Bundang jokbal with free steamed egg custard: Wangchang Jokbal

Where is Wangchang Jokbal, the 14-year-old jokbal spot near Sunae Station?

I revisited Wangchang Jokbal after a while — this is the place a friend who lives in Bobos Chateauville dragged me to about a year ago, insisting it was an amazing spot right by her house, haha. The clean exterior and interior made it look newly opened, but apparently it's been here a whopping 14 years.

In some neighborhoods you'd need 50 years to earn real bragging rights, but in this area where shops turn over constantly, staying put this long is basically proof it's a real local favorite!! It's tucked one street off the main rodeo road, at the end of the Sunae Station rodeo strip toward the Bundang district office.

Out front, the display case shows off well-boiled domestic jokbal (Korean braised pig's trotters), looking seriously appetizing.

Half-and-half jokbal for 2,000 won extra: how spicy is the sauced half?

The menu has two options, Wangchang Original Jokbal and Wangchang Spicy Jokbal, each in medium or large, and you can switch to half-and-half for ₩2,000 more. Obviously you have to get the half-and-half. Some jokbal places with great original flavor disappoint on the spicy sauce, but here the spicy sauce is a total win!! Properly smoky char plus super springy skin~ The heat level felt about like Buldak fire noodles, the kind of spicy that really melts away stress.

Even on a weekday evening, nearly every table was full — a genuinely popular spot. Besides couples and families, there were plenty of group gatherings and work dinners too. The seats and tables are spacious, so I'd actually recommend it for a Sunae Station office dinner!!

Does Wangchang Jokbal do delivery and takeout?

Wangchang Jokbal delivers all the way to our place in Imae-dong, and it's sitting at a full 5-star rating on Baemin (Korea's delivery app), haha. There was a friendly sign posted in the shop saying they'll pack up any leftover jokbal for you!! Love that~~ My husband and I ordered the medium size for two and still ended up packing leftovers — watching the other tables eat made me realize we're just light eaters, lol. Add drinks to the mix, and by the time all the other couples had finished and left, we still hadn't cleared our medium portion...

(Random aside) From week 12 to week 22 of pregnancy I only gained 1kg... (usually you're supposed to gain over 3kg by then). Eating regularly and not drinking since getting pregnant means I've actually been losing weight, lol. While looking up the right weight range, I found out the baby is already 30cm long, which honestly shocked me. Growing so fast — which is probably why I found myself eating extra hard today, haha.

Banchan at Wangchang Jokbal: salted oysters steal the show

You get pickled radish, radish kimchi, dressed chives, and cabbage doenjang soup, and the standout here is the eoriguljeot (salted oysters) with finely sliced chili mixed in. The wrap greens are super fresh too!! I personally can't eat salted seafood, but judging by the menu offering extra orders of it, it must be genuinely good.

Took close-ups of each half, lol. The tender, juicy jokbal is sliced into perfectly bite-sized pieces!!!!

The fluffy steamed egg custard, which neutralizes the heat from the spicy fire jokbal, comes free.

Ordering sujebi instead of makguksu as a side

For the side dish, I tried sujebi (hand-torn dough soup) instead of makguksu (cold buckwheat noodles) — it's my husband's soul food~~ The dough felt hand-pulled and chewy, and it came in a refreshing broth with clams and kimchi. Time to drop the idea that jokbal only goes with makguksu. This place has a nice variety of dishes that double as meals or drinking snacks — not just makguksu but savory pancakes, sujebi, jjamppong ramyeon soup, herring roe bibimbap, and more.

Wrapped everything up nicely and ate away, yum yum yum. My husband had a business trip out of town today with several presentations, and I was out running errands all day too, so it was a tiring day for both of us — but this delicious dinner really was healing 💓

I finished my sujebi completely, so the leftover jokbal — they picked out just the lean meat and packed it up beautifully for us. Going to turn it into a jokbal rice bowl tomorrow. Portions here are seriously generous~~~ That's my review of Wangchang Jokbal, the jokbal favorite in Sunae-dong!!