Cheongyang cream chicken with pasta noodles, Dandae-ogeori: Jangjakgun

As I've mentioned in past posts, my partner is an absolute chicken maniac. Today's post starts with his recommendation for a Dandae-ogeori spot, which has become the place we've now been to again and again and again: Jangjakgun.

When we first came here, there was basically just this main branch and not much else, but now they've opened a bunch of chain locations, haha.

Before this we were so obsessed with their half-fried chicken that we went out of our way to come all the way from Jamsil, paying with our own money. Seeing how many chain locations they've opened and how famous they've gotten since then, I guess my good-restaurant radar wasn't wrong, hahaha.

Jangjakgun Main Branch: the building, the seats and spring's open-air feel

Jangjakgun Main Branch is on the 2nd floor of a building near Dandae-ogeori Station, at 340 Sanseong-daero, Jungwon-gu, Seongnam. The exterior alone is enough to make you hungry. The owner is right there putting chickens in and taking them out of the wood-fire roasting drum in real time.

Inside, they blast the AC in summer, and in spring they open up the transparent side windows so you can enjoy it like an outdoor night market — that's my favorite spot.

Jangjakgun's whole chicken menu, and why the cheongyang cream nurungji chicken won

Here's the menu. Main whole-chicken options include buldak corn nurungji chicken, hanbang nurungji chicken, hanbang nurungji half-fried chicken, seasoned nurungji chicken, corn nurungji chicken, half-and-half nurungji chicken, cheongyang cream nurungji chicken, spicy seasoned nurungji chicken, spicy seasoned half-cheese chicken, hanbang nurungji rosé, and supreme nurungji chicken.

We'd always ordered the hanbang nurungji chicken until now, but this time we were craving something heavier, richer, and creamier, so we went with the cheongyang cream nurungji chicken!!

What comes free: side dishes and the self-serve bar at Jangjakgun

The basic side dishes come out like this (pickled radish, yeolmu kimchi, cabbage salad), with spicy sauce, mustard sauce, and salt on the side. You can refill at the self-serve bar. The cabbage salad sauce is a mayo-ketchup blend so I kept scooping it up. Perfect as a snack when you're already full!!

Why Jangjakgun's draft beer tastes better: 420cc for 4,500 won

Draft beer, 420cc — ₩4,500. And this place is genuinely a next-level draft beer spot!!! Part of why I fell in love with this place isn't just the chicken — the draft beer is seriously, seriously good. I've never had domestic draft beer taste this good; the valve management seems really well done, and I heard the staff actually got certified as draft beer meisters.

The first time we came, the draft was so amazing I gushed about it to the owner, and he pointed proudly at his meister certification — you could really feel his pride in the beer itself. It's honestly so, so good that I wish everyone could try just one glass. Ugh.

Is that the draft beer machine? That thing is a real gem,,

Cheongyang cream nurungji chicken, 27,000 won plus 3,000 won pasta noodles

Cheongyang cream nurungji chicken — ₩27,000, pasta noodle add-on — ₩3,000. We'd always just ordered the half-fried chicken, so this was our first time trying the cream chicken, and the visual was honestly insane,,?

Look at that mountain of garlic flakes piled on top. The cheongyang cream itself is so, so good that you could eat it by the spoonful on its own. Since I love spicy food, I was totally fine with the extra kick of cheongyang pepper, but I think even people who can't handle spice would enjoy this without any complaints!! The cream flavor is so strong that it's not really that spicy.

Also, I never noticed this when eating the half-fried chicken, but with the cream chicken, adding pasta noodles is genuinely essential. Not optional — truly essential. By the end I wanted to refill the noodles one more time.

And once you add it, they give you this huge mountain of noodles right from the start. It's enough for two carb-loving pigs to eat until their bellies are full.

I'm a broth person who likes to scoop up sauce with everything, and they thoughtfully give you extra sauce on the side too. The hot stone plate itself keeps bubbling away, so you can pour more in anytime and still eat it warm.

Receipt review at Jangjakgun gets you hot-plate corn cheese

If you write a receipt review, they also give you corn cheese on a hot stone plate like this. It's a flavor I already know and love, and it's even better bubbling hot. Sigh.

If you only want a few bites of something rich, I'd say order the half-fried chicken instead, enjoy it with the salt, mustard, and seasoned sauce combos, then add this corn cheese through the review event and dip the leftover chicken in it — that gives you four different flavor combos, no problem.

The weather's warmed up now and it's the perfect season for that draft beer plus outdoor-seating combo, so everyone should go experience it for themselves >_<