Sindorim jokbal spot 7 years on: front leg, tray noodles, The Jokbal

Back at The Jokbal Sindorim after 7 years

I was in Sindorim after a long time and stumbled on a place I was really happy to see: The Jokbal Sindorim Main Branch (더족발 신도림본점). It's a bit special to me. A friend took me here in high school, saying "this place is seriously good," and the jokbal was so delicious that it has lived in my memory as pretty much my life-changing jokbal place.

I finally came back, and when I thought about it, it had been 7 years! Coming back after that long felt strange and made me nostalgic. A lot has changed in 7 years, but the taste at The Jokbal is the same.

The Jokbal Sindorim Main Branch · Address: 619-3 Gyeongin-ro, Guro-gu, Seoul (1st floor, Sindorim Prugio 3rd apartment shops) · Parking🅿️ parking ticket provided · Hours 11:00-22:30 (break 15:00-16:00), no break on weekends and public holidays

I went in the evening and it was busy, as expected. Lots of people seem to come to Sindorim for jokbal: there were diners having a meal and groups out for a company dinner. It's a great spot for a Sindorim work dinner, a get-together with friends, or a family meal like ours.

Beyond jokbal and bossam (boiled pork wraps), the menu is wide: cold jokbal salad (naengchae jokbal), flame-grilled spicy jokbal, half-and-half jokbal, makguksu (buckwheat noodles), mung bean pancakes (nokdu jijimi), steamed egg and more. Quite a few items have been added over the 7 years, so it's easy to order to everyone's taste when you come with several people.

Location: 1st floor of the Sindorim Prugio 3rd shops

It's on the first floor of Sindorim Prugio 3rd, so it should be easy to find.

Front leg ₩47,000, half-and-half jokbal ₩48,000

The first thing that caught my eye was the prices, haha. They're up by roughly ₩5,000 from before, I think. After this much time, that's only natural with prices these days. Honestly ₩5,000 doesn't even seem like that much, haha.

Front leg is ₩47,000 and rear leg is ₩41,000, and half-and-half jokbal comes in spicy or soy garlic for ₩48,000. Prices have definitely gone up, but the taste was exactly as I remembered, which made me even happier.

We ordered the front leg and a small tray noodle (jaengban guksu, spicy-sweet mixed noodles).

Side dishes served before the jokbal

Before the jokbal arrived, a generous spread of sides came out: vegetables, sauces, shredded radish, jellyfish cold salad, bean sprout soup and seasoned chive salad. The sides are even more generous than before :)

How is the front leg? Chewy skin, tender meat

At The Jokbal, a well-loved Sindorim jokbal spot, the meat isn't dry. You get the chewy texture jokbal is known for together with soft, tender meat.

The skin is chewy and gets nuttier and richer the more you chew, which I think is what makes The Jokbal unique among Sindorim jokbal places.

Even the lean meat is tender, so eating it together with the skin feels really great.

The tenderness was exactly what I remembered loving, and I was so happy to taste it again :)

Jokbal is disappointing when it's boiled too long and mushy, and also when the meat is too firm and dry. The Jokbal's is chewy yet so tender that I wondered how it can be this soft.

Wrap it in lettuce, perilla leaves or napa cabbage with all kinds of sauces and it's jokbal heaven :) Even after so long, I thought, "Yep, so tender."

Small tray noodles are still a big portion

Even though I ordered the small tray noodles, the portion was big. Crunchy cabbage goes so well with the sauce and noodles that this place should be called the tray noodle place as much as the jokbal place.

The sweet-and-sour sauce is rich, so it's great alongside the jokbal, and the noodles weren't soggy at all, still springy. Eating in the restaurant gives you a much more authentic taste than delivery :)

How about for a Sindorim lunch or company dinner?

If you're looking for a place to eat in Sindorim, The Jokbal is worth a visit for lunch too. Besides jokbal, you can have things like makguksu, so it works as a lunch menu.

If you work in Sindorim, try it for a lunch meeting or team dinner and have the softest jokbal in the world. If you want something a little special for lunch, The Jokbal is a good choice. In the evening it's great for a drink with jokbal, and the mood suited a Sindorim company dinner well.

Same taste after 7 years, and takeout too

Memories of good restaurants can get prettier over time, so I had a little worry: "What if it was great back then but disappointing now?" But guess what? It was delicious even after 7 years, hahaha.

Prices have gone up, of course, but the chewy texture and taste I remembered are still there. So this visit felt less like just eating jokbal and more like old memories coming back, which I love. Going back to a place a high school friend took me, 7 years later!

2019, haha. I still have a photo from then, hahaha. This is the fun of revisiting an old favorite. If you're craving jokbal in Sindorim, definitely visit The Jokbal Sindorim Main Branch.

It was so good again that I even got some to take home, haha. The real jokbal is The Jokbal! It's still my life-changing jokbal place. That was The Jokbal Sindorim Main Branch, delicious even after 7 years.