Sokcho soft tofu stew restaurant, two bowls compared: Jinsol Halmeoni

Jinsol Halmeoni Sundubu A three-generation, old-school sundubu (soft tofu stew) restaurant in Sokcho 📍 Location Nohak-dong 1015-6, Sokcho-si, Gangwon-do 🕐 Hours Daily 07:30–20:00 Last order 19:00 🚙 Parking Parking available in front (free) 🔎 Other info ✔️ Group seating available (up to 240)

Breakfast at Haksapyeong Kongkkot Village, Sokcho's soft tofu stew street

My friend and I went on a Gangwon-do trip together!!😁 For our first meal we wanted something gentle on the stomach, so we picked Jinsol Halmeoni Sundubu — it's in the Haksapyeong Kongkkot Village sundubu street, which turned out to be the perfect spot to stop for a meal right before heading into downtown Sokcho✨

Jinsol Halmeoni Sundubu started with a grandmother named Go Jinsol and is now being run by the third generation! It's already been over 30 years, making it a real Sokcho sundubu landmark~

Parking at Jinsol Halmeoni Sundubu

You can park right in front of the restaurant — the lot was big enough to fit not just regular cars but even large buses! There was staff managing the parking too, which somehow made it feel extra reassuring haha. They were so kind.

Inside the restaurant and where to sit

The restaurant is split into two main sections. This one seems to get a lot of people coming from Seoraksan — the space was big enough to handle group meals without a problem😮

🐾There's a separate pet-friendly area set up right next to the entrance!

The grandmother in the photo is the founder, Go Jinsol — she's already appeared on TV a long time ago, apparently visited by all three major broadcasters, KBS, SBS, and MBC.

Menu and prices

The menu has a wide range of dishes besides sundubu, including hot pot, hwangtae haejangguk (dried pollack hangover soup), set meals, home-style meals, and grilled hwangtae (dried pollack)!

Naver review event: acorn jelly or a drink

There's also a Naver review event where you can choose ✔️either acorn jelly or a drink

You can also buy the restaurant's homemade tofu and side dishes to take home — ✔️both takeout and delivery are possible‼️

There's also a self-serve side dish bar near the kitchen, so it was great being able to refill side dishes as much as we wanted! (These side dishes were seriously so good ㅜㅜ)

What the two of us ordered

• Chodang sundubu (12.0)
• Jjamppong haemul sundubu (17.0)

We each ordered one of these, and since they came out in stone pots, we could eat them piping hot the whole way through!

The side dishes that come with every meal

The side dishes were quite varied — macaroni salad, japchae (stir-fried glass noodles), cucumber salad, seaweed stem stir-fry, napa cabbage kimchi, braised potatoes, salted squid, and buckwheat pancake. Overall they weren't heavily seasoned or intense — it felt more like a meal a grandmother would set out at home.

All the side dishes are made in-house, and every single one of them was so good

Personally, I found this braised potato dish super chewy and really really delicious. Maybe it's the potato soil around here,,,🥔

What does the Chodang sundubu taste like?

My friend's order, the Chodang sundubu stone pot! It's a white sundubu made with 100% domestic soybeans and deep ocean water, and the broth has a clean, mild flavor that really lets you taste the nutty flavor of the tofu itself!!

The sundubu in the stone pot was incredibly soft, and my friend took one bite and immediately said it was totally her style — she ate it up ㅋㅋ

They also gave us soy sauce to add if we wanted, but eating the white sundubu plain, without the soy sauce, suited our taste better haha

If you're a fan of classic white sundubu, the Chodang sundubu stone pot is the one for you!

Spicy jjamppong seafood sundubu: the abalone keeps its bite

I love spicy and sharp flavors, so I ordered the jjamppong haemul sundubu!🔥 It's a seafood sundubu with a spicy, jjamppong-style broth made from a vegetable stock base, loaded with abalone, shrimp, squid, scallops, and more.

When it first arrived, I couldn't really see the seafood at first, so I thought — wait, did they bring me the plain spicy sundubu by mistake? But once I stirred it, there was tons of seafood in there ㅋㅋㅋ

This one is a completely different vibe from the white sundubu — the broth is spicy from the very first sip, and eating it for breakfast really cleared out my system ㅠㅠ Genuinely my exact taste ,,,,,⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Even the people at the table next to us were saying, wow, imagine if we hadn't ordered the seafood sundubu ㅋㅋㅋㅋ

Eating the red broth with rice is absolutely heavenly ㅠ_ㅠ

There was plenty of seafood packed in, too — but seriously, how is the abalone in this stone pot so good,,,? Abalone in most sundubu stews or seafood hot pots tends to overcook in the broth and get a bit tough, but the abalone here kept a chewy, bouncy texture while still tasting nutty and rich. Really surprised me.

There is dessert at the end too

On the way out there's coffee and snacks too, which would be great as a little palate cleanser on your way to or from your trip〰️

Is Jinsol Halmeoni Sundubu worth a stop in Sokcho?

We visited the Haksapyeong Kongkkot Village sundubu street in Sokcho this time, where there's a whole row of sundubu restaurants lined up — and I'm glad we ended up eating at Jinsol Halmeoni Sundubu, which has been making tofu by hand for 30 years across three generations✨✨ Personally I loved the seafood sundubu, but my friend said the Chodang sundubu was better for her, so honestly it comes down to personal taste. If you like spicy food like me, I seriously recommend the jjamppong haemul sundubu ! !