Mapo solo-dining Korean restaurant: sundae suyuk set, Bosseung Hoegwan

Bosseung Hoegwan Mapo Branch: a 24-hour Korean restaurant near Mapo Station

Bosseung Hoegwan Mapo Branch is a gukbap (Korean soup with rice) restaurant open 24 hours a day, every day of the year, at 44 Mapo-daero, 1st floor, Mapo-gu, Seoul. There's 30 minutes of free parking in the lot behind the building.

I stopped by Bosseung Hoegwan Mapo Branch, a place people often mention when they're craving a hearty bowl of gukbap near Mapo Station. I heard it's also a good spot for a meal after work with a light drink on the side, so I went to check it out! I ordered the signature sundae hangjeong-suyuk set (blood sausage and pork neck suyuk set) and here's my honest review.

Inside Bosseung Hoegwan: seating, and is it good for eating alone?

Bosseung Hoegwan Mapo Branch has a solo bar table as well as 2- and 4-person tables, so it's comfortable to eat alone. Every table has a tablet for ordering, so you can browse menu photos and order right from your seat.

Walking in, the place feels neat and tidy — more like a clean franchise restaurant than the usual rough-and-tumble old-school gukbap joint. The seating is laid out efficiently, from a solo bar table to 2- and 4-person tables. The gaps between tables felt fairly generous too, so it seemed comfortable whether you wanted a quiet solo meal or a casual drink with coworkers. Fitting for a recently renovated space, every table had a tablet for ordering, so I could comfortably browse menu photos and order right from my seat.

What's on the menu and what comes with the meal

Bosseung Hoegwan Mapo Branch's meal options include sundaeguk (blood sausage soup), suyukguk, osori-guk, and ppyeo-haejangguk, while the drinking-food menu features cooked dishes like ppyeo-gamjatang and sundae-gopchang jeongol. That day I chose the sundae hangjeong-suyuk set, which comes with a bowl of soup plus separate plates of suyuk (boiled pork) and blood sausage.

For meals, there's sundaeguk, suyukguk, osori-guk, and ppyeo-haejangguk, plus a good variety of drinking-food dishes like ppyeo-gamjatang and sundae-gopchang jeongol. The dish I picked that day was the sundae hangjeong-suyuk set, with the soup in one bowl and the suyuk and blood sausage served on separate plates.

Once you order, the basic side dishes come out first: napa cabbage kimchi and kkakdugi (diced radish kimchi). The kimchi, a gukbap-restaurant staple, was closer to a fresh, crunchy geotjeori style, while the kkakdugi was nicely fermented and sweet-tangy, pairing well with rice.

How were the sundae and pork neck suyuk plates?

What sets Bosseung's suyuk apart in the sundae hangjeong-suyuk set is that it's made from hangjeong-sal (pork neck), not the usual jeonji or huji cuts. The plate is set over a burner so it stays warm while you eat.

After a short wait, the centerpiece of the set — the blood sausage and pork neck suyuk — arrived first. Using hangjeong-sal instead of the standard pork jeonji or huji cut for the suyuk is apparently Bosseung's point of difference! It came set over a burner to stay warm, which I appreciated.

The texture of the hangjeong suyuk has that distinctive marbling and grain, with none of the dryness you sometimes get. On the first bite, the ratio of fat to lean meat was excellent — very tender with a nice chewy bounce!! It's a cut that could easily turn greasy, but it was sliced to just the right thickness, so what comes through first is savoriness rather than heaviness.

The handmade blood sausage isn't the cheap kind made with just glutinous rice noodle sausage skin and cellophane noodles — it's a native-style sundae packed with pork blood, vegetables, and glutinous rice. The skin wasn't tough, and the filling was soft, with more flavor coming through the more you chewed. Dipping it lightly in salted shrimp (saeujeot) instead of salt was the best way to enjoy it cleanly.

The earthenware gukbap: chili paste and perilla seed powder

The gukbap included in the set arrives bubbling in a stone pot. Bosseung Hoegwan Mapo Branch mixes ground chili seasoning (dadegi) and perilla seed powder into the broth by default, so if you want a clear broth, it's best to request it separately when ordering.

The basic gukbap that comes with the set is served bubbling in a stone pot. Bosseung Hoegwan mixes in dadegi (ground chili seasoning) and perilla seed powder by default. If you prefer a clear broth, it's worth requesting the seasoning on the side when ordering. The soup wasn't heavy at all and had a clean finish, which made it great for a hangover cure too!!

Is the sundae suyuk set at Bosseung Hoegwan worth it?

The sundae hangjeong-suyuk set at Bosseung Hoegwan Mapo Branch is a great option for anyone who'd find a plain bowl of gukbap a bit lacking. Using tender, richly flavored hangjeong-sal instead of standard suyuk sets it apart, and it felt like it doubled as both a meal and a drinking snack at once..!

• Anyone looking for a solo-dining spot near Mapo Station
• Anyone who wants a hearty gukbap and quality suyuk at the same time
• Anyone looking for a clean, late-night spot for a drink with their meal

For these kinds of people, I'd recommend visiting Bosseung Hoegwan Mapo Branch 👍🏻👍🏻😋