Gumi restaurant with an in-store dessert cafeteria: Irojeong Geumosan

The place everyone in Gumi points to first for a boost of energy and vitality — a new Gumi hotspot and go-to hanjeongsik (set-meal) restaurant, Irojeong. I finally made it there.

Irojeong Gumi Geumosan hours and what's on the menu

Irojeong Gumi Geumosan Direct Branch is located at 32 Bakjeonghui-ro, Gumi-si. It's open daily from 11:00 to 21:00, with a break time from 15:30 to 17:00 and last order at 20:10. Closed on Chuseok and Lunar New Year Day.

It's introduced as the house of a Namwon-style loach soup (chueotang) master, but there's a whole lineup of other vitality dishes too — black goat, boiled pork, and more — so you don't need to be set on loach soup specifically to enjoy a visit.

Parking at Irojeong and the weekend lunch wait

The parking lot at Irojeong Gumi Geumosan Direct Branch is huge, so it seems great for groups or company dinners. A restaurant where you don't have to worry about parking is just an easier, more relaxed choice to visit.

We did a weekend lunch opening-run and got seated right away — but even a little late and there could be a wait, so plan ahead!

What's on the self-serve bar, shine muscat included

The self-serve bar had a range of side dishes to make the vitality dishes even better — wood ear mushrooms, peppers, radish salad, kimchi, diced radish kimchi, ssamjang, thin wheat noodles, and more. The shine muscat grapes really stood out, though!

There's a main hall and private rooms, with tons of tables — it was fully booked so I couldn't get a wide shot, but the hall tables look something like this. Each table has its own ordering tablet, so ordering was easy. Today we went with the mackerel + boiled pork sanghwang loach soup set for two, plus the octopus seafood pancake — a lineup that really shows what Irojeong, a top loach soup spot in Gumi, is all about.

Black goat, sanghwang loach soup, pork cutlet, seaweed soup, potato pancake, boiled pork — so many good options being prepared!

Looks so good it hurts ㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠ

While waiting for the main dishes, I snapped a shot of the inner hall. Besides this space, there are also private rooms, so it's great for group visits too.

A quality vitality restaurant shows it even in the water. They start you off with sanghwang mushroom tea, kicking off the recovery right away.

Flipping through the menu more, I noticed loach soup and black goat soup are both available for takeout, and this season they're even selling shine muscat grapes. Grabbing some to go on the way home felt like a solid plan.

Mackerel and boiled pork sanghwang loach soup set for 2

While I was still browsing the menu, the mackerel + boiled pork sanghwang loach soup set for two arrived. Even before the mackerel showed up, look at all those side dishes already.

Tender boiled pork, tasty japchae, loach fritters, and vegetable fritters — this is what a proper set meal looks like. The boiled pork was the textbook definition of soft and moist, and perfect for sharing among several people.

Dipping the loach fritters into the sweet soy sauce brought out a really nice savory flavor.

The mackerel showed up too! See that color? It was moist as well and paired really well with the loach-based vitality dishes. And now — the sanghwang loach soup arrives!

How the sanghwang loach soup tastes with plenty of minced garlic

Just the color alone already feels restorative, doesn't it, ㄷㄷㄷㄷ. As the weather gets colder, loach soup is exactly what comes to mind. Peppers and minced garlic were on hand to customize it.

I could adjust it to my taste, so I added a generous amount of minced garlic, and it completely changed the flavor of the soup.

If you're talking about rich, hearty thickness, nothing beats loach soup, right? No off smell or fishiness at all — clearly not a 'master's house' for nothing.

Every spoonful felt like real recovery. And then another side dish showed up — the octopus seafood pancake, which had not just octopus but shrimp too, so it looked and tasted amazing ㅎ

Who could resist a pancake looking like this? A little sorry to the octopus, but I cut right in. And getting chojang (vinegar-chili sauce) instead of soy sauce was such a nice touch ㅎㅎㅎㅎㅎ

I alternated bites with the boiled pork to keep the energy boost going, and with turmeric rice alongside the sanghwang loach soup, I felt fully recharged. Topped it all off by finishing the shine muscat grapes from the self-serve bar.

Inside Irojeong's dessert cafeteria: herbal tea, sujeonggwa and pumpkin sikhye

Inside Irojeong there's a waiting area that doubles as a dessert cafeteria, so I checked it out. Not your average cafeteria at all — the space is spacious, and they even provide ice cups.

There were also various sweets and gangjeong (Korean crispy snacks)...

Mixed coffee

Sujeonggwa (cinnamon-ginger punch), sweet pumpkin sikhye (rice punch), sipjeondaebo tea, and even Americano — basically ready to rival a regular café.

From the main dishes to dessert, this was vitality recovery done right! A happy meal at Irojeong Gumi Geumosan.