Siheung chicken stew revisit with à la carte cockles: Jeongjeong-a

I went back to Jeongjeong-a Sikdang Jeongwang Branch (정정아식당 정왕점) because I kept thinking about it after my first visit. It's a chain, but I personally found this Jeongwang branch even tastier. Here's the spicy chicken stew (dakbokkeumtang) and seasoned cockles I'd recommend as a Jeongwang-dong favorite.

Jeongjeong-a Sikdang Jeongwang Branch: location, hours and parking

Jeongjeong-a Sikdang Jeongwang Branch is at 1730-4 Jeongwang-dong, Siheung, Gyeonggi, on the ground floor of the Onmotel building, right next to Sikjajae Wang Mart Siwha branch. It's open Monday to Saturday, 10:30–22:00, and closed on Sundays.

• Free underground and ground-level parking in the building
• Free public parking lot next to Hwasin Officetel, right in front of the restaurant

The restaurant has a homey exterior, and both the owner and his wife were kind and had a warm, friendly air.

Atmosphere inside: is it good for a company dinner?

The inside has plenty of seats, so it looked like a good place for a company dinner (hoesik). The chicken stew comes already cooked, and you simmer it once more at your table so it's hot and spicy :)

Menu and set options

You can choose the spice level of the chicken stew, and I could see their other signature dish, seasoned cockles (kkomak-muchim), too. There's a good variety of side dishes, and sets are available, which made choosing easy. The cockle salad is really good, so I think even just a cockle bibimbap (rice bowl) would make a great simple lunch!

Alcohol is a cheap ₩3,900 and soft drinks are ₩1,900 ♡ They say the chicken is 100% Korean-raised, and they only use fresh cockles shipped directly from the source every day.

The basic side dishes are kimchi and dongchimi (radish water kimchi). The dongchimi isn't very sour, so it's easy for anyone to enjoy.

What we ordered and prices

• Chicken stew for 2 (small) ₩24,000
• Cockles ₩18,000
• Mukchae ₩7,500
• Glass noodles ₩2,000

Level 2 chicken stew: how spicy is it?

We ordered the chicken stew at spice level 2. The heat doesn't linger in your mouth to the point of making you hiss, so unless you're really sensitive to spice, I'd recommend level 2. The cockle salad is cheaper as part of a set, but the set portion is smaller than the standalone dish! We ordered it separately because we wanted the mukchae rather than the acorn jelly (dotorimuk) that comes in the set.

The cooked chicken stew came out quickly. At the table you just bring it to a boil and eat. The generous broth, this place's signature, looks so appetizing.

Move aside the heaping pile of shredded scallions and there's tender chicken packed underneath. This is the level 2 spicy version.

They use relatively small chickens, so the meat isn't dry and is incredibly tender.

There's plenty of spicy broth, so even as it keeps simmering, it stays moist and is great for soaking into your rice.

For extra add-ons, glass noodles are the answer

Thanks to the generous broth, the chicken stew here is great with an extra add-on,

and the glass noodles (dangmyeon) at this branch aren't thin but a little thick, so they have a much stronger presence!

They're chewier and plumper, and go well with the chicken stew, so if you're wondering which add-on to get, go for the glass noodles.

There are big, fluffy potatoes too, so mixing potato and broth into your rice made it easy to polish off a whole bowl :D

Standalone cockle salad: how is it different from the set?

We ordered the cockle salad as a standalone dish (₩18,000), and it's bigger than the set version. Plenty of cockles, scallions and seasoning came nicely mixed together.

Even though it's thoroughly coated in seasoning, it's amazingly not salty, and the cockles are tasty even picked out on their own.

Chewy cockle meat with the nutty aroma of sesame oil: a sweet-and-salty "rice thief" (a dish so good you keep eating rice) of a cockle salad.

Mukchae: does it go with the chicken stew?

My husband loves tangy-sweet, cold broth dishes. He insisted we had to order the mukchae here. It's springy acorn jelly in a cold broth, eaten with sour kimchi and crunchy vegetables.

It's a great match for the hot, spicy chicken stew. The mukchae broth isn't very sour! I asked for extra vinegar and added it for a tangy-sweet kick, which really got my appetite going :)

Revisit verdict

The chicken stew is spicy and tender with plenty of broth, so if you like brothy chicken stew, you'll be happy with Jeongjeong-a. The cockle salad is sweet and chewy, a real treat, and looks like a good order if you come with three or more people. Even the basic 2-person portion is generous!