are allowed too. There's also couple seating and group seating with privacy, so it seems like a comfortable place to come eat and drink anytime.

The Ju Myeongdang menu: Imo Babsang, Samchon Suljang and Myeongdang Gujeolpan

Ju Myeongdang carefully prepares a table full of straw-fire aged meat and various Korean dishes, as well as basket-served drinking tables. The signature dish, Imo Babsang, is a meal packed with straw-fire aged meat, seasonal dishes, and a warm meal all on one table. Samchon Suljang, their representative drinking table, is composed of udae galbi (premium short rib) and straw-fire aged meat along with various Korean dishes and drinking snacks.

So you can eat lunch too, the straw-fire pork bulgogi table and beef bulgogi mushroom hot pot table can be ordered during lunch hours, 11:30–15:00. The lunch menu also comes out on a basket, full to the brim.

Here's the menu at Ju Myeongdang: Imo Babsang, Samchon Suljang, Myeongdang Gujeolpan. The Myeongdang Gujeolpan comes in 3 versions — raw beef, yukhoe (beef tartare)·salmon·flounder, or raw beef·yukhoe·salmon·flounder. The Samchon Suljang also comes with yukjeon (pan-fried beef), which was great.

The owner recommended the newly released gujeolpan. We ordered the Myeongdang Gujeolpan set with raw beef, yukhoe, salmon, and flounder. Since they had draft beer and rice soju, we ordered the rice soju too.

The Myeongdang Gujeolpan spread, dry ice and all

The visuals were amazing, and the portions were so generous. Dry ice was puffing up when the dish first arrived — we went 'whoa, this came out great.'

Even if the two of us wanted to eat several kinds of flounder, salmon, and raw beef, ordering multiple portions would be a lot since each is already generous — so it was great being able to try several kinds even just as two people.

Of course, sashimi comes with radish sprouts, pickled radish, danmuji (pickled yellow radish), and pickled ginger. There's also aged kimchi to go with the yukhoe. Kimchi pancake comes out too.

The side dishes come in a full basket, which felt kind of cute and set a nice mood — the kind of snack that makes you crave makgeolli too.

Seaweed soup loaded with dried shrimp comes out too~ and the portion was really generous.

It was truly a table full of drinking snacks. Great value for the price.

A gujeolpan loaded to the brim.

Ta-da~ what a great spread of snacks.

Draft beer or rice soju: which went better with the platter?

The draft beer was super creamy. It was so, so delicious — smooth and cold.

We dipped the raw beef in sauce and took a bite. The raw beef was chewy and delicious, as expected.

Salmon with onion, flounder with aged kimchi — the classic combo. Had a bite of yukhoe too.

The seaweed soup had shrimp in it too, so it was delicious.

We really ate well. Had a bite of the kimchi pancake too, and the side dishes we paired with it were delicious.

Ordered more beer.

Oneul Ssalsoju, a rice soju, has a lower alcohol content than regular soju, so it was easy to drink without feeling weighed down.

Is Ju Myeongdang worth it for just two people?

Ju Myeongdang, a bar in Dongmyeong-dong, has such a wide range of menu items that you can enjoy many different dishes at once — I loved that. It's a spacious spot with a great atmosphere. A warm meal shared with good people, a generous drinking table shared with good people.

Ju Myeongdang in Dongmyeong-dong, Gwangju, was a place with great value for money, a wide menu, good accessibility, and a great atmosphere.