Seongnam chicken restaurant for sunset dining: Jangjakgun Main Branch

Jangjakgun Main Branch near Dandaeogeori Station

Before I knew it, the hot summer had passed, and on a day with a cool breeze, my husband and I wanted to eat outside with that casual outdoor-stall feeling. So we headed to Jangjakgun Main Branch, a place famous around Dandaeogeori!

Jangjakgun has lots of branches in Seongnam, Gwangju in Gyeonggi, Seoul, and more, but this Dandaeogeori location is the main branch 👍🏻 We had a healthy wood-fired meal while watching the sunset 😊

It is only a five-minute walk from Exit 3 of Dandaeogeori Station, so it was really close. I walked because it is near my home. It is right next to Starbucks and Ediya, making it very easy to find.

An outdoor-stall atmosphere of wood smoke and drum-barrel chairs

True to its name, Jangjakgun has stacks of firewood along one side of the restaurant, where you can see the delicious herbal scorched-rice whole chicken being made. Their signature herbal scorched-rice whole chicken is roasted over oak fire at 400°C for a full 90 minutes, apparently.

The smell of burning wood washed through the interior, and with drum-barrel chairs and stainless-steel tables, it completely had that outdoor-stall vibe.

We visited on a Friday evening, and perhaps because it is such a perfect Dandaeogeori spot for a Friday night out, the wait was seriously long and the place was packed. I think it was the busiest restaurant I have visited around Dandaeogeori... 👍🏻

Reserve ahead to avoid the wait

Luckily, we had reserved in advance, so they had held a table for us. There tends to be quite a wait, so I recommend making a Naver reservation.

The standing sign also said scorched-rice whole chicken is available from 4:30 p.m. on weekdays and from 4 p.m. on weekends and public holidays. Since it takes an hour and a half to roast, same-day reservations can only be made by phone before opening! Give them a call ahead of time.

There are high chairs for little guests, plus separate seating for groups.

A self-serve bar and a fresh-draft-beer certification

There is a self-serve cabbage-salad bar that goes well with the scorched-rice chicken, and I loved being able to have as much as I wanted. You could freely help yourself to pickled radish, young-radish kimchi, cabbage salad, and salt, mustard, and chili sauce.

Also, Jangjakgun must be a real fresh-draft-beer gem, because there was a Draft Master certification plaque displayed in the restaurant. I can only imagine how good the draft beer poured by a master must be,, ❤️ I was so sad that I could not drink because I am pregnant.

Ordering herbal scorched-rice whole chicken and bibim guksu

The signature lineup included herbal scorched-rice whole chicken for ₩21,000, herbal scorched-rice green-onion chicken for ₩26,000, seasoned scorched-rice whole chicken for ₩23,000, and half-and-half scorched-rice whole chicken for ₩26,000.

For side dishes, there were boneless chicken feet, spicy cartilage, whelk salad with somyeon noodles, spicy house-made tteokbokki (spicy rice cakes), dried pollack, and more. And of course, there was beer poured by a fresh-draft-beer expert 😀

We ordered the herbal scorched-rice whole chicken for ₩21,000, bibim guksu (spicy mixed noodles) for ₩8,000, and a soda for ₩2,000 :)

The basic side dishes were set out like this.

Moist chicken breast and crisp sticky-rice scorched rice

After a short wait, the herbal scorched-rice whole chicken arrived looking appetizing at first glance. A whole bird came on a hot stone plate, and even the skin looked beautifully glossy.

A staff member came over and carved the chicken breast for us, explaining that we should eat the breast first so it would not dry out. When I tried the breast they quickly carved up, the grain was intact but the inside was moist, with none of that usual dryness at all.

It had none of the dry texture people usually associate with chicken breast—just the moisture of chicken thigh meat. So delicious.

It was even better paired with the cabbage salad :)

Underneath was sticky-rice scorched rice, which soaks up all that chicken fat. Eating the chicken with the crisp scorched rice, the scorched rice somehow tasted even better than chicken skin... magic 😀

Even with just a light dip in salt, it was perfectly seasoned without any sauce. This really is the classic combination.

A meal rounded out with spicy bibim guksu

As we waited, the bibim guksu arrived too. First of all, the portion was really generous for ₩8,000.

The bibim guksu was topped with cabbage, seaweed, and chili peppers, so it looked appetizing too. I mixed it up nicely.

The spicy noodles also went wonderfully with the herbal scorched-rice whole chicken!

Dandaeogeori outdoor-stall dining at sunset

As we ate, it had grown dark outside before we knew it. Visiting around sunset and eating while watching the fading sky is part of the charm of this outdoor-stall atmosphere :) Though, admittedly, the view in front is a parking lot ^^;;

We cleaned our plates of scorched-rice chicken! I confidently recommend it to anyone wanting a proper beer in an outdoor-stall setting around Dandaeogeori, anyone who finds greasy chicken a little much, and families who need a high chair for a child. The atmosphere is lovely, so I think it would be great for a date too :)