Soy-spicy dakgangjeong for three in Jeonju Hanok Village: Mannyeon

I visited Jeonju's Hanok Village on a recent trip. While wandering around, I spotted Mannyeon Dakgangjeong, a well-known Jeonju food stop, and decided to grab some to go. It's a brand of dakgangjeong (Korean fried chicken bites) I'd been wanting to try, and it turned out better than I expected. Here's the full rundown of the menu, prices, and how it tasted.

Mannyeon Dakgangjeong Hanok Village Direct Store: hours, address, payment

• Address: 27 Taejo-ro, 1st floor, Wansan-gu, Jeonju, Jeonbuk, South Korea
• Hours: Weekdays 11:00–21:00 / Weekends 10:00–22:00
• Parking: None on-site; paid public parking or free parking at Pungnam Elementary School
• Restroom: Outside the store
• Payment: Jeonju Love Gift Certificate not accepted; Onnuri Gift Certificate accepted

Where it sits in Hanok Village and free parking at Pungnam Elementary

Mannyeon Dakgangjeong Hanok Village Direct Store sits right inside Jeonju's Gyodong Hanok Village. The original Mannyeon location is in Daejeon, and I'd heard great things about it for a while, so I'd been wanting to try it. Conveniently, there's a branch inside Hanok Village as one of the go-to Jeonju food spots, so I stopped by.

There's no dedicated parking lot for the store. Most people probably come across it while exploring Hanok Village anyway. I parked at Pungnam Elementary School and walked around from there — it's free, and the walk over is pretty manageable.

Mannyeon Dakgangjeong menu: sizes, flavors and prices

Mannyeon says it uses fresh fruit-based sauces. The signature items are dakgangjeong and shrimp gangjeong, and there are four flavors: fried, mild, spicy, and soy. Sizes come in medium and large, and you can order flavors half-and-half. You can even split an order between dakgangjeong and shrimp gangjeong.

Side menu items included sotteok-sotteok, sweet potato cheese sticks, fried jjondeugi (chewy rice snack), and cheese balls. They also sell alcohol — soju, beer, makgeolli, and even Jeonju moju, a warm spiced rice wine worth trying at least once on a Jeonju trip.

How to order at Mannyeon Dakgangjeong and how long you wait

You order at the window between the jjondeugi shop and the chicken shop, then wait outside.

They're also running a Naver receipt review event — leave a review and get either a sotteok-sotteok or a chicken toy. I waited about 5–10 minutes after ordering, which was faster than I expected. Calling ahead to order would probably cut the wait down even more. And if you're just coming for Mannyeon, apparently you can drive into Hanok Village, pull up briefly in front of the store, and pick up your order that way.

Large dakgangjeong, half soy and half spicy for 30,000 won

I ordered the large dakgangjeong, split half soy and half spicy. It came to ₩30,000.

From the outside, the color difference between soy and spicy wasn't huge — the top half was soy, the bottom half spicy. The spicy side was topped with cheongyang chili peppers and garlic. The box was piled high, so the portion was more generous than I'd expected.

How spicy is the spicy dakgangjeong?

I started with the spicy side. Honestly, despite the name, it wasn't all that spicy — more like a tasty sauce with a light kick added. With the cheongyang chili on top, each bite had a subtle heat, but the sauce itself leaned sweet and savory rather than aggressively spicy. I don't think most people would find the spicy version too much to handle.

Personally, I think dakgangjeong tastes better cooled down than piping hot. Even after I brought this home and it had sat for a while, the coating still had a nice crunch to it.

Why the soy dakgangjeong was the better half

Then I tried the soy version. Honestly, I liked it more than the spicy one. The crispy texture of the coating actually came through more clearly on the soy side. It wasn't too salty, with a nice sweet-salty balance. The signature savoriness of soy sauce paired with a gentle sweetness — not overly salty or sweet, just the kind of flavor that keeps you reaching for more.

What I liked especially was that the sauce wasn't just sitting on the surface — it had soaked into the coating, so the flavor kept coming through with each bite. The chicken meat was tender too, with almost no dry spots. Takeout dakgangjeong can sometimes go soggy or dry out over time, but that wasn't really an issue here.

Is a large enough for three? Leftovers the next day

The portion was generous enough that three of us ate from it and still had leftovers the next day. Even after sitting for a while, it wasn't as soggy as I expected, and the sauce had soaked in nicely, so it was still tasty.

There's no shortage of food options while wandering around Jeonju Hanok Village, and if you're looking for something simple to take back to your stay as a snack, dakgangjeong is a solid pick. Next time I'm in Daejeon or back in Jeonju, I'd like to try the mild flavor too. If you're hunting for Jeonju food or a good dakgangjeong spot in Jeonju, Mannyeon is worth a stop.