Poi-dong gamjatang restaurant with a ramen add-on and soju: Chomu

These days I try to eat home-cooked meals a lot, but I also like going out for a drink on Wednesday evenings. Now that we're past the start of autumn and it's cooling down, is it just me who's craving soup like clockwork? I went to Chomu Gamjatang, a well-known spot in Poi-dong, for some gamjatang (pork bone and potato soup).

Where is Chomu Gamjatang? Parking and opening hours

Chomu Gamjatang's address is 59 Nonhyeon-ro, 1F, Seocho-gu, Seoul. It's right on the road, and it seems like a lot of families come here for dinner too.

Parking is available right out front at Chomu Gamjatang. Maybe because it was dinnertime, there were quite a lot of customers, including plenty of families haha.

Chomu Gamjatang is open every day from 11am to 10pm, with last order at 9:30pm. Shall we go straight in?

Inside Chomu Gamjatang: hall size and seating

The inside was really spacious — there were solo diners, families out for a meal, and couples eating together too. I thought, this is the place for a hangover cure haha.

We were shown to our seats. The window seat looked out onto the parking lot, but the full glass window still gave a nice open feeling. On the table were the dishware and paper cups, and in the side drawer were napkins, spoons and chopsticks. Shall we check out the menu now?

Ordering a small gamjatang with ramen noodles and soju

I kept going back and forth between the steamed bone dish and the gamjatang, but I decided this time called for soup, so I ordered the small gamjatang, ramen noodles, and a soju. The Jeju hand-breaded pork cutlet looked pretty tasty too — I thought I'd have to come back for that next time.

The side dishes: fresh-cut kimchi worth the reputation

The side dishes arrived — kimchi and kkakdugi. The kimchi was sweet, freshly made geotjeori (unfermented kimchi) style, and it was so good I went back for seconds a few times. The kkakdugi was well-fermented too and really tasty. And the ramen noodles... they're a bit pricey, but how can you resist adding ramen noodles to gamjatang?

I was surprised at first, thinking they only had Chamisul, but there was Saero in the fridge next to it too haha.

You can top up any side dish you're missing at the self-serve bar, which had cheongyang peppers and ssamjang, and it was kept really clean too.

Small gamjatang at Chomu: how much meat, how good?

The gamjatang arrived. We were told the meat was ready to eat right away, while the potatoes and dumplings needed a bit more cooking. Chomu Gamjatang was so friendly, which put me in an even better mood.

There were five big chunks of meat in there. I dug in eagerly, but one piece was still left over — so close! It was also packed with ugeoji inside.

Look at the size of this one piece of meat... hahaha. The small size was seriously generous, and the ugeoji was so well-cooked it just melted away in my mouth.

I picked the meat off the bone easily — no gamey smell at all, just tender. I dipped it in mustard sauce and ate it with kimchi, not even thinking about my face swelling up the next day... ha.

I thought about ordering fried rice, but settled on a bowl of plain rice instead. Rice topped with meat and kimchi — with that, two bowls of rice are basically guaranteed.

Skin-on potatoes and chewy potato dumplings too — now that my stomach's filled up a bit, time for the soju, right?

Forget Chamisul, Saero is where it's at!

Finishing the pot with ramen noodles

Now that we've eaten our fair share, time to bring on the ramen noodles, right?

I feel like I could eat ramen every day and never get sick of it. The chef scooped out the ramen noodles, chewy and soaked in the broth, onto our small plate.

All I have at home is fermented kimchi, so having this delicious fresh geotjeori after a while made the ramen go down so easily, ha... I think I'll probably be back again soon for a hangover cure...

Snapped a shot of the business card to wrap things up. The hall is spacious and good for family meals or gatherings, everyone was friendly, and the food was especially good — if you're looking for a Yangjae restaurant or a Yangjaecheon restaurant, how about Chomu Gamjatang?