Gwangju jokbal restaurant, three dishes on one table: Kkankkanhan

A jokbal restaurant that's great for a family meal out!

Jokbal (braised pig's trotters) is delicious even in one flavor, but it's even better when you can eat several flavors at once, right? Especially when I go out for jokbal, I want the basic jokbal, but I also want spicy fire jokbal, and if there's bossam too, then I'm torn all over again — that's just how I am haha.

So this time I went to Kkankkanhan Jokbal Yongbong Branch, located in Yongbong-dong, Gwangju. Kkankkanhan Jokbal sells a range of menus from charcoal-grilled jokbal to direct-fire spicy jokbal and bossam, and the Yongbong-dong branch is on Yongbong-taekji-ro, so it wasn't hard to find. They also offer group seating, takeout, and reservations. So let's get into my visit to Kkankkanhan Jokbal in Yongbong-dong, Gwangju.

Where is Kkankkanhan Jokbal Yongbong Branch, and when is it open?

The address of Kkankkanhan Jokbal Yongbong Branch is 82 Yongbong-taekji-ro, Buk-gu, Gwangju, South Korea. Hours run from 4 pm to 11:30 pm, with no break time.

• Address: 82 Yongbong-taekji-ro, Buk-gu, Gwangju, South Korea
• Hours: 16:00 – 23:30
• Break time: None
• Takeout/delivery: From 11:30

The menu at Kkankkanhan Jokbal and what we ordered

Kkankkanhan Jokbal has a surprisingly wide range of jokbal menus. The main ones include charcoal-grilled jokbal, direct-fire spicy jokbal, old-style king jokbal, flower cold-mix jokbal, and charcoal-grilled bossam, plus set menus that combine several items. There's even a dedicated three-way combo menu, so it's built for enjoying multiple flavors together.

What I ordered was charcoal-grilled jokbal + charcoal-grilled bossam + level-2 spicier jokbal — all three! Being able to try jokbal, bossam, and spicy jokbal on one table meant I loved the menu choice from the start.

What the restaurant looks like inside and out

Kkankkanhan Jokbal Yongbong Branch is near the Jeoncheolwoo intersection in Yongbong-dong, so it's not hard to find from the surrounding area, and the big Kkankkanhan Jokbal sign out front made it easy to spot even on my first visit. Since it's a jokbal restaurant, when you visit in the evening a delicious smell drifts out from the entrance — honestly, it's hard to just walk past haha.

Once inside, the interior was bigger than I expected. It's neatly kept overall with plenty of tables, so it looked good for a family meal and also comfortable for a group visit. The space is actually set up to accommodate group seating, and the wide hall layout makes it comfortable for several people to eat together. There's also a big screen inside, so you can watch something while you eat.

Free side dishes and refillable fish cake broth

The basic side dishes were lettuce, pickled radish, salad, dried radish strips, chojang (vinegar-chili sauce), salted shrimp, ssamjang, and garlic.

On top of that, this steamed egg came out as a basic item, and it was so fluffy and paired so well with the level-2 spicier jokbal we ordered that we didn't need to order anything extra — that was nice.

This fish cake was my favorite part!! It's served free with broth, and the broth was so well-steeped that it tasted exactly like street-cart fish cake — I slurped it up and downed the broth too. It comes one piece per person, and once we finished it, we were genuinely disappointed! But then — it's refillable!! My kid loved it so much we refilled it right away and finished that too, completely, haha.

Three dishes on one table at once

Charcoal-grilled jokbal

First up, charcoal-grilled jokbal. You can't talk about Kkankkanhan Jokbal without this one. The jokbal is boiled first, then grilled once more over charcoal, so you get both the charcoal aroma and the chewy texture of jokbal together.

Taking a piece, the first thing you notice is the chewy texture. The skin part is springy and chewy, while the meat part chews soft, and the two textures went well together. On top of that there's a subtle charcoal aroma, which made it feel clearly different from plain boiled jokbal. The charcoal note wasn't overpowering — it came through gently the more you chewed, so it never got in the way of the jokbal's own flavor, which I liked.

Especially good when you top a piece of jokbal with dried radish strips or pickled radish for extra texture. Wrapping a piece in lettuce or perilla leaf with a little garlic also worked well, and even eaten plain, the charcoal aroma and chewy texture made it plenty delicious. It really reminded me that the basic menu deserves to be eaten as the basic menu.

Level-2 spicier jokbal: how hot is it?

Second was the one I was most curious about — the level-2 spicier jokbal! If you like spicy food, you can't just walk past a menu like this haha. Kkankkanhan Jokbal has a spicy jokbal menu grilled over direct fire with added spicy sauce — a style where the spicy seasoning and smoky char come together.

The level-2 spicier jokbal looks spicy from the color alone. The sauce coats the surface evenly, so the first bite brings a sweet-spicy sauce flavor, with the heat building up afterward. But it wasn't just heat — the savory depth of the sauce and the smoky char came through together, which kept me reaching for more.

Eating the charcoal-grilled jokbal, then a piece of spicy jokbal, then a bite of bossam, then spicy jokbal again — alternating like this made it feel like the three flavors were balancing each other out. Since it's a spicy item, pairing it with something crisp like pickled radish softened the heat a bit, and having the milder bossam in between worked nicely too.

Charcoal-grilled bossam

Third was charcoal-grilled bossam. This isn't just plain boiled bossam (boiled pork wraps) — it's grilled once more over charcoal, so it feels a bit different from typical bossam.

After eating only jokbal, switching to a piece of bossam changed the mood completely. Where typical bossam is centered on soft, moist meat, here the subtle charcoal aroma added an extra nuttiness. The slices were a good thickness, and chewing them wasn't tough — they went down smoothly.

Topping a piece of bossam with radish kimchi or other side dishes paired the meat's mild flavor nicely with something tangy or crisp. And with the slight charcoal aroma added, it had a richer flavor than plain boiled bossam.

Is Kkankkanhan Jokbal Yongbong Branch worth a family dinner?

This visit to Kkankkanhan Jokbal in Yongbong-dong, Gwangju is the kind of place that comes to mind when you want to eat several jokbal menus at once. Above all, the restaurant itself is spacious and clean, so it's good for a family visit and also comfortable for a group to gather and eat jokbal.

What I liked most was not having to settle on just one menu — being able to try all three evenly. Whether you like jokbal with charcoal aroma, soft bossam, or spicy jokbal, this was a good menu to eat together even with mixed tastes. If you're looking for a good jokbal restaurant in Yongbong-dong, it might be worth checking out Kkankkanhan Jokbal Yongbong Branch :)