Itaewon bone stew restaurant, one sari too many: Nuri Maeul Gamjatang

Nuri Maeul Gamjatang Itaewon Branch is a gamjatang (pork bone soup) and bone stew restaurant on the 2nd floor, right as you step out of Itaewon Station. I always judge how generous a place is by whether it has a self-serve bar or not haha. Nuri Maeul Gamjatang Itaewon Branch is full of value, delicious, and generous with portions, so I headed out to eat bone stew.

There were quite a few people day-drinking even in broad daylight.

Why we picked the soy-braised bone stew at Nuri Maeul Gamjatang

Nuri Maeul Gamjatang Itaewon Branch has lots of signature menu items, but I'd already come specifically for the soy-braised bone stew, which you don't find as often elsewhere, so I ordered it right away. I ended up regretting adding one extra sari — I was so stuffed...

Inside the Itaewon branch: the room and the serving robot

The restaurant was very clean and spacious, so it could easily fit group visits, and best of all the location is great — right as you step off the subway.

The robot serving was great. True to a trendy new spot, everything was very clean, the robot was clean too, and the staff were friendly.

Call ahead for bone stew, and order your sari at the start

The bone stew takes a bit of time, but since we called ahead, we could eat right away when we arrived. Some sari are hard to add once the bone stew is already out, so it's best to order them from the start — but after eating, I think going for the large size just to eat more meat might also be a good idea. Even without extra sari, the other add-ins were already plenty.

Side dishes and the self-serve fried rice bar

They bring out the side dishes first. Those onions are magic haha — the more you eat, the more they cut through the richness, and the peppers were tasty but spicy hahaha.

The self-serve fried rice portion is huge. It was great that it had plenty of kimchi in it, and the seaweed was piled on generously too.

They gave us a free bonus broth, and it was nice and spicy. It had lots of dried radish greens too, which I loved — made me think ordering bone stew instead of regular gamjatang was the right call, thanks to this bonus... haha. Nuri Maeul is such a great value bone stew spot in Itaewon!

How big is the soy-braised bone stew? Enough for 4 adults

Here's the full spread once the bone stew came out — impressive, right? The portion was huge and the seasoning wasn't too salty, so it tasted great even eaten little by little with the fried rice, plus there was so much meat haha. It would easily be enough for 4 adults.

The color is so pretty... haha. The saltiness of the soy sauce and the tenderness of the meat balance so well I couldn't stop salivating.

The japchae (stir-fried glass noodles) was really delicious — the chewy texture made it my favorite sari of all.

The glass noodles seemed endless no matter how much I ate. Eventually I had to drop it haha. Meat, glass noodles, then the rest — rice cake sari, sujebi sari — wow, they just kept coming. But looking at this again now, my mouth is watering.

Soy-braised vs spicy bone stew: which one wins?

I've now switched from being a braised chicken person to a bone stew person, and specifically the soy-braised kind. Bone stew usually comes in spicy versions more often, but I prefer soy sauce style. For Itaewon gamjatang, Nuri Maeul Gamjatang — I'd recommend the bone stew even more.

The sujebi sari was also chewy, and packed with vegetables — the mushrooms and carrots were well seasoned and delicious.

Above all, the highlight was eating the bone stew with the glass noodles together — the flavor combo was incredible, like jajangmyeon (black bean noodles) with sweet and sour pork. Just thinking about it again makes me salivate. The bone stew is soaked through with soy sauce seasoning, so no matter how much you eat... haha, the saltiness keeps making you swallow.

This combo is really delicious. The meat wasn't overly greasy either — it was clean and tender, which made it even better. Nuri Maeul Gamjatang, an Itaewon bone stew favorite.

Later I sucked on my fingers so much haha, I thought my fingerprints might disappear hahaha.

A day of tearing, chewing, tasting, and enjoying. Looking at all that bone stew meat, I felt like I'd turned into a beast... eating and eating and eating, and there was still so much meat left.

The day three spoonfuls of fried rice were left behind

The rice cake sari was also delicious eaten together, though the meat was of course the best. Sucking the soy sauce that had soaked between the bones, before you know it you find yourself frying the rice too.

Whoever fried it, they fried it really well. I wanted to add cheese sari and order a fried egg too, but I was too full... I ended up leaving three spoonfuls of fried rice unfinished. This is the first time I've left food like this — even as a big eater, this portion was... next time I'll think twice about adding extra sari haha.

Frying and frying, adding more, frying again, adding meat and frying, adding more seasoning and frying — and in the end I only had three spoonfuls left. Honestly I thought I'd leave half, but it was just too delicious... haha. Another Itaewon favorite I'll keep thinking about — Nuri Maeul Gamjatang Itaewon Branch, even better for being open 24 hours.

A friendly, trendy new Itaewon restaurant — I hope to keep seeing it around.

In an Itaewon usually known for kebabs, meat, and drinks, this is a place where you can have both a hangover cure and a drink together — recommended.