Jeonju Hanok Village chicken shop for a private hanok stay: Mannyeon

Traveling to Jeonju Hanok Village with my in-laws, we had dinner and were relaxing at our stay when we started feeling a bit peckish and wanted something to nibble on for a late-night snack. That's when I remembered — while wandering the Hanok Village with my little one that afternoon, I'd been pulled in by an amazing smell and bookmarked it! Mannyeon Dakgangjeong, known as one of the top 5 street food spots in Jeonju Hanok Village! We packed fried and spicy versions to go and everyone dug in happily as a late-night snack — here's my post on this Jeonju Hanok Village favorite, Mannyeon Dakgangjeong!

Mannyeon Dakgangjeong hours and location

• Weekdays 11:00–21:00
• Weekends 10:00–22:00
• 27 Taejo-ro, Wansan-gu, Jeonju-si, Jeonbuk, South Korea

Where Mannyeon Dakgangjeong is, what it looks like, and parking

Mannyeon Dakgangjeong, a beloved food spot in Jeonju Hanok Village, sits right on the main street leading from Gyeonggijeon into the Hanok Village, haha. Since we'd booked a private hanok house inside the village, after dinner we rested up, took a loop around the village to see the night view, and picked up takeout on our way back to the stay!!

What is on the Mannyeon Dakgangjeong menu?

Mannyeon Dakgangjeong, a Jeonju Hanok Village favorite, also runs Gyodong Jjondeugi right next door.

So on the main menu you've got fried, mild, spicy, and soy sauce dakgangjeong, plus shrimp gangjeong made with plump shrimp, and side dishes like sotteok sotteok, sweet potato cheese sticks, cheese balls, and Gyodong jjondeugi — crispy outside, chewy inside — all available together!!

By the way, they cook it fresh as soon as you order, so it's piping hot right out of the fryer, and apparently you're supposed to leave the lid open once you get it to keep it from getting soggy. We ignored that warning and kept the lid closed the whole way back to our stay, but it was still nice and crisp either way! (Would it have been even better with the lid open?!)

They also use fresh fruit sauce, and apparently it tastes even better once it cools down — I've seen reviews saying it was even tastier the next day! But honestly, once you get back to your stay and set it on the table, the smell of delicious dakgangjeong just fills the air, so waiting for it to cool? Absolutely impossible. I couldn't hold back. Next time I'll order something else as round one and save this for round two of late-night snacking, haha.

How much do you get in a large fried and spicy half-and-half?

We got the Mannyeon Dakgangjeong (large) split half-and-half, haha — fried and spicy! But seriously, isn't the portion huge?? I'd read other reviews and thought 'there's no way it's really that much,' half-doubting as I ordered, but when we opened the box back at the stay, it really was a ton — I was kind of shocked, hahaha. It's basically the amount of two whole chickens.

And you can tell right away from the first bite of either the fried or spicy version — the coating isn't thick enough to taste floury or feel greasy; it's almost all meat with just a light coating on the outside, the kind of genuinely delicious dakgangjeong, haha.

How spicy is the spicy dakgangjeong?

Maybe that's why — the fried version is genuinely delicious chicken, crispy coating with juicy meat, while the spicy dakgangjeong is only about tongue-tingling spicy, so we were doing the ha-ha, hoo-hoo thing while eating, but it never got spicy deep down, hahaha. It's the kind of spicy dakgangjeong you can enjoy without much trouble (just be a little careful if you're sensitive to spice), haha.