Gyeongju abalone seafood stew with 4 abalones: Wando Cham Jeonbokjip

If you're planning a Gyeongju trip or you're just craving a good seafood stew, let me introduce a real local favorite in Seonggeon-dong, Gyeongju: Wando Cham Jeonbokjip (완도참전복집). It's been steadily loved by Gyeongju locals, and it's a genuine hidden gem that piles on fresh abalone and seafood without holding back. If you're after a hearty, soul-warming seafood stew, definitely add this to your list.

Location, hours, and parking at Wando Cham Jeonbokjip

Wando Cham Jeonbokjip is located at 48 Alcheonnam-ro, Seonggeon-dong, Gyeongju, Gyeongbuk. It's open daily from 11:00 to 15:00 and closed every Sunday. For parking, you can use the street in front of the restaurant or the public lot by the stream nearby.

Wando Cham Jeonbokjip, in Seonggeon-dong, Gyeongju, has such a clean, tidy exterior that it stands out even from a distance. It's right near Gyeongju Girls' High School, so it's really easy to find! Walking through the alley near the school, the neat sign and spotless storefront catch your eye right away — even first-timers won't have trouble spotting it. As a true waiting-line local favorite in Gyeongju, it only serves lunch, which makes it a bit tricky to catch, but that's exactly how popular it is — during peak hours, there's an actual line.

Parking is convenient — there's some space in front of the restaurant and in the alley, plus a public lot by the stream right in front of the shop.

Inside the restaurant and the abalone tank

The interior of Wando Cham Jeonbokjip is spacious and comfortable, with a separate private room that would work well for company dinners or family gatherings. The tables were spaced generously apart, so we could eat comfortably. Each table also had clean hygiene plastic sheeting laid out neatly, which was really reassuring. Overall, the place felt tidy and well-managed, which kept me in a good mood throughout the meal.

There's a big abalone tank set up in a corner of the restaurant, and the abalones inside were genuinely wriggling around, alive and fresh! You could tell at a glance how fresh the ingredients were, and it really showed how serious this place is about its ingredients. Knowing they'd cook up the abalone fresh the moment I ordered got me so excited before the food even arrived 😍

Menu and prices

I ordered the abalone seafood stew (small, ₩31,000) and abalone porridge (₩12,000). Since this is a spot for Gyeongju locals, the prices are pretty affordable across the board and good value. I've had abalone porridge in Haeundae before and it was really expensive, but here it's cheap enough that a lot of people around me were just grabbing a simple abalone porridge for lunch.

The side dish spread

Seeing the side dishes on the table genuinely moved me. Every single one felt handmade and full of care. These days a lot of places focus all their effort on the main dish and just use store-bought side dishes, but here you could feel the care in each one, and my chopsticks never stopped moving. I nearly finished a whole bowl of rice on side dishes alone before the main dish even arrived 👍

And ta-da, my order arrived! It looked delicious just from the visuals.

Four abalones even in the small-size stew

The abalone seafood stew at Wando Cham Jeonbokjip comes with a solid four abalones even in the small size (₩31,000), plus big chunks of octopus and all kinds of seafood — and this is the small size!? Amazing value for money, haha.

The abalone porridge here is also insanely good value..! It's practically packed with a whole abalone's worth, and the porridge itself is thick and rich, like a real broth of deep flavor.

How did the abalone porridge taste?

I tried the abalone porridge first, and the thick, rich flavor that filled my mouth was truly a work of art. Since they simmer it with plenty of the abalone innards, the depth of savoriness was on another level. Plus, they generously loaded it with abalone pulled straight from the tank, so every spoonful had this amazing chewy texture, haha. Eating it made me feel full and properly nourished the whole time.

They cut the octopus into bite-sized pieces before serving — when I first saw it, I honestly thought it was octopus (the big kind), it was that huge.

And there it is, cut into nice bite-sized pieces! The amount of seafood in the small size is amazing..! There's a reason locals flock here.

Abalone, shrimp, roe, octopus, and sea squirt — the seafood was piled on generously and every piece was fresh. The abalone straight from the tank had an exceptional chewiness, and picking through the plump shrimp, springy octopus, and soft roe was genuinely fun. The crunchy sea squirt aroma paired perfectly with the sauce! Especially since the sauce soaked all the way through, eating the crunchy bean sprouts together with the seafood set off an explosion of savory flavor. Thanks to the spicy-sweet sauce, I kept eating without stopping — it really felt like a proper seafood stew experience.

I ate every last bit — this might be the most satisfying seafood stew I've had recently. I feel like I have to come back every time I visit Gyeongju from now on, haha. Weekends get too crowded, so I'll have to aim for a quieter weekday visit.

Finishing off with a coffee for dessert made it a totally satisfying meal, haha.

Final thoughts

The freshness that hit me from the abalone tank carried through all the way to the side dishes and the main dish.

From the side dishes made with such care, to the rich, deep abalone porridge, to the spicy abalone seafood stew loaded with seafood — nothing left me wanting more.

Thanks to the fresh ingredients, the texture was amazing too, and I felt properly nourished the whole time I was eating. This is the first place that'll come to mind whenever I crave a real abalone dish or seafood stew. Highly recommend it as a Gyeongju local favorite..!