Guwol-dong abalone restaurant with a folding-screen room: Jeonbokchon

If you want to treat someone special in Guwol-dong, I recommend Jeonbokchon (전복촌). Abalone is a seafood you can find anywhere, but Jeonbokchon serves such fresh and varied abalone dishes that even picky eaters like it. It is a perfectly good healthy meal for elders at occasions like a 60th birthday party or a birthday celebration.

Location and how to get to Jeonbokchon in Guwol-dong

Jeonbokchon is a 5-minute walk from Yesulhoegwan Station, or 3 minutes by car. It is also close to Incheon City Hall Station, so it is known as a restaurant near Incheon City Hall too.

Jeonbokchon opening hours and break time

• Tuesday–Saturday 11:30–21:30 (break time 14:40–17:00)
• Sunday 11:30–21:00 (break time 14:40–17:00)
• Closed every Monday

Where is Jeonbokchon's parking lot?

Jeonbokchon's dedicated parking has spots in front of the restaurant and also a little way off. The restaurant has a front door and a back door: if you come from the parking lot, the back door is quicker, and if you come on foot, the front door is.

It's a 6-minute walk from Incheon City Hall, so apparently it's known as a go-to spot near City Hall.

Are there rooms for celebrations? The folding-screen room and banquet room

Jeonbokchon is split into rooms and open tables, so it suits group gatherings and family get-togethers. Private rooms work for 4 to 8 people, and there is even a banquet room for 16 to 20, which is perfect if you're looking for hanjeongsik in Guwol-dong.

The special room is for people celebrating something like a birthday, a tidy room made for elders of advanced years. There's even a folding screen standing there, so it really feels the part. Unlike the other rooms, it also has a coat rack.

We visited with a baby, and the owner even set out a baby seat for us. They have both a Bumbo-style seat and a high chair, so it's convenient for families.

Jeonbokchon menu

The signature menu at Jeonbokchon is the abalone set, which lets you enjoy a variety of abalone dishes on one table. We made a reservation in advance.

The ₩39,000 abalone set: in what order does it come?

The abalone set is ₩39,000 per person, a healthy menu with a range of abalone dishes and side specialties, and you need to order for 2 or more. The food starts with a porridge-style dish, then moves to the main dishes, and finally the meal course.

This is the abalone set for two, and there are so many dishes it fills the big table.

Nurungji haesintang, perfect for autumn

With the autumn chill setting in, a warm soup came out. The crispy nurungji (scorched rice) in the set is fried-style crisp and meets the thick broth, and with its sea aroma and mild seasoning it tastes like it could chase away a cold.

Even soaked well in the thick broth, the nurungji stays crunchy. It has a slight oily taste, as if fried, but that cut through the richness.

Eat the charcoal bulgogi before the abalone

The charcoal bulgogi is meat, not seafood, and we ate it as a palate cleanser before the abalone. Try putting it on top of the haesintang and eating them together. You get a savory seasoning and tender meat. The reason they tell you to eat it first is so it doesn't spoil the abalone flavor!

Wando raw abalone and steamed abalone with entrail sauce

The raw abalone comes with a little cold, fresh seawater drawn from the sea off Wando. It isn't salty, the abalone is chewy and plump, and not fishy at all. Eaten as sashimi, the grayish part is crunchy.

That crunchy part has a fun texture. It's tasty plain, but there's also a nutty oil dip like sesame oil, which makes it even more savory.

The cooked, steamed abalone came with abalone entrails to dip into. Dipping the steamed abalone deep into the entrail sauce was bittersweet with a strong sea scent, a different treat from the raw abalone.

They give you plenty of entrails compared with the amount of abalone, so snip off small amounts with scissors and savor them.

Nutty seasoned abalone entrails

The seasoned abalone entrails, sprinkled with sesame seeds, were nutty, though I couldn't tell if it was sesame oil or perilla oil, and as you eat there's a hint of the nuttiness of laver or green seaweed.

They must have prepared it cleanly, because there was no fishy taste in the entrails at all. The sickle-shaped part had a cotton-light texture, and with the rich flavor of the entrails added, it made me want to toss it with noodles.

Refreshing vinegared abalone

Unlike the seasoned entrails, a refreshing vinegared abalone (jeonbokcho) came out. With finely shredded cabbage added to a light, tangy, vinegar-like sauce, it tasted like a summer treat, I'd say?

Don't skip the abalone sushi, but watch the fresh wasabi

You absolutely have to try the abalone sushi. The crunchy texture of raw abalone is much reduced, but the chewiness is kept, and you'll feel right away that you're eating something healthy.

The wasabi seems to be fresh wasabi, so sharp it stings your nose. If you pile on that much, you're dead 😲

Seasoned raw pollack and fried half-dried pollack

The seasoned raw pollack is the same pollack that sometimes tops the naengmyeon (cold noodles) at pricey noodle places. Slightly spicy and sweet like seasoned raw crab, put it on cabbage and it reminds you of the haesintang broth from earlier.

It has almost no saltiness, so you won't even think of rice, and I'd guarantee elders will crave makgeolli (rice wine) with it.

Fried kodari (half-dried pollack) is unpredictable: the taste differs wildly from place to place, and every time I've had fried kodari it was tough and stiff and I left it all. But Jeonbokchon's fried kodari is based on a sweet sauce and soy sauce, and the fish meat was tender.

Finishing with abalone seaweed soup and plum tea

After you finish the dishes, a seaweed soup with abalone and bowls of rice come out as the meal. The rice comes according to the number of people who ordered.

One spoonful of the seaweed soup, with thinly sliced abalone and no oily taste, and you'll feel like you're really restoring your strength. Since it comes cooked, it could easily be tough, but it's very tender.

Plum tea comes as the dessert, and it felt like it cleaned up my mouth after the meal, which seemed to emphasize the abalone flavor that makes you want it again.

Overall verdict on Jeonbokchon in Guwol-dong

I was looking forward to it before eating, and after finishing the meal I wanted to visit again. Jeonbokchon is a good place to treat special people on a special day, and you can enjoy healthy abalone dishes at a price that isn't a burden. It should give a good experience to anyone looking for Incheon hanjeongsik too.