Sejong Korean restaurant with tender pork bone soup: Chungsilok

Our family loves ppyeo haejangguk (pork bone hangover soup), so after hearing that Chungsilok was delicious, we went to its First Village main branch.

Chungsilok First Village Main Branch Information

• Location: 102, Sejin Inusville, 207 Hannuri-daero, Sejong-si, Sejong, South Korea
• Hours: 10:30–21:00
• Closed every Sunday
• Break time: 14:30–17:00
• Parking: Use the parking lot entered through the entrance to the left of the restaurant

Chungsilok First Village Main Branch sits across from the National Fire Agency in Naseong-dong. It is on the ground floor along the BRT road, so it was easy to find. Chungsilok's clean exterior really stood out.

There was a nameplate on the front door, and I could feel the owner's confidence. 👍 Even before stepping inside, I was already starting to trust the place?

What Is the Dining Room Like?

It was Saturday lunchtime, so there were lots of guests. I only took quick photos of tables after diners had left, but just like the entrance, the interior was absolutely spotless—nothing to fault.

Fitting for a Korean restaurant, the Korean-style interior incorporating a tiled roof caught my eye. Landscape and still-life paintings were arranged nicely too, and personally, I liked how they made the dining room feel comfortable.

It had a quiet yet comfortable atmosphere. Guests kept coming and going, but Chungsilok First Village Main Branch never felt hectic or noisy.

Only the red pepper powder is a mix of Chinese and Vietnamese products; all the other ingredients are domestic. You can use the underground parking lot, and self-registering on the tablet beside the counter gives you up to three hours of free parking.

We could order and pay at the table. One thing caught my eye: I tend to pay attention to hygiene when I visit cafés or restaurants, and this place uses paper cups for water but keeps them covered with plastic cups at every table. I have visited lots of places, but Chungsilok was the first I had seen do this. It may seem like a small thing, but it looked clean and thoughtful, keeping dust and other grime off the cups.

The side dishes are set out initially, and guests can help themselves to as much extra as they want. I was impressed that they refilled them often and took care to keep the surrounding area tidy.

You can take as much as you like, but there is a ₩5,000 environmental fee if you leave extra side dishes!

Ppyeo Haejangguk with Tender Meat

We ordered one extra-large ppyeo haejangguk and two regular bowls. The one above is the generously filled extra-large bowl~~~

This is the regular ppyeo haejangguk. Even the regular size was quite substantial. Chungsilok serves it with dadegi (spicy seasoning paste) on top, but the soup itself is spicy, so I definitely recommend tasting it first and not mixing in the dadegi automatically.

The meat was really, really tender. Since we are a family that loves haejangguk, we have eaten at lots of places said to have great soup, but this might be the number one. Everyone kept exclaiming as we ate, “Wow~~~ the meat is so tender!”

The fresh, crisp geotjeori kimchi (freshly seasoned kimchi) and kkakdugi (cubed radish kimchi) were so refreshing that I kept reaching for them.

Chili peppers and onions are indispensable with a brothy dish like ppyeo haejangguk. And the bowl of rice here is seriously the best. These days, as people tend not to eat as much rice, I feel restaurant portions are getting smaller and smaller. At some places, after just a few spoonfuls, you can already see the bottom. But Chungsilok First Village Main Branch serves a heaping bowl, pressed down tightly. It felt like the rice my grandmother used to press down full of love when I visited her home.

On a day when you are craving spicy, comforting, tender ppyeo haejangguk or gamjatang (pork bone stew), I recommend Chungsilok First Village Main Branch.