Bucheon Korean restaurant, mild namul and cheonggukjang: Gim Myeongju

My husband has been taking herbal medicine lately, so we've been avoiding meat dishes for a while. That means when we eat out, instead of meat-heavy menus, I find myself looking for Korean restaurants where we can have a variety of clean, simple side dishes.

But eating just soup or stew with plain rice every time felt lacking, so I was hoping for a place where we could have lots of little side dishes, the way we do at home. That's how I found Gim Myeongju Tteuranchae Bapsang (김명주뜰안채밥상) Sinjung-dong Branch.

They said the basic side dishes were varied, and you could grab more from a self-bar if you wanted extras, so I went with my family. This time, my husband mostly ate side dishes, while the kids and I added charcoal-grilled pork on top of the Tteuranchae Bapsang set.

Where is Gim Myeongju Tteuranchae Bapsang, and is there parking?

Tteuranchae Bapsang Sinjung-dong Branch

Gim Myeongju Tteuranchae Bapsang Sinjung-dong Branch is close to Sinjungdong Station — about a 5-minute walk from Exit 3, so it's easy to find.

We drove, and since the building spans the 1st through 3rd floors, it's a fairly large place, and the parking lot was nice and spacious.

• 📍 70 Jungdong-ro 254beon-gil, Wonmi-gu, Bucheon-si, Gyeonggi-do, South Korea (partial 1st floor, 2nd floor, 3rd floor)
• ⏰ Daily 10:30–21:30 / last order 20:50
• 🚇 385m from Exit 3 of Sinjungdong Station
• 🚗 Recommended to check parking before visiting
• 👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Group dining available
• 📦 Takeout / reservations available

It's not a small storefront you might walk past by accident — the building exterior makes it obvious 'this is a restaurant.' Near the entrance, the menu and prices are posted, so it was nice to check what to order before even going in.

Tteuranchae Café on the first floor and the dining room upstairs

A lot of families visit here, so the place is laid out with plenty of room. Each floor has a space to wait or rest for a bit.

For waiting before a meal, or for a coffee after eating while waiting for the car to be brought around, the 1st floor Tteuranchae Café has a coffee machine and nice cool air conditioning.

Once inside, the overall vibe was that comfortable, classic Korean-restaurant feel. The rooms are set up with the basic meal ready, and on one side there's a self-bar where you can grab your own extra side dishes.

How to order the Tteuranchae set meal and the 3,000-won kids' pot rice

The Tteuranchae jeongsik seems to work by adding a single dish on top of the Tteuranchae Bapsang. For the Tteuranchae Bapsang (4-person basis), you need to order at least one single dish. You get a pressure-cooker pot rice made that same day from freshly milled yellow rice!!

Elementary-school-age kids and up need to order one rice per person, and preschool-age kids can add a kids' pot rice (3,000₩) instead. The kids' pot rice portion isn't small either — getting a freshly cooked pot of rice for just 3,000₩ feels like a great deal!

The side dishes: mild namul, not spicy or salty

The basic side dishes were really good. Several kinds of namul (seasoned vegetable side dishes) with a mild, healthy flavor, none of them too spicy or too salty.

Charcoal-grilled pork added as a single dish for the kids

The set alone already had quite a variety of side dishes, but since the kids love meat, we added charcoal-grilled pork as a single dish.

The charcoal-grilled pork had a subtle smoky flavor, and eating it together with rice and side dishes instead of just the meat alone, the kids got totally into the tasty rice and meat combo. Especially with so many Korean side dishes on the table, there was fun in pairing a bite of meat with a different side dish each time.

The cheonggukjang (fermented soybean stew) that comes as a basic side wasn't salty either, and honestly tasted better than what we make at home.

Self-bar lotus root and eggplant fritters

Another feature of Tteuranchae Bapsang is the self-bar. Besides the side dishes already set on the table, there's a variety of extra sides at the self-bar. You can eat as much as you want, no shortage at all.

The lotus root and eggplant fritters in particular were really delicious. Even my youngest, who hates vegetables, ate maybe 10 pieces of the lotus root fritters!!!!

There were already plenty of side dishes set on the table, but with the self-bar available too, it turned into a really generous meal. And of course you can have as much of the tasty pot-cooked yellow rice as you like. Gim Myeongju Tteuranchae Bapsang is great for big eaters!

Finishing the family meal with nurungji from the pot rice

What I especially liked about Tteuranchae Bapsang is that the rice isn't just a plain bowl of rice, but comes as pot rice. Eating warm rice with the side dishes and then scraping up the scorched rice crust left at the bottom of the pot at the end made for a pretty filling finish to the meal.

Rather than eating a lot of just one dish, on a day when you want to properly enjoy a meal by tasting a little of many side dishes — especially a day you want a healthy meal — this seems like a good place to go.