Sokcho Korean restaurant, private-room dinner with dogs: Daecheongmaru

Why we chose Daecheongmaru for a Sokcho dinner with our dog

Daecheongmaru (대청마루) is a Korean restaurant on Gwangwang-ro in Sokcho, and it was our dinner spot on this Sokcho trip. When you spend the whole day wandering around on a trip, by evening you just want a proper, filling meal, right? While looking for somewhere to eat dinner this time, we ended up at Daecheongmaru.

Is parking easy at Daecheongmaru?

Daecheongmaru has a large parking lot, and a staff member guides you in personally, so it wasn't hard even on our first visit. We were traveling with our dog, so we checked carefully not only the food but also whether dogs are allowed, whether parking is easy, and whether there's a space where we could eat comfortably. Getting there by car was easy.

Above all, dogs are allowed, and when we asked, they showed us to a private room. Choosing a restaurant on a trip with a dog is harder than you'd think, so having a space just for ourselves made us like the place even more. I think it's a good option for anyone looking for a dinner spot in Sokcho with their dog.

Why we ordered stone-pot bibimbap and acorn jelly at Daecheongmaru

Daecheongmaru is a Korean restaurant serving chodang sundubu (soft tofu from Chodang), dried pollack dishes, wild greens bibimbap and more. They explain that their chodang sundubu is made the traditional way with 100% domestic soybeans and East Sea seawater. We thought about the tofu that day too, but decided to go with dishes you crave more when you're traveling.

So what we ordered was sanchae dolsot bibimbap (wild greens bibimbap in a hot stone pot) and dotorimuk (acorn jelly)! For some reason, whenever I travel somewhere with lots of mountains and nature, like Gangwon-do, I always crave acorn jelly, haha. I don't go out of my way to eat it normally, but once I'm on a Gangwon trip, I find myself looking for it on the menu first.

How was Daecheongmaru's wild greens stone-pot bibimbap?

The sanchae dolsot bibimbap came warm in a stone pot, and it looked appetizing the moment it hit the table. I tried the bibimbap first. On a trip you eat lots of special things like meat and seafood, but toward the end of the day there are times when you crave Korean food with namul (seasoned greens) and rice like this, you know?

Mixing the various greens with the rice was fun, and because it's a stone pot, it stayed hot through the meal, which I liked. The side dishes came in such variety that alternating them with the bibimbap made the meal feel even richer.

Daecheongmaru's side dishes are almost a meal on their own

One of the most impressive things about Daecheongmaru was the side dishes: braised pollack, braised dried pollack, soy-marinated shrimp, and even dried pollack soup. As soon as the table was set and I started looking at each one, there they were.

• Braised pollack (dongtae-jorim)
• Braised dried pollack (hwangtae-jorim)
• Soy-marinated shrimp (saeu-jang)
• Dried radish greens (siraegi)
• Grilled tofu
• Seasoned cucumber
• Dried pollack soup (hwangtae-guk)

Honestly, at first I thought, "This is the banchan (side dishes)?" haha. The braised pollack, braised dried pollack and soy-marinated shrimp in particular had far too much presence to be called simple side dishes. It wasn't just greens with the bibimbap: I ate shrimp, then dried pollack, then grilled tofu, and it was fun tasting a bit of everything. With warm dried pollack soup on the side too, there was broth to go with it, which suited a hearty dinner on a trip.

Daecheongmaru's signature dishes include chodang sundubu, spicy sundubu, dried pollack hangover soup, wild greens bibimbap, grilled dried pollack and acorn jelly, so it looks like a good place to share dishes if you come with several people.

Daecheongmaru acorn jelly, a Gangwon trip favourite

The acorn jelly at Daecheongmaru was springy yet soft, and with the seasoning it went well with the wild greens bibimbap. And the acorn jelly I'd been waiting for! I really do crave acorn jelly every time I come to Gangwon-do, haha. Somehow acorn jelly on a trip seems to taste better than usual, too.

Ordering it with a mild dish like the wild greens bibimbap worked well: one side a warm, filling rice dish, the other something light to eat alongside. If you're like me and look for acorn jelly on Gangwon trips, I think it's worth ordering them together.

Dining with a dog at Daecheongmaru: private rooms

We could visit Daecheongmaru with our dog, and following the staff's guidance we ate in a private room. On this visit, being able to bring our dog mattered as much as the food. When you bring a dog to a restaurant, you sometimes worry about bothering other guests, but eating in a private room definitely put us at ease. Our dog could rest comfortably beside us, and we could focus on our meal, which was satisfying.

Daecheongmaru opening hours and break time

As announced at the time of writing, Daecheongmaru is open from 07:20 to 21:30, with a break time from 15:30 to 17:00. Since it's open from early morning into the evening, it's easy to fit into a Sokcho itinerary. If you spend the day at sights and eat dinner afterward, like we did, I think it's a decent place to look at for dinner in Sokcho. It felt especially right at the end of a trip, when you'd rather have warm rice, greens and broth than something too intense.

Who should visit Daecheongmaru in Sokcho?

What stayed with me about this visit to Daecheongmaru is that it wasn't a place where you eat just one dish and leave: you could enjoy a variety of side dishes and Korean food in one spread. The large parking lot and the staff's parking guidance were good too, and being shown to a private room when we came with our dog meant we could eat comfortably.

If you're looking for a dinner spot while traveling in Sokcho, look beyond chodang sundubu and grilled dried pollack to dishes like wild greens bibimbap and acorn jelly. If you're like me and crave acorn jelly whenever you visit Gangwon-do, if you're planning a Sokcho trip with a dog, or if you want a hearty Korean dinner at the end of your trip, Daecheongmaru is worth adding to your itinerary. 😊