Suwon chicken restaurant with garlic galbi chicken: Haenggung Jangjak

Let me introduce a old-school roast chicken place I visited recently while strolling around Haenggung-dong. In a neighborhood packed with good eats, this is where you can taste something special: Haenggung Jangjak Hanbang Tongdak (행궁장작한방통닭).

Location, hours and parking at Haenggung Jangjak Hanbang Tongdak

Haenggung Jangjak Hanbang Tongdak is at 28 Haenggung-ro, Paldal-gu, Suwon, Gyeonggi, South Korea (1st floor), on the craft street right next to Hwaseong Haenggung. It's open daily 17:00–24:00, with last order at 23:00.

• Address: 28 Haenggung-ro, Paldal-gu, Suwon, Gyeonggi (1st floor)
• Hours: daily 17:00–24:00 / last order 23:00
• Groups, reservations (Naver/Catch Table) and takeout available
• Parking: Hwaseong Haenggung on-street public lot, 3-minute walk, ₩1,700 per hour

An oak wood-fired chicken place on the craft street by Hwaseong Haenggung

Haenggung Jangjak Hanbang Tongdak specializes in traditional wood-fired whole chicken, slowly roasted in an oak oven. As you wander around Hwaseong Haenggung in Suwon, the faint smell of burning wood leads you right here 🍗

It's the real deal: firewood is piled high by the entrance! Inside the oven you can see the chickens rotating round and round as they roast.

What are the interior and open-air vibe like?

The restaurant is split into a 1st-floor hall and 2nd-floor group seating, with plenty of tables all the way to the back, so it's a comfortable spot for chimaek (chicken and beer). In this kind of weather especially, they open the folding doors so you get a breezy open-air (yajang) feel. The kitchen is an open kitchen where you can see everything, which made it feel even cleaner and more hygienic.

Of course, beer is a must with chicken 🍺 And they have Kirin, my current favorite, so I was thrilled.

Menu, prices and how to order at Haenggung Jangjak Hanbang Tongdak

A specialist in traditional herbal chicken cooked over an oak wood fire — carefully brined with herbal ingredients for deep flavor, slowly roasted over oak for a rich taste, crispy outside and juicy inside, with a subtle herbal aroma filling your mouth.

You order with the QR code on the table. There are many kinds of wood-fired chicken, from the basic herbal chicken to corn cheese, buldak (spicy fire chicken), smoked and galbi.

• Suwon galbi wood-fired chicken ₩25,000
• Kirin draft beer, 3 glasses of 400cc ₩21,000

I was torn between this and the corn cheese gratin, but went with the galbi since it looked the tastiest, and I was totally satisfied 😇 From other reviews, a lot of people add options to their chicken, so if one chicken feels a little short, fries or a sausage topping would probably be good too!

Basic setup and the self-serve bar

Here's the basic setup.

The sweet-and-sour carrot and radish strips are the kicker 👍 The kimchi seemed to be homemade too, a crunchy fresh-style kimchi, and it was even better eaten together with the chicken.

After that, you can grab extra side dishes or sauces yourself at the self-serve bar.

How does the Suwon galbi wood-fired chicken taste?

Soon the galbi chicken arrived on a sizzling hot iron plate.

First, cheers with the ice-cold Kirin draft beer 〰️ It's thrilling no matter when I drink it, the best...!

The golden-brown chicken is generously topped with sweet and salty galbi sauce, and it looks mouthwatering just sitting there.

I wonder if the galbi sauce itself is garlic-based: it isn't too sweet, and a distinctive pungent kick soaks into the chicken and adds depth. On top of that, they say the chicken is aged with herbal ingredients and roasted over oak firewood for 2 hours. The faint smoky aroma has a different charm from ordinary fried chicken. If you like garlic, I absolutely recommend the galbi chicken!

Dipping it in mustard and sweet-spicy yangnyeom chicken sauce, nom nom

Won't the breast meat be dry?

The wood-fired chicken here is so juicy that you don't even need to debone it! Just touch it lightly with chopsticks and the meat falls off tenderly, and the juices are still in there, so even the breast isn't dry.

Sticky rice and nurungji (scorched rice) are a treat too

And the other highlight of wood-fired chicken: chewy glutinous rice with nutty nurungji (scorched rice) crusted on the bottom, so good, seriously...😭

Ice-cold draft beer in an open-air mood, paired with plain, savory chicken roasted over oak firewood. If you're looking for a great chicken restaurant in Suwon, definitely visit Haenggung Jangjak Hanbang Tongdak.