Chinese restaurant in Cheomdan, Gwangju with seafood rice bowl: Mayway

Today we went to Mayway, a Chinese restaurant in Cheomdan that's on the rise as a local favorite. We eat out pretty much every weekend, and Chinese food is something we really love these days. My husband's been getting laser hair removal on his philtrum lately, so we head to Cheomdan once a month — and since there was a Chinese restaurant nearby, we quickly popped in!! A place I was very satisfied with.

Where is Mayway in Cheomdan, Gwangju, and what are the hours?

Mayway is located at 6 Cheomdangangbyeon-ro 87beon-gil, Gwangsan-gu, Gwangju. It's open daily from 11:00 to 22:00, with a break time from 15:00 to 17:00, and last order at 21:30.

Located across from Cheomdan Hillstate Mustard Seed Church, Mayway has a striking exterior that made it easy to spot right away.

Inside Mayway: interior and seating

The interior looked clean enough to rank near the top among Chinese restaurants. The space is quite spacious with plenty of seating, so we could eat comfortably.

Mayway's self-bar: unlimited green onion kimchi and white rice

A self-bar at a Chinese restaurant felt refreshing — macaroni corn salad, green onion kimchi, onions, and even white rice, all unlimited. Best of all, that green onion kimchi is genuinely delicious.

Vinegar, soy sauce, and chili powder standing by at the table...

I wondered why the green onion kimchi was piled up like a mountain — turns out this place is known for its hot stone jjajang (dolzzajang), and people love pairing jjajangmyeon with green onion kimchi, so they keep it stocked generously. Sure enough, when lunchtime hit, plenty of people came in, and everyone headed straight to the self-bar to pile their plates high with it — I could see why.

Ordering was simple — just sit down and scan the QR code at the table. I've been to plenty of restaurants, but this was my first time ordering by QR code, so it felt both convenient and novel.

Mayway's seafood rice bowl, packed with webfoot octopus, shrimp and bamboo shoots

This is the seafood rice bowl I chose. True to its name, it's piled high with seafood, and the sauce had just the right starch thickness — appropriately spicy in a way that kept pulling me back for more, so I finished it without leaving a bite.

The ingredients were substantial — webfoot octopus, shrimp, squid, bamboo shoots, and wood ear mushrooms, all generously loaded in this hearty seafood rice bowl. I'd be happy to order it again next visit!! My husband usually doesn't like seafood and skips seafood rice bowls, but Mayway's version seemed to suit his taste — it was nice seeing him eat the seafood too.

For someone who loves seafood like me, this place is heaven ~ haha. I love webfoot octopus and there were more than three pieces in there, so I could eat to my heart's content. It paired well with the texture of the bamboo shoots — honestly, I wouldn't have minded even more bamboo shoots.

Mayway's 1-person set: jjamppong, jjajangmyeon and sweet and sour pork together

Aside from Mayway's signature hot stone jjajang, this is their most famous item — the 1-person set comes with jjamppong, jjajangmyeon, and sweet and sour pork all together, at a great price too. Whenever I go to a Chinese restaurant, I always agonize over whether to get jjajang or jjamppong, and whether to add sweet and sour pork even though it's pricey and the portions get huge — Mayway solves all of that in one order.

It's called a 1-person set, but the portions are a bit more than one person's worth, and with unlimited rice from the self-bar, you can essentially eat as much as you want.

My husband loves jjajangmyeon so he finished that, and I love jjamppong so I finished mine, and we shared a bit of each other's favorite dish — very satisfying.

This sweet and sour pork had very clean-looking oil, juicy meat, crispy batter, and pretty large pieces overall — one of the dishes I ate while marveling at it. Mayway seems like the kind of fried-food spot where ordering just the sweet and sour pork on its own would already get you more than halfway to a great meal.

Grapefruit cream shrimp (half) at Mayway, ordered instead of menbosha

This is what we ordered after finding out menbosha was out of stock — sold under the unusual name grapefruit cream shrimp. Small bits of grapefruit scattered over the cream shrimp cut through what could otherwise be a sweet, heavy dish with a tangy note, which made the grapefruit cream shrimp disappear in no time.

It's sold in half and full portions, so we ordered the half as a side dish, and it was just the right amount. The shrimp were nice and plump, and the batter had a different kind of crispness from the sweet and sour pork's — a dish I'd happily order again without thinking of it as just more fried food.

Sweet and tangy in a way that kept us eating endlessly — even after the seafood rice bowl and the 1-person set, we finished the grapefruit cream shrimp without leaving anything behind!

Last up was the sweet potato fritters served on the house, and just as we were finishing, they even brought out strawberry ice cream — we left completely stuffed from an afternoon that started at lunchtime. If you're looking for a Chinese restaurant near Cheomdan, I'd recommend Mayway.