Ansan kimchi jjigae restaurant, silver ear mushroom add-on: Choburi

Did you know it's actually harder than you'd think to find a kimchi jjigae place that matches your own taste ,,? I've been on a mission to try every good kimchi jjigae spot around Siheung and Ansan, and my boyfriend strongly recommended this one. I'm not a fan of sour kimchi jjigae, and he told me this place isn't sour at all!

What to know before visiting Choburi Kimchi Jjigae Gojan Main Branch

It's open from 11am to 9pm, with a break time from 3:30 to 5pm. Last order is at 8:30pm! The public parking lot in front is free on weekends, but if it's full you'll need to use a paid lot or park in a side street. No parking support from the building!

Choburi Kimchi Jjigae has been running for three generations now, quite the long-standing local favorite! It seems they originally ran the restaurant somewhere else before expanding and moving to Gojan-dong. My boyfriend said he's been eating here since way back ʕ ᐢ ᵕ ᐢ ʔ

Sunday lunch at Choburi: how big is it and is there a wait?

The interior is quite spacious with high ceilings. Looks like there are about 15 to 20 tables, and we visited during Sunday lunch, so there were a ton of customers haha. It seemed like a wait started forming right after we got there! If you want to skip the wait during peak lunch hours like we did, I'd recommend booking through Naver Reservation. Book through Naver and you even get a free side of white jelly mushroom ദ്ദി◝ࡇ◜)꜆

Ordering by kiosk, plus free rice and broth refills

At Choburi Kimchi Jjigae you order yourself at a kiosk! Add items to your order and pay, and it goes straight to the kitchen. The set menus are quite reasonably priced, and you can check everything from single dishes to sides to add-ons — we went with the two-person set plus extra raw meat!

This is what I think is Choburi's biggest advantage! There's rice and jjigae broth at the self-serve bar? With free rice refills and free broth refills, big-rice-eaters like my boyfriend could honestly eat until they burst hahahaha. Also great for when ordering an extra stone-pot rice feels like too much but you're still a little short — perfect to just grab a bit yourself (˵• ̀⩊•́˵)

After ordering, they bring out the side dishes! And if you look at the corner of the table, there's even a guide on how to eat it best. Apparently it's meant to be eaten with less broth, more concentrated ,, we'd had a heavy night of drinking the day before so we really needed something to cure the hangover ,, seeing that broth put my mind at ease. They also do delivery, which is a nice bonus!

The two-person set with extra raw pork and silver ear mushroom

Our two-person set came out with the extra raw meat and silver ear mushroom (eunibeoseot)! At first they just brought the two-person set, then added the extras right in front of us. The extra raw meat comes to about 120g, and the portion was pretty generous! The kimchi jjigae has onion, kimchi, tofu, meat, and a bit of shredded green onion on top.

Ta-da (๑╹ω╹๑ ) a hearty kimchi jjigae spread all set up 💕 At first you boil it on the induction burner at about level 7 for 6 to 7 minutes, then it's ready to eat! It looked so good I almost took a sip of broth too soon ,,

Perilla oil fried egg and golden gardenia stone-pot rice

The perilla oil fried egg that comes with the set! If you visit Choburi, definitely get the set so you can try this perilla oil fried egg too! Crispy on the outside, soft-boiled inside — perfect with the kimchi jjigae ෆ

With the stone-pot rice that comes alongside, they scoop out the rice for you and pour in water to make sungnyung (scorched rice tea) 🤍 The rice is yellow because it's golden gardenia stone-pot rice, said to be good for cancer prevention, skin, and blood vessels! The rice you eat alongside kimchi jjigae really matters, and having a pretty yellow rice that's also good for your health ,, hats off to the owner for nailing both taste and care ( ˶'ᵕ'˶)ෆ

How the kimchi jjigae broth tastes: clean, not sour

Once it starts bubbling and about 6 minutes pass, the induction burner turns off automatically — at that point you can turn it back on to around level 2 to keep it warm while you eat! I love kimchi jjigae with lots of fat in the meat, and here the fat-to-meat ratio was almost 50-50, which I loved! And the silver ear mushroom soaked in the jjigae ,, pure love ( ⸝•ᴗ•⸝)

And the reason my boyfriend recommended this place is exactly that it's not a sour kimchi jjigae — the broth wasn't too thin or too concentrated either, which made it even better, and it had a clean flavor that was neither too sweet nor too sour! With broth available at the self-serve bar too, it's easy to have more, and finishing with warm sungnyung made for a really filling, satisfying weekend lunch.

They also have ice cream for dessert after the meal, plus meal kits! If you buy one the same day after eating, it's a reasonable ₩18,000 — worth keeping in mind!

If you're looking for a great kimchi jjigae spot in Gojan-dong, Ansan — if you want kimchi jjigae that tastes like the kimchi your mom makes instead of a sour one, or if you want to eat kimchi jjigae alongside a healthy stone-pot rice — I highly recommend Choburi Kimchi Jjigae Gojan Main Branch 🤍