Suwon Ingye-dong gamjatang restaurant: hot pot with a son back home

My son came back to Korea after years away. Seeing his face after so long, the first thing I thought was what to feed him. He said he wanted gamjatang (potato and pork bone stew) meat, so I thought about where to go and remembered Eolkeunhan Ppyeo Haejangguk Suwon Ingye Branch, a place I'd enjoyed once before.

Last time I came with my daughter in her 30s and my mother in her 80s, and I remembered the bone soup being delicious then, so this time I went back with my son. It's already known as a spot for spicy bone soup in Suwon's Ingye-dong, and coming back after a while, the flavor was just as good as I remembered.

Why we came back to Eolkeunhan Ppyeo Haejangguk in Ingye-dong

One nice thing about Eolkeunhan Ppyeo Haejangguk Suwon Ingye Branch is that it's open 24 hours, so you're never limited by time. Ingye-dong has so many restaurants that picking just one place is hard, but I tend to just go back to somewhere I've already tried and liked.

When you're looking for a good Ingye-dong restaurant and want something spicy and filling, bone soup or gamjatang comes to mind, and I liked that you can get both here. This time my son wanted gamjatang, so we ordered the hot pot version.

How much meat is on the bones in the gamjatang hot pot?

Gamjatang really tastes best bubbling away as you eat it. Cooking the hot pot right at the table meant the broth kept getting richer, and we could keep eating it piping hot. What I liked most was that there was a lot more meat clinging to the bones than I expected.

When you order bone soup or gamjatang, it's always a little disappointing if there's barely any meat on the bones. Here, picking the meat off with chopsticks was genuinely fun.

My son and I sat there picking up bone after bone, digging out the meat, and before I knew it we were totally absorbed in the meal. It was satisfying whenever the meat came off easily, and we ended up carefully picking out every last bit stuck between the bones. With the spicy broth and hearty meat, it really felt like a proper meal.

Spicy broth that is made for spooning over rice

The reason I remembered this place is really the broth. True to its name, it's spicy, so it doesn't feel greasy even with all that meat, and it pairs well with rice mixed in. It's not just aggressively hot either — it has that deep, rich gamjatang flavor that kept drawing me back for more spoonfuls.

My son said this was the food he'd been wanting to eat since coming back to Korea, and he really dug in. Seeing my son, home after years abroad, eating so happily made me happy too. As a mom, nothing beats watching your kid eat well.

It was delicious when I came before with my daughter and mother, but coming back this time with my son to eat gamjatang gave it a whole different feeling.

Is Eolkeunhan Ppyeo Haejangguk worth it for a filling Ingye-dong meal?

This visit we had gamjatang instead of bone soup, but true to the name Eolkeunhan Ppyeo Haejangguk, the spicy, rich broth is what stuck with me. If you're eating alone or want something simple, order the bone soup; if you're with a group, the gamjatang hot pot is worth cooking up together. Since it's open 24 hours, it's also a solid option when you're looking for somewhere to eat late at night.

If you're looking for a good Ingye-dong restaurant in Suwon where you can get spicy broth and plenty of meat, this kind of place should satisfy you. I tried it once, loved it, and came back years later with my son — and once again, we ate well.

Sharing the gamjatang my son wanted after coming home to Korea after so long — food aside, I think that time together is what I'll remember most. This is the kind of Ingye-dong restaurant I know I'll think of again the next time I need a hearty meal in the area.