Icheon beef platter after outlet shopping: Jowatso

A Janghowon beef restaurant after shopping at Yeoju Outlets

My Prada luxury haul post from Yeoju Outlets got so many views—thank you for all the enthusiasm! I guess nothing gets views quite like a luxury-review post. Anyway, once I scored one great find, I got addicted and kept wanting to go back to Yeoju Outlets and Icheon Lotte Outlets... so I went again just a week later, haha. This time, rather than only shopping, I want to introduce my own value-for-money restaurant that I always visit when I come to Yeoju or Icheon for the outlets! The quality of the meat is seriously good. About a 30-minute drive from Yeoju Outlets, it is Jowatso Janghowon Gamgok Main Branch (조왔소 장호원 감곡 본점).

It is open until 10 p.m., with last orders at 9:20 p.m., so my usual route was to shop happily until the outlets closed, drive about 30 minutes here, eat, then head home haha. Another plus is the spacious parking lots in front of and behind the restaurant~

I was surprised to see so many customers even though it was late on a weekday. There are lots of golf courses nearby, including Gamgok CC, Blackstone CC, Icheon Silk Valley CC, and Solmoro CC, as well as major shopping complexes such as Yeoju Outlets and Icheon Lotte Outlets, so I think the area gets plenty of visitors.

What comes on the 850g signature special-cut platter

There are lots of menu options, but my one and only recommendation is the “Signature Special-Cut Platter.” There is no better-value way to try so many different cuts. I can say that confidently as a regular. At 850g, it serves three to four adults, and it is a value set with five kinds of beef—udaegalbi beef ribs, bonkkotsal, beef rib meat, flat iron steak, and canola-honey marinated beef—plus two mushrooms and complimentary spicy beef hangover soup.

You can enjoy all of this for just ₩89,000ㅠ Seriously, it is only because Icheon is far from my house that I do not come once a week. If it were closer, I absolutely would.

There is no review event or anything like that—they simply always serve the spicy beef hangover soup for free~ It has a good amount of bean sprouts and meat, so I cannot believe it is complimentary, and the refreshing broth makes it perfect drinking food, period...

The order for eating the platter

First: bonkkotsal and the house sauce

The first cut you should eat is bonkkotsal~ Apparently, it is the intercostal meat between the ribs, and only a tiny amount comes from each cow. Maybe that is why it is so tender—it melts away after just a few chews. Seriously.

Three sauces come with it, and I recommend the house sauce on the far left. The owner is a professional chef with Korean, Western, Japanese, and pufferfish preparation certifications and makes it personally. It was such an umami-rich sauce that I wanted to take it home, so be sure to dip the meat in it~

Rice and wasabi come with it too, so you can eat it like beef sushi—it has the feel of aburi sushi.

The ssam (wraps) and vegetables were so fresh and crisp. I usually do not even like making wraps, but I made a few here. They were such fresh vegetables that they reminded me of the land tortoise I keep at home, haha.

Second: bibim naengmyeon after the flat iron steak

Next, you should grill the flat iron steak! It feels like an unusual beef restaurant because you get to grill different cuts of beef almost like omakase. Flat iron steak comes from the upper shoulder/front leg area of the cow; it was softer than sirloin and nutty, but not greasy~

Wait—stop. The moment you have eaten up to the flat iron steak, order bibim naengmyeon (spicy mixed cold noodles) right away! Usually, naengmyeon is the universal rule for dessert, but this place is different. The bibim naengmyeon sauce is truly a work of art and goes perfectly with the meat.

I do not know how a barbecue restaurant's bibim naengmyeon can taste better than one from a naengmyeon specialty restaurant, but this sauce is honestly insane. Eat it with the meat and wow... I have no words. You absolutely have to order the spicy noodles. Here, bibim naengmyeon is the real deal over mul naengmyeon!!!

Third: beef rib meat

The third cut to try is beef rib meat, one of Koreans' most beloved cuts. It is meat attached between the ribs, and because it is a well-worked area, it has a rich beefy flavor and a chewy texture. Beef rib meat usually has a lot of fat mixed in, but as you can see, this was almost all lean meat... They must have removed any tough membrane or tendons beforehand, because they served only really good pieces.

Fourth: udaegalbi, the most delicious cut

The fourth cut is udaegalbi. Udaegalbi is a rib cut sliced whole while keeping the long beef rib bone intact, a highlight often introduced as a signature menu at expensive beef restaurants—and you can have it here in Icheon, Gyeonggi too... It reminded me once again that meat attached to the bone really is the most delicious.

Udaegalbi was the tastiest for my palate, haha. After picking all the meat off, I even grilled the leftover bone and gnawed on it later, haha.

Last: canola-honey marinated beef

Now for the final marinated ribs. These are not just ordinary marinated ribs—they are canola-honey marinated beef. Rather than the dull sweetness of sugar, the subtle, refined flavor unique to canola honey was memorable. Best of all, perhaps because it was coated in canola honey, the meat did not burn easily? Marinated ribs normally burn easily because of the marinade, but maybe because of the honey, I was able to eat it nicely without burning it, haha.

I also ordered my favorite drink, Fanta Orange, to refresh my palate, and there were two large mushrooms to share with my friend^^

The self-service bar and a post-shopping route home

The chairs have storage compartments, which was nice because my clothes did not pick up any smell, and dozens of mini fans were ready so we could eat comfortably by the hot flames. The basic table setting was generous too, with a variety of fresh side dishes, and you can refill anything you need at the self-service bar!

This is the very video that got flooded with messages asking where it was when I posted it to Instagram Stories, haha.

• Hours: 11:00–22:00
• Last order: 21:20
• Break time: None

It really needs no more words. Just come and try it once, and you will become a regular right away... Truly, the reason I review this place with so much care is that I genuinely love itㅠ If you want, they will even give you ground beef to take home for free! You can add it to soup or donggeurangttaeng (Korean meat patties), and it is quite a generous amount haha. Anyway, if you are looking for a good restaurant near Yeoju Outlets or Icheon Lotte Outlets, come here at least once! I have been a regular for years.