Yeoksam Chinese restaurant with a free coffee machine: Jjamppong Jijon

Weekends call for Chinese food, right? Hahaha. Last Saturday I went with my husband to Jjamppong Jijon Yeoksam Branch. We ate our way through jjamppong (spicy seafood noodle soup), fried rice, and sweet and sour pork — solidly. The food was great, but what really got me was how well thought out everything was, from parking to the self-serve bar to dessert.

The restaurant was spacious too, so it seemed like a great spot for solo diners near Yeoksam Station as well as for family meals or bigger groups. Haha.

Parking at Jjamppong Jijon Yeoksam Branch

Jjamppong Jijon Yeoksam Branch has a parking lot right in front of the restaurant, so parking was super easy. Parking is always a low-key stress point when eating out in Gangnam, ㅠㅠ so starting off with easy parking already put me in a good mood. Hahaha.

Jjamppong Jijon Yeoksam Branch is on the 2nd floor of the building, so after parking we went up an outdoor staircase.

Jjamppong Jijon Yeoksam Branch opening hours

Here are the operating hours for Jjamppong Jijon Yeoksam Branch.

• Weekdays 10:00–22:00 (last order 21:30)
• Weekends and holidays 10:00–21:00 (last order 20:30)

Hours differ between weekdays and weekends/holidays, so keep that in mind before visiting! Haha.

Solo meals, family dinners and group gatherings

Once inside, the restaurant was much bigger than I expected! There were seats for eating alone comfortably as well as various seating for friends and family, plus baby chairs and a private room. It seemed like a solid option whether you're hunting for a good restaurant in Yeoksam-dong or picking a spot for a work dinner.

Ordering from the table tablet

The table drawer had chopsticks and napkins neatly organized, and the tabletop had paper cups, sauces, and the table order tablet ready to go.

It was convenient being able to browse the menu at our own pace and order without calling a staff member over. When ordering jjamppong especially, we could pick the spice level and other options ourselves. What we ordered was:

• Crab fried rice ₩11,000
• Jjamppong Jijon basic flavor ₩13,000
• Glutinous rice sweet and sour pork (small) ₩20,000

Those three!

You can pick from a whopping 5 spice levels for the jjamppong: basic ➡️ hot ➡️ intense ➡️ crazy hot ➡️ extreme. Hahahahahaha, just the names get scarier the further down the list you go, right,,,? We meekly ordered the basic flavor. Hahahahahaha. But even the basic flavor was plenty spicy and rich!

Bottled water and individually wrapped danmuji

The water came in bottled form, which felt hygienic to me, and even the first round of danmuji (pickled radish) was individually wrapped. I thought this was a pretty nice touch! People who don't eat danmuji don't have to open the packaging, so there's less food waste, and it just felt cleaner from the eater's side too. Haha.

The self-serve bar: free rice, sides and drinks

But we ended up finishing all our danmuji before the food even arrived. Hahaha. So off we went to the self-serve bar to restock! Once we got there, there was way more available than I expected.

The self-serve bar had small plates and various utensils, onion, danmuji, jjachai (pickled radish in black bean sauce), kimchi, and even free rice you could take as much as you wanted. Isn't this basically an all-you-can-have restaurant? Hahaha.

On top of that, next to the self-serve bar there were aprons as well as yuja tea (citron tea) and blue lemonade. My husband and I couldn't just walk past that, so we each grabbed a glass of blue lemonade. Haha.

Another thing that surprised me was that they even had individually wrapped hair ties ready! Long hair can get kind of annoying when eating noodles, so I loved that they thought of even this small detail.

There was also a phone charger near the register, so anyone low on battery could charge freely. These little touches of service were really well set up.

Glutinous-rice sweet and sour pork, chewy and crisp

Right as we were happily munching on the onion from the self-serve bar, hahaha, the sweet and sour pork we'd been waiting for finally arrived first. I really wanted sweet and sour pork that day! I got so excited the moment it showed up. Hahaha. Just looking at it, it looked chewy and crispy at the same time!

My husband cut it up with scissors so it'd be easier to eat.

Taking a piece with the onion that came alongside it, it was genuinely delicious. You could really feel that signature texture of glutinous rice sweet and sour pork — crispy outside, chewy inside.

Jjamppong Jijon loaded with seafood

Right after the sweet and sour pork, the jjamppong and crab fried rice came out almost immediately.

Doesn't the jjamppong look really delicious? Hahahahahaha.

I quickly told my husband to take a bite. He had a mouthful with the chives on top and the jjamppong noodles together, and said it was genuinely delicious — satisfied! The broth was rich and spicy while still carrying that refreshing seafood flavor. What I especially liked was that they didn't pad out the portion with shells. With jjamppong, sometimes there are so many mussel shells that there's barely anything to actually eat, ㅠㅠ but here the shells were trimmed and there was still a good amount of actual seafood, which my husband especially appreciated.

Crab fried rice done the classic, fluffy way

And then, the crab fried rice I ordered!

That day I wanted rice more than noodles, so I ordered the fried rice. Bottom line: the fried rice was really delicious too.

It was exactly the classic Chinese restaurant fried rice I picture in my head. The grains were light and fluffy, and it paired really well with the jjajang sauce. So if you're looking for a Chinese restaurant for lunch near Yeoksam Station, I'd say it's worth coming not just for jjamppong but for the fried rice too.

When you order the crab fried rice, jjamppong broth comes along with it.

I naturally assumed it would just be a simple broth, but there were plenty of toppings packed into the soup too. Seeing that, I thought once again — this place really doesn't hold back on portions. Hahahahahaha.

Rice, noodles and sweet and sour pork all worth ordering

Usually at Chinese restaurants there's one dish they're known for — 'this place is great for jjamppong,' 'this place is great for sweet and sour pork,' that kind of thing. But at Jjamppong Jijon Yeoksam Branch, based on what we tried that day, the jjamppong, fried rice, and sweet and sour pork were all satisfying.

My husband enjoyed the jjamppong, and I really enjoyed the crab fried rice. We cleaned out the sweet and sour pork too,,, so once again, all that was left was empty dishes. Hahaha.

Free dessert coffee from the machine

But that's not the end at Jjamppong Jijon Yeoksam Branch. Dessert is generous too. Haha. There's a coffee machine for black coffee, plus a separate machine for yulmu-cha (job's tears tea) and macchiato.

There's even candy you can grab one of on your way out!

We finished our meal, had a cup of coffee, and headed out. It was nice being able to wrap up Chinese food and coffee in the same spot. Haha.

Verdict on the food and service at Jjamppong Jijon Yeoksam

We ate our way happily through jjamppong, fried rice, and sweet and sour pork, and made full use of the self-serve bar and dessert too, at Jjamppong Jijon Yeoksam Branch! Both my husband and I were really satisfied, so I think we'll be back again soon. Haha.