Bucheon Chinese spot: spicy tray jjajang vs Gunsan's, Glory Works

Glory Works at Sangdong Station

What is the spicy tray jjajang at Glory Works?

Glory Works' spicy tray jjajang (쟁반짜장, noodles stir-fried with black bean sauce) is loaded with squid, shrimp and pork, plus finely chopped Cheongyang chili (땡초), for a rich, sweet-salty plate. This is the story of eating spicy tray jjajang with Cheongyang chili at the Chinese restaurant Glory Works near Sangdong Station in Bucheon, then mixing the free rice into the sauce for jjajangbap. It reminded me of Gunsan chili jjajang.

The toppings and noodles are generous enough for 2–3 people to eat their fill, and scraping up the free rice from the self bar makes it a real value-for-money Bucheon jjajang spot! 🥹 I pass by Sangdong Station often and visit Glory Works a lot, so let me introduce the spicy tray jjajang I had in detail. Let's go~

Glory Works location, opening hours and parking

• Hours: 11:00 a.m.–9:00 p.m.
• Break time: 3:00–5:00 p.m.
• Last order: 2:30 p.m. and 8:30 p.m.
• Closed every Sunday
• Takeout and delivery available, parking available

Glory Works is on the first floor of the Sigma Tower shopping building, across the main road from Lotte Castle near Sangdong Station. Since it faces the main road, both the signage and the interior are neat, and it's a Chinese restaurant in Bucheon where you can enjoy Chinese dishes with a glass of kaoliang liquor (gaoliang, a Chinese spirit).

You can use the underground parking lot inside Sigma Tower. Compared with other shops around Sangdong Station, the parking lot is pleasant, and they give you 3 hours of free parking.

Glory Works atmosphere and how to order

Inside, it has bright white lighting and a clean, stylish interior that doesn't feel like a typical Chinese restaurant. It was so busy that I couldn't take a photo of the whole place. It's very clean and hygienic, a Sangdong Station Chinese restaurant that's good for a glass of kaoliang liquor with dishes, or for eating jjajangmyeon or jjamppong alone.

It was dinner time, so there were lots of people: diners, people having a drink with their meal, company dinner groups and so on. You just grab a seat and order at the table.

Every seat has an ordering kiosk, so you order by looking at the menu photos and descriptions.

Glory Works menu

Glory Works says it cooks with ingredients delivered directly from the source every morning. The menu is kept short, only Chinese dishes Koreans love: jjajang, jjamppong, fried rice, tangsuyuk (sweet and sour pork), shrimp dishes, yuringi (fried chicken in a soy-vinegar sauce) and kkanpunggi (crispy chicken in a sweet-spicy sauce). Judging by how many takeout and delivery customers there are, it's also a good Bucheon Chinese restaurant to order from at home.

I ordered the great-value spicy tray jjajang. It's a chili jjajang whose heat comes from Cheongyang chili (땡초) rather than capsaicin, and the sauce left after the noodles is great for mixing into jjajangbap (jjajang over rice). 💞

At the time of my visit, Glory Works was running a review event where you could get a sweetened condensed milk flower bun (kkotppang, a steamed bun) service. It looked like a good event to join if you want a sweet side or something to go with drinks.

Glory Works side dish: seasoned zha cai (pickled mustard stem)

The side dishes they set out were two kinds: zha cai muchim (seasoned Chinese pickled mustard stem) and danmuji (yellow pickled radish). The zha cai was gently sour and spicy, not just salty, and I kept reaching for it.

I also ordered a Coke Zero to drink with it.

How many people does the spicy tray jjajang feed?

The spicy tray jjajang is ordered as a dish for 2, but as takeout or delivery it's a generous amount that 3 people can share. It came out after I heard the wok flipping in the kitchen; the sauce and noodles are stir-fried together in the wok so it arrives already mixed, with no sauce pooling at the bottom, and the chewy jjajang sauce clung well to the noodles.

Since I hadn't had tray jjajang in a while, it felt like even more food. 👍🏻 Compared with ordering two single-serving jjajangmyeon, it has more vegetables and meat, plus seafood toppings, so it's an even more generous portion.

Spicy tray jjajang toppings and flavor

The seafood in the spicy tray jjajang is squid and shrimp, and finely chopped Cheongyang chili shows between thick, square-cut pieces of pork. It seems the ingredients weren't all stir-fried at the same time: the meat was cooked long so the jjajang sauce soaked in deeply and tasted savory, while the seafood seemed to be stir-fried quickly and taken out, so it was plump and chewy.

Above all, the clean spicy tingle of Cheongyang chili runs through the rich, sweet-salty, umami-packed jjajang sauce, cutting the sweetness and greasiness so it never gets tiresome. Seriously delicious jjajang..!!

I toss the noodles through once more so everything is evenly mixed. 🥹 The overwhelming look of tray jjajang, so different from regular jjajangmyeon! The Chinese noodles didn't get soggy either; they were springy and properly coated in oil.

Sweet-salty, spicy-spicy, a jjajang you simply can't dislike..

How spicy is it compared with Gunsan chili jjajang?

If Gunsan chili jjajang is a merciless dump of Cheongyang chili that says "die from the spice!!", Glory Works' spicy tray jjajang is a chili jjajang with the heat balanced just right, so even people who can't handle spicy food can eat it going "hah, this is good!!" I recommend Glory Works at Sangdong Station to anyone looking for chili jjajang in Bucheon.

The plump shrimp and chewy squid burst with seafood juice when you bite them, and with the sweet-salty jjajang sauce clinging to them, they're delicious even if you pick out only the toppings..!

Is rice free at Glory Works?

Yes, Glory Works is a Chinese restaurant with free rice, and there's a large rice cooker at the self bar. With tray jjajang, the unwritten rule is to make jjajangbap with the leftover toppings and sauce 👍🏻 It's a good-value Bucheon Chinese restaurant where you can have jjajangbap after jjajangmyeon, or jjamppong rice after jjamppong.

Ottogi instant jjajang can't compare to this seafood chili jjajangbap..👏🏻 As expected, jjajangbap made at home from powder and the kind made at a specialty restaurant by frying chunjang (black bean paste) in chili oil are on a different level.

I cleaned the plate with nothing left over. 😋 Glory Works, good at chili jjajang and tray jjajang in Bucheon, is right in front of Sangdong Station, so it's good for eating alone, and a Chinese restaurant where a glass of kaoliang liquor goes well with the neatly served dishes.