Gyeongsangdo-style duruchigi set near Dongtan Gaenari Park: Yangpuni

For a few days I'd been weirdly, insanely craving spicy kimchi duruchigi (stir-fried pork and kimchi). I mean the really rich kind loaded with meat. And with the temperature dropping a bit lately and the mornings and evenings turning cool, it was exactly the right weather for something hot and kimchi-based.

A Korean restaurant near Dongtan Central Park and Gaenari Park: Yangpuni Kimchi Jjigae & Samgyeopsal

The name alone screams kimchi jjigae (kimchi stew) restaurant, haha. But it's not just kimchi jjigae — they also serve samgyeopsal (grilled pork belly), duruchigi, and more, so it looked like a solid pick for anything from a lunch to an evening group dinner.

I go around Dongtan Central Park a lot anyway — it's great for a walk and there are plenty of places to eat — but on a day like this, craving something hot and spicy, this kind of menu was exactly what I wanted. There really are a lot of good restaurants and cafés around Dongtan Central Park, so it's a nice area for a meal and a stroll.

What's on the menu?

The menu covers kimchi jjigae plus a bunch of other Korean dishes — pork kimchi jjim (braised kimchi and pork), duruchigi, jeyuk bokkeum (spicy stir-fried pork), soy-marinated bulgogi, and more. So it's a good spot for a group, since everyone can pick what they want.

The value duruchigi set and the giant rolled egg omelet

I was tempted by kimchi jjigae too, but in the end I ordered the value duruchigi set! When the food started coming out, the first thing that caught my eye was the giant rolled egg omelet, haha. It came out big and fluffy-looking, perfectly rolled — it looked soft just by looking at it.

Egg omelet really has to be eaten hot! One bite in, it was soft and mild — perfect alongside the spicy duruchigi. Yangpuni Kimchi Jjigae & Samgyeopsal clearly puts a lot of care into the ingredients they use, too.

What about the ingredients?

They said they use domestic kimchi and grade-1 domestic pork in every dish. The pork is delivered and used up the same day, and the accompanying vegetables are also said to be fresh.

How does the Gyeongsangdo-style duruchigi taste?

The duruchigi in particular is done Gyeongsangdo style — spicy and sweet sauce soaked well into the meat, the kind that goes perfectly with rice. Maybe because every ingredient was prepared fresh, both the generous portions and the food itself tasted even better.

The sauce had soaked in between every piece of meat, and there were plenty of vegetables too — I could tell right away this would be great with rice. It's exactly the sweet-and-spicy sauce I love, so my chopsticks kept going back for more! I took a bite of the pork and the sauce wasn't just aggressively spicy — it had a sweetness balanced with the heat that went really well with rice. And the savory flavor of the pork belly blending with the sauce made everything taste even richer.

Wrapped in lettuce, it's a total rice thief

You can't have duruchigi without the ssam (lettuce wrap) vegetables, right, haha. Put a spoonful of rice on a fresh lettuce leaf, add a piece of duruchigi pork, top it with sauce-soaked vegetables, and take one big bite... yeah, that's officially a rice thief. Since I'd been craving spicy food that day, it tasted especially good.

If you're near Dongtan Central Park or Gaenari Park craving something hot and spicy, or looking for a generous serving of duruchigi and kimchi jjigae, this is a great spot to visit — recommended!