Korean restaurant at Itaewon Station for solo lunch: 4-bone soup, Nuri

Where is Nuri Maeul Gamjatang Itaewon Branch?

Nuri Maeul Gamjatang Itaewon Branch is a gamjatang (pork bone stew) restaurant on the 2nd floor of a building on Itaewon's main street, right in front of Itaewon Station in Yongsan. Nuri Maeul Gamjatang is said to be a gamjatang specialist brand with a 22-year history, and this Itaewon branch is newly opened.

It sits right in front of Itaewon Station in a 2-story building. It's on Itaewon's main street, so it's easy to find and easy to get to.

You can check the menu from the outside of the restaurant. There are lots of meal options, plus jjim (braised dishes), gamjatang and more, so it works for solo meals, group gatherings and company dinners.

The main dishes are ppyeodagwi haejangguk (pork bone hangover soup), which is great for curing a hangover or as a filling meal, and gamjatang, with a deep, rich broth, well-simmered potatoes and big pieces of meat. You can add toppings like ramyeon noodles, udon noodles or sujebi (hand-torn dough flakes) to suit your taste.

Can you eat alone at lunchtime without a wait?

The inside is spacious, so even at busy lunchtime it wasn't noisy or crowded, and turnover is fast, so there was no wait at all. The windows are floor-to-ceiling glass and they had them open, which gave an airy feel. With the cool weather, it felt almost like eating at an outdoor patio.

It's open 24 hours a day, every day of the year, so you can go after finishing work at dawn, after a late-night company dinner, or for a late lunch on a day off. The place is big and pleasant, so it suits family meals, dinners with friends and team dinners with coworkers alike.

How to order at Nuri Maeul Gamjatang Itaewon Branch, and the self-serve bar

Every table has a kiosk, so ordering and paying are both easy. The gamjatang, jjim and grilled dishes are good for groups, while the haejangguk (hangover soup) is perfect for eating alone.

Water and extra side dishes are self-serve. The sides brought to you by default are geotjeori (fresh kimchi) and kkakdugi (cubed radish kimchi), and you can help yourself to pickled onions, chili peppers and ssamjang (seasoned dipping paste) if you like. There are disposable aprons too, so you can eat without worrying about stains.

How did the Nuri bone soup taste?

Nuri bone soup (Nuri ppyeo haejangguk)

I ordered the most basic dish at Nuri Maeul Gamjatang, the Nuri bone soup. Even though I came at busy lunchtime, the food came out quickly. A robot is supposed to do the delivery, but a staff member actually came over and carried it to the table for me.

The geotjeori and kkakdugi they brought by default came in big portions, so I didn't ask for a refill. They go well with the bone soup.

This is the pickled onions I brought from the self-serve bar, and personally I think this side goes best with the bone soup. It's tangy, and the combination with the deep bone soup broth is great.

There's meat sauce on the table, and dipping the meat in it is pure heaven. It's been a while since I had bone soup, and wow, it's delicious as ever. I thought the portion was so big I wouldn't finish it, but it was so good that I cleaned out the whole bowl.

I had the basic Nuri bone soup, but there are also bone soups with various noodle and other add-ins, and a spicy bone soup too. The table next to me was raving about the bone soup with ramyeon noodles added.

The Nuri bone soup is packed with vegetables, and the broth is rich. They say it's boiled for more than 6 hours, and the broth is on another level. It comes with as many as 4 bones, and there's lots of meat on them, so it's a hearty meal on its own. It's so well simmered that the meat comes off the bone easily without you having to gnaw at it.

What I want to try next time at Nuri Maeul Gamjatang

If you want a happy, filling meal in Itaewon, definitely drop by Nuri Maeul Gamjatang >.< The staff were friendly too, so I had a pleasant meal.

Next time I want to come with friends and try the bone jjim or the gamjatang. The dishes I was curious about because I'd never seen them before are the soy cream gamjatang and the mala gamjatang. Besides haejangguk, Nuri Maeul Gamjatang Itaewon Branch also sells kongguksu (cold soy milk noodles), galbitang (short rib soup) and naengmyeon (cold noodles). If you join the Naver review event, you can also get dumplings as a free extra.

Lots of office workers come at lunchtime, mostly for meal dishes, and I heard that in the evening it's mostly company dinners. There were plenty of solo diners too, so I ate alone comfortably.