Itaewon bone stew with open-window patio seating: Nuri Maeul Gamjatang

My fridge's been empty ever since I got back from my trip haha, love it! Eating out again today! My boyfriend was craving bone stew, so while searching for good bone stew spots I found [Nuri Maeul Gamjatang Itaewon Branch]. Here's my honest review after trying their soy-braised bone stew!

Where is Nuri Maeul Gamjatang Itaewon Branch, and when is it open?

Nuri Maeul Gamjatang Itaewon Branch is at 176 Itaewon-ro, 2F, Yongsan-gu, Seoul, about a 1-minute walk from Itaewon Station Exit 4. You see it right as you come out of the exit, and there's a bus stop right in front too, so access is great. And it's open 24 hours, every single day! Perfect for a second or third round after drinking in Itaewon~~

While writing this post I looked it up and apparently Nuri Maeul Gamjatang is a brand with a 22-year history specializing in gamjatang (pork bone stew)! This Itaewon branch seemed like a fairly new location, though — the place was super clean.

Menu and prices at Nuri Maeul Gamjatang Itaewon

Basically there's gamjatang and bone hangover soup. Gamjatang comes in Nuri Gamjatang (original) / spicy gamjatang / aged kimchi gamjatang — pretty standard so far, but what's unusual is they also have mala gamjatang and soybean cream gamjatang (sounds like it has soybean pulp in it!) lol, I've never seen those anywhere else, so I was really curious.

Sizes come in small, medium, and large, priced from the mid-₩30,000s to the ₩50,000s!

Besides gamjatang there are lots of meal options too. Stir-fried pork / grilled bulgogi / kimchi jjigae / soft tofu stew, handmade bean noodle soup / meat jeon naengmyeon / samgyetang / galbitang — all of it! Since it's open 24 hours, it'd be great to come for an early breakfast or lunch too. With such a varied menu, you probably wouldn't get sick of coming often~

But I came for the soy-braised bone stew! The glass noodles in the bone stew looked so good already,,

Inside the restaurant: open-window patio seats and group tables

Maybe because it's a newer branch, Nuri Maeul Gamjatang Itaewon Branch felt really spacious and pleasant! There are tables for 2 and 4, plus group seating, so it works for solo dining up to family meals, and they said private bookings for 60+ people are available too~ Sounds great for group dinners or gatherings in Yongsan!

The weather was nice and cool that day, and the window-side seats had the full glass front open, giving it a pojangmacha-like open-air feel~~ Really set the mood for drinks!

How to order: tablets, and add-ins for the bone stew up front

You can order right from the tablet at each table~ I went straight for the reason I came to [Nuri Gamjatang Itaewon Branch] today!! Picked the bone stew right away! 🤍FYI the bone stew takes 15–20 minutes to cook. Order any add-ins besides fried rice in advance!

Soy-braised bone stew prices are ✔️Small ₩36,000, Medium ₩44,000, Large ₩52,000 ✔️You can choose Mild or Spicy! We went with spicy~

For add-ins there's napa cabbage / aged kimchi / sundae (blood sausage), potato dumpling soup / udon / glass noodles / ramen noodles / potato add-on, etc.! If there's something you want added in, add it to the bone stew in advance~

Side dishes and the self-serve bar

While waiting for our order, I explored the self-serve bar~

Napa cabbage kimchi, cubed radish kimchi, pickled onions — just the essentials. Disposable aprons, scissors, tongs, and small plates were all there for you to grab yourself!

Soy-braised bone stew, spicy medium, 44,000 won: 7 thick, meaty bones

What we ordered was Nuri Maeul Gamjatang Itaewon Branch's soy-braised bone stew, spicy, medium size, ₩44,000. My boyfriend had actually come ahead and ordered already, so my bone stew came out almost the moment I arrived! It's the medium size but the portion is huge!! There were about 7 bones in it!

What I liked most,,! The bones had so much meat on them. Heavy enough to feel it just picking them up with chopsticks!! All 7 were thick with meat, and they were boiled so well that you could pull the meat off entirely with chopsticks~~

How spicy is the spicy soy-braised bone stew?

Between mild and spicy, I chose the 🌶️spicy one, and to my spice-loving palate it wasn't spicy at all — for my boyfriend who can't handle spice well, it was 'kind of spicy, I guess?' The sauce base is a sweet soy flavor, so if you want to eat it all without getting sick of it, I'd recommend the spicy option!

Just our guess, but since it's Itaewon, there are probably quite a few foreign customers, so maybe that's why it's not made too spicy? Just a theory lol

Do you need to add extra noodles or rice cake?

We ordered without any extra add-ins, and it already comes with rice cake / glass noodles / mushrooms / cabbage / carrots as standard. The rice cake and glass noodles especially come in huge amounts!! Unless you're really obsessed with rice cake and glass noodles lol, you probably don't need to add more!! There's genuinely a lot already.

Free gamjatang broth with every bone stew order

And another thing!! A perk at [Nuri Gamjatang Itaewon Branch]!! 🤍Order the bone stew and you get a bowl of gamjatang broth included, free🤍 It said the broth is simmered for over 6 hours, so the gamjatang itself must be amazing too,, I'll have to come back for that next time.

Meaty bones soaked through with that sweet-spicy sauce. My boyfriend and I ate so much we won't be craving bone stew again for a while. We'd originally planned to finish with fried rice too, but just the meat off the bones and the noodles filled us up completely!! Huge portion, and at just over ₩40,000 for the medium, pretty good value too!

+) There's also a receipt review event~~ 🍀Write a Naver receipt review and you can get one of: ramen noodle add-on / potato dumpling soup / 4 dumplings / a canned drink, free!

Worth it? Nuri Maeul Gamjatang when you crave bone stew in Itaewon

Really enjoyed the soy-braised bone stew at [Nuri Gamjatang Itaewon Branch]. Honestly, when I think of Itaewon I usually think of restaurants for food from other countries rather than Korean food, so a great gamjatang place wasn't something I expected to find here..!

And also, there are plenty of gamjatang restaurants around, but not many that really nail the bone stew! [Nuri Gamjatang Itaewon Branch] does bone stew really well~

• The meat on the bones is thick and generous
• The standard add-ins — rice cake, glass noodles, dumpling soup — come in generous portions too
• Plus that sweet-spicy flavor!
• And since it's open 24/7, you can go get bone stew whenever the craving hits, that's the bonus!

[Nuri Maeul Gamjatang Itaewon Branch] — next time I'll come back after a wild Friday night, for some bone hangover soup to cure it~~