Milyang Chinese restaurant: stone jjamppong rice-mix tip, Milyang Dol

Milyang Dol Jjamppong, my stop every time I'm in Milyang

Milyang Dol Jjamppong (밀양돌짬뽕) is the writer's favorite Chinese restaurant in Milyang, and they stop by every time they pass near Baengmin-ro. The spicy, kick-in-the-throat stone jjamppong works as hangover food and as a drinking snack. Whenever they bring friends, every one of them gives it a thumbs-up.

Milyang Dol Jjamppong hours, break time and parking

Milyang Dol Jjamppong is at 82-1 Baengmin-ro, Milyang-si, Gyeongnam, and is open from 10:30 AM to 10:00 PM. The break time is 3:30 PM to 5:00 PM, and since it applies on both weekdays and weekends, keep it in mind when you visit.

There's space for about 4 cars right in front of the restaurant, plus public parking lots right beside and behind it, so you can visit without worrying about parking.

Inside Milyang Dol Jjamppong: OK for groups and kids?

The inside of Milyang Dol Jjamppong is pretty spacious. There are no exhaust hoods hanging from the ceiling like at a barbecue place, so it's easy to push tables together for a group meal.

There are baby chairs and even a microwave just for baby food, so it's a good place to come with little kids. With a famous restaurant you might expect small touches like this to be missing, but they've thought of these things too.

Self-serve bar and rice cooker

Milyang Dol Jjamppong has two self-serve bars inside, so they never get crowded. There were pickled radish (danmuji), onions, green onion kimchi (pa-kimchi) and more. Since the sauce can splash, there are disposable aprons too.

There's a rice cooker near the front of the kitchen where you can scoop your own rice. If you mix in too much rice at once, it turns bland, so I recommend taking a little at a time, tasting, and adding more!

What makes the menu at Milyang Dol Jjamppong different?

Milyang Dol Jjamppong serves Chinese food a bit different from other places. Both jjajangmyeon (noodles in black bean sauce) and jjamppong come out on a stone plate, with scorched rice (nurungji) layered underneath. So there's the fun of scraping up every last bit of scorched rice once you've finished.

You can also get it as a set with pork cutlet. The cutlet comes in a chicken version and a pork version. Personally I'm someone who can't live without chicken, but at Milyang Dol Jjamppong the dontang (pork) was a little tastier. You can also order dontang and chitang (chicken) together, so try them and go with the one you liked better on your next visit!

If you write a review, you also get a free ade at Milyang Dol Jjamppong. It's perfect for cleansing your palate after the meal, right?

Basic side dishes

The basic sides were pickled radish, onions and chunjang (black bean paste). I brought green onion kimchi from the self-serve bar, and you can help yourself to any sides you run out of.

What I ordered: stone jjamppong and a 2-person dontang and chitang set

The signature stone jjamppong at Milyang Dol Jjamppong came out sizzling on the stone plate. If I had to sum up the taste in one line, it's like yakiudon meets jjamppong. A thick, slightly soupy broth, fresh seafood, savory seasoning, and then the scorched rice to finish it all off.

I ordered the 2-person set that includes dontang and chitang. The menu describes it as "Is this tangsuyuk (sweet and sour pork) or a pork cutlet?" and that was spot on. It's fried to mini-cutlet size and comes drizzled with tangsuyuk sauce.

How do you eat the stone jjamppong at Milyang Dol Jjamppong?

On your first visit to Milyang Dol Jjamppong, the staff explain how to eat the stone jjamppong. First, use the tongs to mix the bean sprouts in with the noodles.

Then the heat of the stone plate cooks the bean sprouts until they wilt to just the right texture. There's plenty of seafood inside too, like squid and shrimp.

Chicken broth and noodles served 70% cooked

The broth at Milyang Dol Jjamppong is said to be simmered from chicken stock for depth. Sipping just the broth gives a really rich jjamppong flavor. There isn't as much broth as in the jjamppong we usually know; it's a bit soupy rather than brothy.

After the broth, let's try the noodles. You might think, won't the noodles get soggy on a stone plate? But the kitchen only cooks them about 70% to begin with, so they're served at just the right doneness.

Slurp them up with some pickled radish. Eating just the noodles like this, there's not a hint of that disconnect between noodles and broth you sometimes get with jjamppong; the seasoning has soaked right into the noodles.

I also ate them with the green onion kimchi from the self-serve bar. That kimchi would go well with the stone jjajang. I've never tried the jjajang, so I'll have to next time.

How are the dontang and chitang at Milyang Dol Jjamppong?

The dontang and chitang at Milyang Dol Jjamppong come drizzled with tangsuyuk sauce by default, with chili sauce and cutlet sauce served separately. The chitang is in the style of fried chicken gangjeong (sweet crispy chicken), and the dontang felt like mini cutlets.

The tangsuyuk sauce is nicely sweet too. They pour a moderate amount so you can enjoy the charm of dontang and chitang, because that way you can dip in the cutlet sauce and the chili sauce as well.

The chitang, with its fried chicken gangjeong feel, I ate with the tangsuyuk sauce and the onions sprinkled on top. This time I dipped it in the sweet and sour chili sauce too. I also liked that this set lets two people eat three kinds of dishes at once.

This is the dontang. The look is confusing enough that you can't quite tell whether it's tangsuyuk or a cutlet. It's breaded and fried, so it was super crispy. Like bite-sized mini cutlets.

Dipped generously in the cutlet sauce, it really tastes like a pork cutlet. Is that too obvious to say? Hahahahahaha

This is a cross-section of the dontang. Because of the breading, it was a little crispier than the chitang.

And this is the chitang cut in half. Both are juicy, not dry, and taste great.

Stone-plate scorched rice and mixing in rice: how much for the right seasoning?

Once you've picked out a good amount of noodles at Milyang Dol Jjamppong, it's time for the scorched rice layered at the bottom of the stone plate. Push it out with the spatula and scoop it up together with the broth.

The scorched rice is definitely a little nuttier than plain steamed rice. The way it blends with this seasoned broth is so good. Even though I was full, I kept eating.

I wanted more, so I brought some steamed rice from the self-serve bar too. If you add lots of rice because it's so tasty, the flavor goes bland. For two people, this amount seemed just right for the seasoning!

Mix the rice, put a piece of green onion kimchi on top, and it's game over! It's the kind of taste that makes you postpone your diet till tomorrow.

A candy or a little yogurt drink to finish is just perfect, isn't it? I still can't let go of my childhood habit of biting off the bottom tip of the yogurt bottle with my teeth, so that's how I drink it. Hahaha

Milyang Dol Jjamppong, the Chinese restaurant locals go to in Milyang

Milyang Dol Jjamppong is a Milyang Chinese restaurant where you need to come regularly for the stone jjamppong. It's tasty whenever you eat it, and when someone asks where the good local restaurant is, not many places pop into your head right away, but this one does. It's not far from Milyang sights like Wiyangji, Yeongnamnu and Gihoesong Forest Park, and it's close to Milyang City Hall, so lots of true locals come here.

Milyang Dol Jjamppong is close to Milyang City Hall, which is why so many locals drop in.