Ansan pot rice restaurant's 10-a-day eel special: Dongyang Sotbap

I was searching for a good place near Ansan Jungang Station and ended up having pot rice with my husband for the first time in a while! We went to Dongyang Sotbap Ansan Main Branch (동양솥밥 안산본점), which has a wide range of dishes. Let me tell you how it went.

Where is Dongyang Sotbap Ansan Main Branch, and where do you park?

Dongyang Sotbap Ansan Main Branch is 486m from Exit 1 of Jungang Station on Line 4 and the Suin-Bundang Line. It's not far from the station, so it's a decent spot to reach by public transport.

For parking, the restaurant recommends the public parking lot in front of Lotte Department Store Ansan or Megabox.

But when we arrived, there happened to be open spots on the building's first floor? So we parked there and went up, haha.

Atmosphere at Dongyang Sotbap Ansan Main Branch

The interior is decorated in wood tones, with tables neatly lined up. It feels warm and comfortable, so it would work well for a date too. We sat by the window and the sunlight came in, so it didn't feel stuffy at all.

These days the food matters, but the atmosphere quietly matters too, right? It wasn't too noisy, more the kind of place where you can eat comfortably, so it was nice for a cozy meal with my husband.

Menu and self-serve corner

Fitting for a well-known spot near Ansan Jungang Station, Dongyang Sotbap has a really wide variety of pot rice.

Aged kimchi pork belly, minari (water parsley) pork jowl, Namdo cockles, steak, yakitori, gyudon, Wando abalone, eggplant pot rice and more! You can pick whatever suits your taste. Side dishes include menbosha (shrimp toast), pork cutlet and guobaorou, which go nicely with pot rice.

Extra side dishes are help-yourself at the self-serve corner, and nurungji (scorched rice) water is prepared separately too. One thing that caught my eye was the loyalty coupon: collect 10 stamps and you get 1 main dish free, so regulars should definitely grab one.

How was the eel special, limited to 10 a day?

My husband ordered the eel special, and they say only 10 are sold per day. Hearing it's limited makes you want it even more, right? Haha. It looked really pretty.

A big piece of eel sits on top of a yellow egg sheet.

The eel was more generous than I expected, and the egg sheet was fluffy and so soft!

Side dishes and seaweed soup come neatly arranged on a tray, so it doesn't feel like just a bowl of rice. You actually feel like you're being treated to a proper full table.

The seaweed soup is free when you order pot rice! The eel special portion was quite generous too, and my husband kept saying he was full while eating, haha.

Wando abalone pot rice and guobaorou

I ordered the Wando abalone pot rice! I like abalone, but I especially love shiitake mushrooms, and since both of my favorite ingredients were in it, I felt I'd chosen well from the start!

The Wando abalone pot rice has plump abalone and plenty of shiitake on top, so it looks appetizing just to look at.

You add the seasoned soy sauce and mix it all up, and putting a little of the salted squid side dish on top of the rice is a surprisingly good treat.

We also ordered guobaorou (crispy sweet-and-sour pork), and the table was totally full, haha. It felt like a real health boost after a long time!

Overall verdict on Dongyang Sotbap Ansan Main Branch

The wide variety of pot rice made choosing fun, and the food arrives neatly on a tray, so it was a pleasant meal. My husband's eel special had big pieces of eel and a colorful look that left an impression, and I liked the abalone and shiitake combination in my Wando abalone pot rice.

Free seaweed soup, extra side dishes and nurungji water meant we left well fed. If you're looking for a place near Ansan Jungang Station and like pot rice, do stop by Dongyang Sotbap Ansan Main Branch!