Yatap food alley chicken restaurant: herbal nurungji chicken and beer

Today I visited a chicken restaurant near Yatap that I'm excited to review — Jangjakkun Yatap Direct Branch, a firewood barbecue chicken spot in the Yatap Station food alley. Let's get into it!

Sizzling on a hot iron plate, oak-fired herbal chicken! This is Jangjakkun Yatap Direct Branch, a chicken restaurant in the Yatap food alley haha.

What is Jangjakkun Yatap Direct Branch? A new chicken spot in the Yatap food alley

Jangjakkun Yatap Direct Branch is an oak-fired whole chicken restaurant in the Yatap Station food alley. It used to be a different restaurant, but reopened fresh in July 2026 — one of the newest spots in the Yatap alley haha.

They open at 16:30 on weekdays and 16:00 on weekends and holidays. Since it takes 90 minutes to carefully prepare the chicken over firewood, if you time your visit around when the chicken comes out, you'll get to enjoy it at its best haha.

They roast it for 90 minutes using oak's radiant heat, stuffed with glutinous rice, ginseng, jujube, garlic, ginkgo nuts, black rice, sunflower seeds, pumpkin seeds and more, so you get a flavor like nurungji (scorched rice) on an iron plate haha.

Watching the oak fire: a camping mood at Jangjakkun

Off to one side of the restaurant, chicken slowly barbecues over firewood at Jangjakkun Yatap Direct Branch — the colors change floor by floor haha. Watching it turn round and round, and just staring at the fire, made it a bit of a landmark spot in its own way haha.

There was firewood stacked up too, which gave it a real camping feel. Camping, at Yatap Station, of all places haha.

Layout, seating and the self-serve bar at Jangjakkun Yatap

The layout of Jangjakkun Yatap Direct Branch is a little unique — past the lobby there are stairs, and up a half-flight you reach the hall. The lobby is spacious enough that it seemed like 2-3 more tables could fit, which felt like a bit of a missed opportunity haha.

Still, once you go up the half-flight of stairs, there are plenty of tables and enough space to accommodate group customers. It was crowded so I couldn't get proper photos, but the space is actually bigger than it looks in pictures — worth keeping in mind.

There's also a self-serve bar where you can grab extra side dishes if you run out, and above the side dishes there are utensils, bowls, plates, and even sauces, so it was nice being able to just help yourself.

Jangjakkun menu and how the table is set

Here's the menu at Jangjakkun Yatap Direct Branch, the Yatap chicken restaurant — starting with the best-selling herbal nurungji whole chicken, they have all kinds of barbecue-style whole chicken. The half-and-half nurungji chicken, which fits today's trend of wanting variety, was also a best-seller. I'm planning to try the half-and-half version next time haha.

This is how the table setting comes out — surprisingly, they gave us gatkimchi (mustard leaf kimchi) haha. Since it's nurungji chicken, kimchi comes as a side dish at Jangjakkun Yatap Direct Branch.

How does the herbal nurungji whole chicken taste? Crisp outside, juicy inside, smoky

The herbal nurungji whole chicken arrived, and the outside looked really crispy. Thinking about how this chicken endured 90 grueling minutes over the oak fire just to meet me, I got a little emotional haha. You worked hard, now I'll enjoy you properly and appreciate every bite. That's the kind of moment I shared with this chicken — with my tongue, of course haha.

I was surprised at how softly the meat pulled apart, and surprised again by how moist it was. Crispy outside, moist inside — and it wasn't even deep-fried in oil. How is this even possible...

Because it's smoked over wood, it tasted really clean yet you could really taste the aroma of the wood — it felt like eating with your nose as much as your mouth haha. The skin was nicely salty, and there were three sauces — seasoned sauce, salt, and spicy sauce — so you could dip according to your taste.

Draft beer at Jangjakkun: Hanmac, with large sizes too

Of course, being a chicken restaurant, they have draft beer — the draft at Jangjakkun Yatap Direct Branch is Hanmac. Rich foam and fizzy bubbles made for a really tasty beer haha. I'd say it matches the atmosphere of Jangjakkun well. The size and price were also reasonable, so I could order without worrying. The size bigger than this one is really huge. If you want a big-size beer, I'd recommend trying it haha — there's something fun about the sheer size haha.

Why you should order the rice balls at Jangjakkun

And you absolutely must order and try the tuna roe rice balls. This is seriously the real deal hahahahaha. I wasn't expecting much, but they were so good I ended up wolfing them down haha. The friend I went with also loved them and kept eating more.

If you're looking for a Yatap food alley chicken restaurant, a chicken restaurant near Yatap Station, you should try the healthy herbal nurungji whole chicken roasted over firewood for 90 minutes. Go enjoy the smoky aroma from the firewood roasting, along with the chewy, moist herbal nurungji chicken, cold beer, and the addictively good flying fish roe rice balls.