Gyeongju rib stew restaurant: when to add ramen noodles, Hwangnam

There are so many good restaurants on Hwangnidan-gil in Gyeongju that I'm always torn over what to eat. So I want to introduce Hwangnam Dukkebi Restaurant, great for a filling meal.

Hwangnidan-gil restaurant Hwangnam Dukkebi Restaurant Hwangnam Main Branch, rib stew

Hwangnam Dukkebi Restaurant hours and parking in Gyeongju

Hwangnam Dukkebi Restaurant Hwangnam Main Branch is open daily from 11:00 to 21:00, with break time from 15:00 to 17:00. There's no dedicated parking lot, so you'll need to use a nearby parking area.

• Hours: Daily 11:00–21:00
• Break time: 15:00–17:00
• Parking: No dedicated lot, use nearby parking

How long is the wait? Inside seating and outdoor tables

There can be a wait during peak hours, so register through Table Waiting and wait your turn. Hwangnam Dukkebi Restaurant also has a designated waiting area.

The inside is quite spacious with 4-person tables. They've also set up tables outside! That outdoor space would be great once the weather warms up a bit!

Hwangnam Dukkebi Restaurant menu and prices

The menu at Hwangnam Dukkebi Restaurant includes aged-jar ripe kimchi rib stew for ₩16,900, and spicy-sweet spicy rib stew and sweet-salty soy sauce rib stew each at ₩15,900. Sets include the Cheomseongdae 7-dish set at ₩43,000, the kkobul large plate set at ₩36,000, and the kkomak large plate set at ₩32,000.

• Aged-jar ripe kimchi rib stew ₩16,900
• Spicy-sweet spicy rib stew ₩15,900
• Sweet-salty soy sauce rib stew ₩15,900
• Cheomseongdae 7-dish set ₩43,000
• Kkobul large plate set ₩36,000
• Kkomak large plate set ₩32,000

Single dishes include Beolgyo kkomak bibimbap ₩12,000, Gyeongju hanwoo yukhoe bibimbap ₩13,000, hanwoo minced beef bibimbap (bulgogi) ₩13,000, Gyeongju hanwoo yukhoe mulhoe ₩13,900, and Gyeongju hanwoo yukhoe ₩13,000.

Side dishes include golden corn pancake ₩9,900, extra ribs ₩14,000, cauldron perilla oil gondeure rice ₩5,000, fried egg rice ₩5,000, Gyeongju royal tomb steamed egg ₩6,000, Cheomseongdae-style tteokgalbi ₩8,000, handmade tteokgalbi ₩5,000, and grandma's buckwheat pancake ₩4,000. Noodle add-ins — flour rice cake, mushroom, udon, ramen, glass noodle, Chinese glass noodle — are ₩3,000 each.

We ordered two servings of the aged-jar ripe kimchi rib stew, Beolgyo kkomak bibimbap, and a ramen noodle add-in.

They're also running a Naver receipt review event. For the receipt review event, you pay first, get the receipt, then write the review. Show it to a staff member afterward and you get a free Cheomseongdae tteokgalbi.

What side dishes come with the meal?

Once you order, they set up the basic side dishes!

Tangy dongchimi (radish water kimchi), salty quail egg jangjorim (soy-braised quail eggs), sweet-and-sour stir-fried kimchi, and salty stir-fried fish cake!

Aged-jar ripe kimchi rib stew for two: how to eat it

At Hwangnam Dukkebi Restaurant, the meat and ripe kimchi in the jar-aged rib stew come already cooked, but the vegetables come raw, so you boil it until they're cooked before eating! The rib stew requires a minimum order of two servings, and they say a buckwheat pancake is provided free. Rice isn't included, so you need to order it separately.

There were glass noodles inside the rib stew too. So I ate those first. Soaked in the sauce, they were delicious.

The ribs were so tender they came right off the bone! The meat had no gamey smell, was clean-tasting the more you chewed, and was even better with the broth. The broth was spicy-sweet and addictive. The savory flavor was so good. Mixing the broth into plain rice was also delicious.

The combination of well-fermented ripe kimchi and meat needs no explanation. The meat was great, but the ripe kimchi was also so tasty!

There was also rice cake inside the rib stew. It was so chewy!!

The free buckwheat pancake served with the rib stew

This is the buckwheat pancake served free with the rib stew order! It came out thinly grilled. I was curious about the taste.

The buckwheat pancake is plain-tasting, so it's best dipped in soy sauce! It's also good wrapped around the rib stew. There was something quietly charming about it.

Beolgyo kkomak bibimbap, 12,000 won

While we were eating the rib stew, the Beolgyo kkomak bibimbap arrived. The quality was really good. The rice comes topped with various vegetables, cockles, and flying fish roe!

The sauce is served separately, so add as much as suits your taste before mixing. If you add too much from the start, it can turn out too salty!

The rice was fluffy, the vegetables were fresh and crunchy, and the cockles were plump and chewy with great texture! Since the sauce wasn't overdone, you could eat it without it feeling too heavy.

When is the best time to add the ramen noodles?

Among the add-ins, I ordered the ramen noodles. They brought it out lightly pre-cooked! I put it straight in. Adding the ramen noodles changes the broth's flavor, so if you want to drink the broth, ladle some out into a small plate before adding the noodles.

The ramen add-in really doesn't use actual ramen noodles, but a separate add-in noodle! Even so, once mixed into the stew, it tasted exactly like the ramen flavor we all know! Next time I'll have to try a different noodle add-in.

Hwangnidan-gil restaurant for rib stew: Hwangnam Dukkebi Restaurant.