Mullae chicken restaurant with baseball on TV: Jangjakgun Mullae

What kind of place is Jangjakgun Mullae?

Jangjakgun Mullae (장작꾼 문래점) is an oak wood-fired whole chicken restaurant, known for its nurungji (scorched rice) chicken, at 81 Seonyu-ro, Yeongdeungpo-gu, Seoul, near Mullae Station. We were on a date in Mullae after a long while and were debating dinner. We wanted chicken but didn't feel like anything fried, so we stopped by this nurungji chicken place! This is a story about a chicken spot near Mullae Station where the oak wood fire leaves a subtle smoky aroma.

• Location: 81 Seonyu-ro, Yeongdeungpo-gu, Seoul
• Hours: daily 16:30-00:00 (last order 23:00)
• Reservations available by phone

There was actually a huge pile of firewood stacked in front of the restaurant?! The chickens turning golden as they roast looked so tempting that we went in all excited, haha.

What are the atmosphere and seating like?

The tables at Jangjakgun Mullae are spaced generously, so it didn't feel cramped and the mood was pleasant. Besides dates, I thought it would work well for family gatherings or company dinners too.

A baseball game was playing on the TV inside, so watching the game while eating delicious whole chicken was a lot of fun ⚾️🔥

Do you need a reservation on weekend evenings?

We booked for 5:30 PM on the weekend, and even though it was early evening, the tables inside filled up in no time! A popular place really is different 🥸

What did we order at Jangjakgun Mullae?

We ordered the nurungji half-and-half chicken (sauce/corn cheese) for ₩26,000 and the flying fish roe rice ball for ₩4,000.

• Nurungji half-and-half chicken (sauce/corn cheese): ₩26,000
• Flying fish roe rice ball: ₩4,000

It was our first visit and we wanted to try a variety of flavors, so we chose a half-and-half menu! The nurungji half-and-half seems to be sweet sauce plus corn cheese, while the spicy-sauce-half, cheese-half chicken is spicy sauce plus corn cheese.

Side dishes and the self-bar

Curiously, the side dishes at Jangjakgun Mullae include yeolmu kimchi (young summer radish kimchi)? It felt odd at first, but as I ate I was surprised by how well it goes with the chicken 👍👍

And Jangjakgun Mullae has a thoughtful self-bar! You can refill the basic side dishes easily, and since I'm obsessed with cabbage salad, I went back about 3 times, haha.

How did the stone-plate nurungji half-and-half chicken taste?

About 10 minutes after we ordered, the nurungji half-and-half chicken arrived bubbling on a stone plate. Doesn't it look fierce..! It looked so good 🤤 It was loaded with sauce and corn cheese, and the heat stayed warm so we could enjoy it to the very end.

Start with the chicken breast

A staff member at Jangjakgun Mullae told us to try the chicken breast first. It's a part I usually avoid because it's dry, but it was really moist, and I was surprised! Maybe because it's slowly roasted over oak, the grease is gone and the subtle smoky aroma stays, and the meat inside is tender and mild 🫶

The mozzarella cheese wasn't just a topping either; it was poured on very generously, which made me so happy 🥰

Cheese crisped onto the edge of the stone plate

As time passes, the cheese turns golden and sticks to the edge of the stone plate, and its savory flavor gets even deeper. Personally, it was the best part of the nurungji half-and-half chicken!

The rice inside the chicken turns into nurungji

Inside the chicken at Jangjakgun Mullae there's glutinous rice! As it takes in the heat from the stone plate, it gradually turns crisp like nurungji, and the texture was really good. Eating the nutty nurungji with the sweet sauce naturally made me think of chibap (chicken with rice) 💭

Is the flying fish roe rice ball add-on worth it?

I couldn't resist and added the flying fish roe rice ball (₩4,000), and that choice was a total success!!! Eaten with a little of the chicken sauce, it was filling enough to be a meal, and the combination was really great 👍

One thing, though: the rice ball is really hot when it first comes out, so I recommend letting it cool a bit before shaping it. Ours was so hot that we just scooped it up with a spoon 😂

Is Jangjakgun Mullae good for chicken and beer?

Looking at the tables around us, a lot of people were eating with draft beer. We couldn't drink because of our next plans, but maybe thanks to that signature smokiness of oak wood-fired cooking, chicken and beer seemed like it would pair really well 🍻🤍

Who I'd recommend Jangjakgun Mullae to

• People looking for a good chicken restaurant near Mullae Station
• Couples looking for a date-night spot in Mullae
• People looking for a family meal in Mullae

If you're looking for a chicken restaurant in Mullae with a nice atmosphere and satisfying food, give Jangjakgun Mullae a try! You get the mild flavor of oak-roasted whole chicken plus nurungji, so we were very happy with it 🫶