Goyang hanjeongsik with cockle salad add-on for three: Kim Myeongju

I went to lunch with my parents on a weekday at Kim Myeongju Tteuranchae Bapsang Wondang Station Branch.

When picking a menu to eat with my parents, we always seem to end up back at Korean food. They like sitting down and tasting one side dish at a time with warm rice, rather than a menu that has you busy grilling meat.

I went looking for that kind of place again and ended up here — the spread turned out to be more generous than I expected, so it made for a satisfying lunch. It's not far from Hwajeong either, so it could work for anyone searching for a Hwajeong restaurant to visit with their parents.

Parking and weekday lunch wait at Kim Myeongju Tteuranchae Bapsang

Kim Myeongju Tteuranchae Bapsang Wondang Station Branch has easy parking, so going by car wasn't a hassle. We drove there with my parents, and parking was the first thing I liked about arriving. When you're moving around with your parents, the worst case is pulling right up to the restaurant and finding nowhere to park.

We visited on a weekday afternoon and got seated right away with no wait. I thought there might be a line since it was lunchtime, but there were seats available so we sat down immediately.

Weekends or peak meal times might be different, but on the weekday we visited, we could eat pretty comfortably without rushing.

Tteuranchae Bapsang price and what three of us ordered

The most basic menu item at Kim Myeongju Tteuranchae Bapsang Wondang Station Branch is the Tteuranchae Bapsang, priced at ₩13,000 per person. It's a full spread with an assortment of side dishes plus cheonggukjang (fermented soybean stew) and stone-pot rice, so we decided right away after glancing at the menu.

Since there were three of us, we ordered the Tteuranchae Bapsang for 3.

While looking at the menu, the cockle salad also looked good, so we added one. The cockle salad is ₩15,000, made with plump cockles tossed in a handmade seasoning.

So what we ate that day was the Tteuranchae Bapsang for 3 plus one cockle salad. For three of us eating together with my parents, that seemed like plenty.

How generous is the side dish spread?

After ordering, the side dishes started arriving one by one — Korean restaurants really do have this fun of watching the table fill up.

There wasn't just one or two side dishes; there were plenty to pick from, so my chopsticks were busy the whole meal.

Overall, the flavors weren't too salty or intense — most of the side dishes were easy to eat with rice. Some were light, like seasoned greens, while others were savory enough to pile onto a spoonful of rice, so it was nice switching between the two. My parents enjoyed tasting each one too.

When I eat Korean food, I like it more when there are several side dishes I keep reaching for, rather than one main dish that's amazing on its own — and this place had that feeling. Picking at a little bit of everything, the rice disappeared faster than I expected.

Japchae refill: ask the staff for a second round

At Kim Myeongju Tteuranchae Bapsang Wondang Station Branch, japchae (stir-fried glass noodles) isn't on the self-serve bar — if you want more, you ask staff directly and they bring it out. We asked for a refill and got to enjoy it a second time.

The glass noodles were seasoned just right, not too sweet or salty, and easy to pick at between other bites. My parents like japchae too, so it disappeared quickly.

If you like japchae, don't look for it at the self-serve bar — just ask the staff.

Stone-pot rice with cheonggukjang stew

The Tteuranchae Bapsang comes with stone-pot rice, which made the meal feel really filling. Fresh out of the pot, the rice was hot and tasted great. I scooped the rice out into a bowl first, poured water into the stone pot, and later ate the crispy scorched rice (nurungji) that formed.

Cheonggukjang comes along with this too.

A spoonful of cheonggukjang with rice, some seasoned greens piled on top, a bite of japchae here and there — it turned into exactly the kind of Korean spread that's great to share with parents. Especially with a savory stew like cheonggukjang on the table, the rice went down much easier than with just side dishes.

Near the end of the meal, we opened up the stone pot we'd filled with water earlier and ate the nurungji. We were already pretty full, but finishing with warm scorched rice made the meal feel even more satisfying.

Is the 15,000 won cockle salad worth adding?

The cockle salad (₩15,000) we added had plump cockles, evenly coated in a handmade seasoning with great savory depth. While the standard side dishes had a comfortable, homey Korean flavor, the cockle salad had a bolder seasoned taste, which worked well alongside everything else.

I liked eating the cockles with rice rather than on their own. Putting a cockle on a spoonful of hot stone-pot rice brought the seasoning right into the rice and really woke up my appetite. Then switching back to the greens or milder side dishes felt clean again.

Ordering just one to share among the three of us felt like adding a little extra onto the base spread, not an overwhelming add-on. If you like cockles, it's worth adding.

Refilling favourite side dishes at the self-serve bar

At Kim Myeongju Tteuranchae Bapsang Wondang Station Branch, you can grab more of any side dish you're running low on straight from the self-serve bar. After finishing most of what came out initially, we wanted more of a few things, so we used the self-serve bar too.

Not having to call over staff every time I wanted a refill was actually convenient for me. After tasting everything that came out first, I went back and took just the ones I liked. Taking a little at a time instead of piling on a huge portion meant nothing went to waste.

Just remember what I mentioned earlier — japchae isn't refilled at the self-serve bar, you have to ask staff for that one.

Why Kim Myeongju Tteuranchae Bapsang works for lunch with parents

After finishing the meal, I understood exactly why this place would appeal to people visiting with their parents.

Parking was easy so going by car was no trouble, and on the weekday afternoon we visited, we got seated right away without waiting.

The food was also easy to enjoy together with my parents. Instead of just one dish, the spread had several side dishes plus cheonggukjang and hot stone-pot rice, so everyone could pick what they liked.

The three of us ordered the Tteuranchae Bapsang for 3 plus one cockle salad, and both the portion size and the pairing worked well together. We grabbed extra side dishes from the self-serve bar and had staff bring us a second round of japchae, and ended up truly full.

If you're looking for a place to eat lunch with your parents near Hwajeong or Wondang, or if you're craving Korean food with a variety of side dishes, Kim Myeongju Tteuranchae Bapsang Wondang Station Branch was solid.

These days it's common to just order one dish and eat quickly, but that day, sharing side dishes one by one with my parents and slowly finishing off cheonggukjang and stone-pot nurungji felt like a proper full meal for once.

My parents ate well too, which made this Hwajeong restaurant, Kim Myeongju Tteuranchae Bapsang Wondang Station Branch, even better — next time I'd like to try some other menu items too.