Songpa gukbap restaurant for family meals: Boseung Hoegwan

A gukbap restaurant near Jamsil Station and Seokchon Lake

A few days ago, I visited Boseung Hoegwan Bangi Branch, a great spot for lunch around Jamsil or Seokchon Lake!! We were taking our child to Lotte World for the first time in a while, and you have to have a filling meal before you go, right? 😂

Boseung Hoegwan Bangi Branch is close to Bangi-dong’s food alley, so it was easy enough to get to when looking for somewhere to eat around Jamsil Station or Seokchon Lake. There were so many kinds of gukbap (rice soup), including sundae-guk (Korean blood sausage soup), suyuk-gukbap, pork jowl suyuk-gukbap, offal gukbap, and pork-bone hangover soup, so it was nice to be able to choose according to our tastes too!!

Looking over the actual menu, they also had a great variety of drinking snacks, including sulguk, assorted boiled pork, and sundae-and-gopchang hot pot!!

Ordering sundae-guk, spicy sundae-guk, and pork jowl suyuk-gukbap

Ordering was easy with the ordering device at each table. I added dadaegi, a spicy seasoning paste, to my sundae-guk, while my husband ordered spicy sundae-guk because he wanted something a little hotter than the regular version. And for our child, we chose the pork jowl suyuk-gukbap!

When dining with a child, you often need to order spicy and non-spicy dishes separately, so I loved that the variety of gukbap let everyone choose something suited to their own taste!

Sundae-guk with extra dadaegi

My sundae-guk arrived in a steaming ttukbaegi, an earthenware pot, as you would expect from a gukbap restaurant, and it looked filling from the moment I saw it. When you add dadaegi, it comes perched on top of the soup, and you just stir it in. Maybe because I love eating it with dadaegi, I really enjoyed the deeper, warmly spicy flavor.

With the mild, savory broth of the sundae-guk plus the dadaegi, it was perfect for mixing rice into, so that was the first thing I did 😂

The kimchi and kkakdugi (cubed radish kimchi) served alongside also went beautifully with the gukbap. The kkakdugi in particular was crunchy and great to have one piece at a time after a spoonful of soup, and the kimchi was not spicy either. I cut it into small pieces for our child, who ate it so well that we even got another refill!! Kimchi and kkakdugi are secretly so important when you eat gukbap, aren’t they? Rice mixed into hot broth with a piece of kkakdugi or kimchi on top is simply the best.

The spicier sundae-guk

My husband’s spicy sundae-guk was much hotter than regular sundae-guk with dadaegi added. If you enjoy a lively, peppery heat, choosing one of the spicy options seems like a good idea. Boseung Hoegwan offers spicy versions not only of sundae-guk, but also of suyuk-gukbap, offal gukbap, osori-gukbap, and pork-bone hangover soup, so it seemed like a great choice for anyone who loves spicy gukbap!!

Pork jowl suyuk-gukbap that was easy to share with our child

Since we were with our child, the pork jowl suyuk-gukbap, with tender meat and no spice, was a good choice too. It contains boiled pork jowl, and it was easy to share a bowl focused on broth and meat with our child without mixing in spicy seasoning. Our child ate it incredibly well. The pork jowl was definitely tender, so even a child who does not usually like meat seemed to enjoy it. Children’s tableware was provided separately too!!

When visiting as a family like this, it is the best that one person can have sundae-guk, another a spicy gukbap, and a child a relatively mild gukbap—everyone gets to pick what they want!

From solo meals to family dinners and late-night food

There were solo dining seats, so it is good for eating alone too, and Boseung Hoegwan Bangi Branch suited everything from family meals to drinks. It is fine as a place to simply have gukbap and leave, but looking at the menu, it also seemed well suited to evening drinks! There were many options, including assorted boiled pork, sundae-and-gopchang hot pot, stir-fried sundae and gopchang, pork-bone gamjatang, sundae with pork jowl suyuk, mung bean pancakes, seafood scallion pancakes, and sulguk. It felt like a place that works well for breakfast, lunch, or dinner. Boseung Hoegwan Bangi Branch is open 24 hours, so it would also be great for breakfast, a late-night meal, or somewhere to recover after drinking!

High chairs were available, and there is parking in front of the restaurant, but it is not very large, so I recommend coming on foot like we did.

The restaurant was spacious, with room between tables and plenty of partitioned seats, so you could dine with a reasonable degree of privacy. There were group tables too, making it fine for groups. They really had a variety of seating types. The restaurant was clean, and the food came out neatly too, so I would like to visit again next time I am in Jamsil.

On a day when you are craving a bowl of gukbap around Jamsil or Bangi-dong—especially when you want something hot and filling—I think it would be worth stopping by!!