Gyeongju Hwangridan-gil restaurant, five-color jjimdak lunch: Dongyang

A Korean-food date spot on Gyeongju's Hwangridan-gil Dongyang Baekban, a hanok restaurant

Living in Ulsan is so nice for this, haha, Gyeongju is an hour away and Busan's an hour too~~^^ I used to drive all the way from Dongtan to Suwon's Hwaseong Haenggung just to soak up the hanok vibe, but now Gyeongju does the trick, so great~~!! There's a Gyeongju National Heritage Night Walk happening this week, and I heard the Black Eagles airshow is on Friday at 5pm, so since it was my son's school founding anniversary day off, we held hands and headed out to Gyeongju~~~!! You can't enjoy the sights on an empty stomach, right? So we decided to start with lunch at Dongyang Baekban, a hanok restaurant great for a Korean-food date on Gyeongju's Hwangridan-gil...

Where is Dongyang Baekban, and where do you park on Hwangridan-gil?

Dongyang Baekban is on Poseok-ro on Hwangridan-gil in Gyeongju, open 11:00-21:00 with a break time from 15:00-17:00. For holiday closures, check Naver Place.

Around Gyeongju's cherry blossom festival there's nowhere to park and the streets jam up, which nearly drove me crazy, but coming on a weekday afternoon this time, parking was easy. You could park in the alleys, but finding a spot isn't simple, so the Hwangnam Culture Center public lot works. That one isn't very big though, so the Hwangridan-gil public lot is another option — we ended up parking at the street public lot near the Bagel Bagler store and paid the ₩5,500 daily fee.

My son and I have zero sense of direction, haha. Still, after parking and strolling along Hwangridan-gil, we found Dongyang Baekban — great for a Korean-food date on Gyeongju's Hwangridan-gil — pretty quickly.

A house turned hanok dining room: what the private rooms feel like

Dongyang Baekban is a hanok restaurant converted from an old house, so there's a courtyard, and it's split into a main house on the right and an annex on the left around the kitchen. Each room has about two tables.

Since it's a converted house, there's a cozy courtyard, with the main house on the right and the annex on the left around the kitchen, and once you step into a room there are about two tables set up~~!!

There were other guests besides us, but they seated us in a different room so we could eat comfortably, and it was nice having that private feel~~^^

From our table there was a big window framed like a picture, giving a real sense of openness and a lovely atmosphere too — no wonder this place is popular as a date spot~~~^^

Dongyang Baekban menu and prices: five-color vegetable jjimdak, 28,000 won

What we ordered that day: five-color vegetable jjimdak (₩28,000), hanwoo mulhoe (₩12,000), and egg rice (₩3,500). Dongyang Baekban centers its menu around chicken dishes, hanwoo yukhoe (raw beef), and rice bowls.

Alongside the chicken mains, there's a specialty hanwoo yukhoe and a range of rice bowls with various toppings, so you can order according to taste, which is nice. Caviar rice bowl, pollack roe rice bowl, spicy pepper rice bowl, gamtae (seaweed) rice bowl, yukhoe rice bowl, egg rice — I wanted to try one of each, but there's only two of us... We seriously agonized over it before finally deciding, haha.

That neat Korean-food feel flavored with seasonal ingredients is so nice~~^^ Generous portions for the price too, which raised our satisfaction, and since the flavors aren't overly strong, it's a hearty meal anyone, young or old, can enjoy.

The side dishes were served neatly too, but we were too busy eating the mains to even touch them~~~lol.

Hanwoo mulhoe: try the raw beef plain first

For the ₩12,000 hanwoo mulhoe at Dongyang Baekban, you should taste the raw beef before mixing it into the broth. My son ordered soy-sauce egg rice, and I ordered the refreshing hanwoo mulhoe.

The most important thing in hanwoo mulhoe is the freshness of the raw beef, right~? So I tasted the beef first before mixing in the broth, haha. Wow~~~~~ delicious even eaten plain~~!! It also pairs well with the tangy broth, so if you like mulhoe, ordering this is a must, not an option.

They gave us a separate large bowl so we could mix it comfortably, but this kid finished the whole egg rice before the five-color vegetable jjimdak even arrived~~

Five-color vegetable jjimdak: boneless chicken piled with vegetables

The ₩28,000 five-color vegetable jjimdak comes fully cooked from the kitchen, so you just keep the burner on low and dig in. Being boneless, it's easy to eat and comes in a generous portion.

The five-color vegetable jjimdak arrived soon after~~!! Since it comes fully cooked from the kitchen, you just keep the flame low and eat right away, they said. The portion was so generous~~~~~~

Under the tender chicken thigh meat, there were plenty of glass noodles soaking up the sauce, which I loved~~haha. Being boneless jjimdak, it was easy and comfortable to eat~~^^

Loaded with meat plus baby corn, eggplant, sweet pumpkin, potato, lotus root, broccoli, and more, so you could enjoy a wide variety~~!! The sauce was juicy too, so mixing it with rice would be great as well.... A great spot for a family outing, a meal with parents, or a couple's date — Dongyang Baekban, great for a Korean-food date on Gyeongju's Hwangridan-gil~~!!