Itaewon Korean restaurant for spice-shy friends: soy bone stew, Nuri

When you're eating in Itaewon, don't you sometimes need a spot that's open 24 hours? I thought it'd be useful to know a place you can walk into any time, no break time, even later than expected, so I went and cooked one up for you haha.

Nuri Maeul Gamjatang Itaewon Branch is a 24-hour spot near Itaewon Station that opened not long ago. It's already a well-known franchise, but this one just showed up as a newbie right in front of Itaewon Station. The menu is especially good for eating with a group, so on this day I went with a bunch of friends for the first time in a while!

Where is Nuri Maeul Gamjatang Itaewon Branch? Right in front of Itaewon Station Exit 4

Nuri Maeul Gamjatang Itaewon Branch takes up a big space on the 2nd floor, right in front of Itaewon Station Exit 4. It was hot out, and walking any distance from the station when using public transit is a whole ordeal, so the easy access was really nice.

The sign is easy to spot, so even on a first visit it wasn't hard to find Nuri Maeul Gamjatang.

Originally I went for gamjatang, but on the way there I looked it up and found out they have bone stew (뼈찜)!!!! Quick change of plans and we decided to try the bone stew haha. The seating was really spacious, and while there were some solo diners, it seemed like the place was mostly geared toward groups of two or more.

A spacious hall with kids' seats, good for group meals

I visited around the in-between hours of 3 to 4pm and took photos while it was quiet — there were kids' seats and it was genuinely spacious, so it seems like a great Korean restaurant for group meals near Itaewon Station. It was nice to step away from Itaewon's usual foreign-feeling vibe for a moment and land in a cozy Korean restaurant, felt comfortable haha.

The self-serve bar had all kinds of plates you could freely grab, plus kimchi and side dishes.

Free gamjatang broth service — a taste you could tell just from the soup

Since we were having the soy-braised bone stew, I figured I wouldn't get to try the gamjatang (pork bone soup) at all this time... but then the owner served us broth on the house! It came out bubbling in a stone pot, and the broth was so refreshing yet deep and rich. You could tell just from the broth alone why this place is known for gamjatang.

I thought I'd be missing out, but thanks to that thoughtful bit of service, I got to enjoy the soy bone stew just as much.

Large soy bone stew, 52,000 won, enough for 4 adults

The soy bone stew (간장뼈찜) came out fully cooked on a large iron platter. The base price for the large size is 52,000 won, and it was more than enough for 4 adults.

There was a generous amount of meat overall, with a decent amount of flesh still on the bones — it came off easily when I picked at it with chopsticks. Mixed in were carrots, onions, cabbage, glass noodles, sujebi (hand-torn dough soup), rice cakes and more, so there was a fun variety of things to pick through.

The seasoning was just the right amount of sweet and salty, so I think even kids would enjoy eating it.

It was so hot out that lighting a burner would've been rough, but since everything comes already cooked, you just sit and eat. Cook time was about 15 minutes.

Meat mandu, 7,000 won, and self fried rice

Partway through we added meat mandu (dumplings) too — 4 hefty pieces for 7,000 won. Juicy and soft, and they went surprisingly well with the soy bone stew.

We also ordered regular rice, but it felt like a waste to leave without it, so at the end we ordered self-made fried rice too haha. This one's only available starting from 2 servings.

Seaweed, perilla oil and a bit of kimchi get mixed in, and you make it yourself — spreading it evenly across the hot plate with a spoon until it turns crispy like nurungji (scorched rice). It got really nutty and toasty haha.

Mixing the leftover seasoning into the rice gave it real umami depth.

Why it was a good pick with foreign friends who can't handle spicy food

I visited this place with foreign friends, and they were all amazed and delighted trying a dish for the first time. I was a bit worried since, surprisingly, they can't eat spicy food, but since there's a bone stew (뼈찜) option besides the gamjatang, we all got to eat happily. Being open 24 hours meant we could come by comfortably any time — that wraps up my review of Nuri Maeul Gamjatang, a solid find near Itaewon Station :)