Gapyeong dakgalbi restaurant serving baby rice for toddlers: Jayeon

Last weekend my family went on a one-night, two-day pension trip to Gapyeong with the family of my younger kid's classmate. We left a bit earlier than the rest of the group so we could look around the area and grab lunch before check-in. As luck would have it, we ended up at Jayeon Dakgalbi (자연닭갈비), right in front of Nami Island.

We arrived around 11:30am and it really was close — about 100m on foot from the Nami Island pier. Since we were traveling with kids, we thought about the lunch menu and decided on the non-spicy soy sauce dakgalbi. And once we heard the ingredients were home-grown, I found myself eating even the vegetables more eagerly than usual — a real find for dakgalbi (grilled chicken) in Gapyeong, haha.

Right by Nami Island with a large free parking lot

The first thing I liked when we arrived at Jayeon Dakgalbi was how spacious the parking lot was. When you're heading to Gapyeong or Nami Island, parking is always a bit of a worry.

Turns out dining customers can use the parking lot free all day. Isn't that a pretty big perk, haha? Next time we come properly to play at Nami Island, we could eat here first and just leave the car — it's only about 100m to the pier.

The restaurant is on the 2nd floor, and the building seemed to be two connected sections.

Through the back door of the main space there's more seating, with the restrooms in between.

That area also connects to the back parking lot, so if you park there you don't even need to climb stairs — handy if you're visiting with kids or parents.

It was around 11:30am so it wasn't too crowded, and the owner seated us right away. With kids in tow, narrow restaurants can get stressful just moving chairs in and out, but here the space was generous and sitting down was easy.

Jayeon Dakgalbi: address, hours and prices

📍 Jayeon Dakgalbi 경기 가평군 가평읍 북한강변로 1007-10 1-2층 ⏰ Hours Mon–Thu 09:30–18:00 / last order 17:05 Sat–Sun 09:30–20:00 / last order 19:05 ※ Friday 9/25 runs separately from 10:00–20:00 ※ May close early if ingredients run out.

Hours can vary by date, so I'd recommend double-checking on Naver Place before you visit.

• About 100m on foot from Nami Island pier
• Free parking
• Reservations / groups / takeout
• Wi-Fi
• Separate men's/women's restrooms
• Baby chairs and tableware
• Pet-friendly
• Solo, couple, and group seating
• Groups of 150+ call ahead
• No outside alcohol or corkage

Why we ordered soy sauce dakgalbi with kids

Seated by the friendly owner, this is what we ordered that day:

Soy sauce dakgalbi x 3 servings (₩16,000 each) Mak-guksu x 1 (₩10,000) Baby rice x 1 (₩4,000)

Traveling with kids, we picked the soy sauce version over the spicy one. Spoiler: good call, haha. Not long after ordering, the table was set quickly.

Home-grown vegetables and house-made kimchi

While eating, the owner told us that every side dish ingredient except the bean sprouts, plus the vegetables and sweet potato in the dakgalbi, are home-grown.

The kimchi is homemade too!

Maybe that's why it's registered as a Safe Restaurant by the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs. Total peace of mind for visiting with a kid. Hearing all this, I thought — 'so that's why it's called Jayeon (natural) Dakgalbi?' haha.

Normally when I eat dakgalbi I go straight for the chicken and skip the vegetables. But that day, strangely, my chopsticks kept reaching for the veggies too. The perilla leaves especially had a strong aroma, and the sweet potato turned sweet among the soy sauce seasoning — it paired really well. Usually a fair bit of cabbage and perilla leaf would be left on the pan, but this time I finished almost all of it, haha. Knowing the ingredients were home-grown, I think I ended up tasting each one more carefully. Never thought I'd talk this much about vegetables at a dakgalbi place instead of the chicken...

Rather than just feeling like a side element to the dakgalbi, each ingredient had a fairly distinct aroma and flavor, so it was fun to eat them together with the chicken. Jayeon Dakgalbi describes itself as a hot-plate dakgalbi specialist using domestic chicken, fresh vegetables, and a house-developed special sauce. They currently don't run the charcoal version, only hot-plate, so keep that in mind before visiting.

How the soy sauce dakgalbi tasted with children

The soy sauce dakgalbi wasn't overly sweet or intense — the sauce felt naturally soaked into the chicken and vegetables. To me it tasted comforting and homey, like something a grandmother made with care. The chicken wasn't tough either, so it seemed easy for the kids to eat. Normally I'd only pick out chicken, but this day I scooped up nearly all the perilla leaves and vegetables too.

Topping the baby rice with chicken and vegetables, the kids ate really well. When kids eat well, the restaurant choice for the day is already more than half a success, haha. Since there's a soy sauce option, this seems like a solid pick for families with young kids looking for good dakgalbi in Gapyeong.

They also gave us cheese on the house that day. We put it on top of the soy sauce dakgalbi to melt it slightly, and the salty seasoning with the savory cheese made for a whole different flavor. The kids loved it, and I kept switching between eating it plain and with cheese. Cheese really does make everything better, haha.

We also shared the mak-guksu (cold buckwheat noodles) ordered separately for my husband. Taking a bite of the cool noodles between bites of dakgalbi cleared the palate nicely and paired well — the soy sauce dakgalbi was soft and savory, so the refreshing noodles cutting through it here and there was great. Besides mak-guksu, Jayeon Dakgalbi also has buckwheat crepes, and you can order fried rice with the leftover sauce after finishing the dakgalbi.

We were already full after the dakgalbi, mak-guksu, and baby rice, so we couldn't make it to fried rice that day. Next time I want to try that too, haha.

An easy lunch stop before or after Nami Island

Jayeon Dakgalbi is close to the Nami Island pier, so it's easy to plan around it before or after visiting Nami Island, or nearby activities like zip-lining or bungee jumping. We stopped in for lunch before pension check-in, but next time I'd love to pair it directly with a Nami Island itinerary. Being able to eat and then move straight to the next stop is a surprisingly big plus when traveling, haha. The restaurant is spacious too, so it looked good not just for families or couples but for larger groups as well.

A relaxed first meal before checking into the pension

That day, before the pension trip with our friend's family officially kicked off, our family moved a bit earlier and enjoyed a relaxed lunch. Once the kids were fed and my husband and I split the mak-guksu, it really felt like 'okay, now let's go have fun,' haha. When the trip starts off with a good meal, it somehow puts the whole day in a better mood. Next time we're back around Nami Island, I'll remember this as the spot for a solid meal before the trip really begins, haha.