Whole squid stone-plate jajangmyeon near Paju outlets: Dolpanseok

Simhaksan — a place where only the true food veterans survive, haha! If you're from Paju you probably know it. I heard a new Chinese restaurant had opened in this area packed with local favorites, so I went to check it out! It's Dolpanseok Jjamppong Paju Simhaksan Branch!

I thought stone-plate jjamppong and stone-plate jajangmyeon were only a Yangpyeong thing, but apparently you can get them here in Paju too! And there's even nurungji (scorched rice) layered under the stone plate, so you get a whole different experience by the end — pretty refreshing.

We ordered stone-plate jajangmyeon plus the donttang & chitang set that day, and added whole squid to the jajangmyeon.

Bottom line up front: from the main dish to the sides, even the self-serve green onion kimchi — the whole combination worked really well. A solid find near Simhaksan in Paju.

📍 Dolpanseok Jjamppong Paju Simhaksan Branch / 8-38 Dolgoji-gil, 1st floor, Paju-si, Gyeonggi-do, South Korea Hours 11:00 – 21:00, break time 16:00 – 17:00, last order 20:00, closed every Tuesday

How close is Dolpanseok to Lotte Premium Outlets Paju, and is there parking?

Dolpanseok Jjamppong Paju Simhaksan Branch has quite a lot of parking space right in front, so there was almost no parking stress. That's a surprisingly big plus if you're driving out to Paju.

It's especially close to Lotte Premium Outlets Paju, so it's great for stopping by for lunch or dinner after browsing the outlets, or for eating first and heading to shop afterward.

Inside Dolpanseok: spacious, clean dining room

Once inside, the restaurant is bigger than expected. The tables have decent spacing, and some seats are partitioned off, which seemed good for family meals or larger groups.

You order via the tablet on the table.

The self-serve corner at Dolpanseok — green onion kimchi is the real kicker

The self-serve corner has the usual basics — pickled radish, onion, black bean paste — plus green onion kimchi. Honestly I didn't expect green onion kimchi to stand out this much at a Chinese restaurant, but it goes so well with the jajang!

Why did I only ever think of eating green onion kimchi with Chapagetti and never with jajangmyeon... I was practically calling the owner a genius. One bite of sweet, rich jajang, one bite of sharp green onion kimchi, and your palate resets completely, haha.

What comes with the stone-plate jajangmyeon + donttang & chitang set

We ordered the stone-plate jajangmyeon plus the donttang & chitang set that day. The stone-plate jajangmyeon comes out with noodles, black bean sauce, vegetables and seafood piled generously on a big stone plate.

With the jajang sauce sizzling away on the stone plate, it's visually completely different from regular jajangmyeon from the start. It also stays hot the whole time you're eating, which was another plus.

Sweet, rich stone-plate jajangmyeon: is the whole squid worth adding?

The jajang itself is sweet, rich, and savory. The sauce isn't watery or bland — it clings thickly to the noodles in a satisfying way. It's sweet, but not just one-note sweet; there's that distinct roasted flavor from the black bean paste too, which keeps you coming back for more.

We also added whole squid. The squid pieces were big, making the dish look even more generous, and the chewy-but-not-rubbery texture went really well with the jajang sauce.

Always finish with the nurungji (scorched rice) under the stone plate

At first I just thought, 'oh, there's nurungji under there,' but eating it at the end completely changes the flavor.

Over the course of the meal, the nurungji keeps soaking up the jajang sauce, so by the end the sauce has really seeped in. Scraping it up at the end isn't just nurungji anymore — it's like a savory, umami-rich jajang fried rice!

With the nutty flavor of the nurungji fully soaked in the sweet, rich jajang sauce, it feels like a totally different dish from the noodles you started with.

Donttang and chitang: two soups you rarely see at a Chinese restaurant

And then the donttang that came with the set! Just from the name you wonder what on earth it is. Once you try it, it's clearly a different style from regular sweet and sour pork. Inside there's a whole chunk of meat, and the outer coating is closer to crispy pork cutlet breading than the chewy sweet-and-sour pork batter.

Somewhere between pork cutlet and sweet and sour pork, I'd say? A really unique texture, and the flavor was excellent too!

The chitang feels a bit more familiar, like Korean fried chicken. The outside is crispy and the sauce is sweet with good savoriness. They used chicken thigh meat, so it was very tender, haha.

Jajangmyeon with green onion kimchi: the pairing that made the meal

You really have to try the green onion kimchi here with the jajang. After a while of eating sweet, rich jajang, your palate can start to feel a bit heavy, but the sharp spiciness of the green onion kimchi balances it out perfectly.

Final verdict on Dolpanseok Jjamppong Paju Simhaksan Branch

Dolpanseok Jjamppong Paju Simhaksan Branch. The whole sizzling-on-a-stone-plate experience was fun from the start, and getting to finish off with nurungji soaked in jajang sauce made it feel like one dish served in several different ways.

If you're looking for somewhere to eat near Lotte Premium Outlets Paju, or you want something a bit more special than plain jajangmyeon near Simhaksan, Dolpanseok Jjamppong Paju Simhaksan Branch is worth a visit. :)

And once you've finished the meal—

—you get yogurt and barley crackers like this, so the palate cleanse is complete!