Itaewon workday lunch, two rounds of self-fried rice: Nuri Maeul

My coworker Sseulgong and I were on a business trip and it happened to line up exactly with lunchtime 💖 Right by Itaewon Station Exit 4, I'd heard a tasty new gamjatang (pork bone stew) place had opened, so we went. Turned out the meat was clean-tasting with no funky smell, the noodle add-ins were up to us, and we even got to finish it off with fried rice — a solid, filling Itaewon lunch spot!

Nuri Maeul Gamjatang Itaewon

One minute from Itaewon Station Exit 4, open 24 hours

Nuri Maeul Gamjatang is an Itaewon pork bone stew restaurant just a one-minute walk from Itaewon Station Exit 4. Right by the station, it's convenient for anyone heading to Itaewon Station, and since it's open 24 hours, it's also a great spot for late-night cravings or an early-morning hangover cure.

The restaurant is on the 2nd floor, so once you spot the sign, just head up the stairs of that building.

Inside Nuri Maeul: a wide 2nd floor with full-length windows

Since it's a recently opened restaurant, the interior was clean and tidy, with an overall spacious, comfortable feel.

The seats near the 2nd-floor windows felt even more open, with sunlight streaming in.

We arrived a bit past the lunch rush, and the tables further in showed traces of a storm having just passed through, haha — plates from meals that had literally just wrapped up. Seems like a popular Itaewon lunch spot for nearby office workers!

There was also this fancy new robot rolling around the restaurant, haha.

Near the entrance, there was a helpfully posted sign showing country of origin for ingredients, along with directions to the restroom.

Side dishes come from the self-serve bar

On one side of the restaurant there's a self-serve bar with plates, utensils, and side dishes you can help yourself to as much as you like.

Fresh kimchi, radish kimchi, pickled onion, cheongyang chili, and ssamjang were all ready to go.

After the first order, it's self-serve from then on — once you've ordered your main dish, you just scoop out as much as you want onto your plate, haha.

Menu and ordering: kiosk order and card payment at the table

This Itaewon gamjatang restaurant has hearty options like bone stew, steamed bones, grilled bones, and hangover soup, plus full meals like galbitang (short rib soup), soybean noodles, cold noodles, and dumplings.

You can browse the whole menu comfortably on the kiosk at each table, and it's convenient since you can order and pay by card right there.

[ Must-read house rules ]

• One order per person required
• 2-hour time limit on weekends or when the restaurant is full

[ Naver receipt review event ] Choice of one free item: ramen noodles, potato sujebi, 4 dumplings, or 1 canned drink

What we ordered for lunch that day

• Medium aged kimchi bone stew ₩36,000
• Rice bowl ₩1,000 x2
• Udon noodles ₩3,000
• Self-fried rice ₩3,000 x2
• Raw egg for fried rice ₩1,000
• Ambassa Zero ₩3,000 x2

Even our order got delivered by the robot server, hehe.

Small aged kimchi bone stew: a big pot from the start

Not long after ordering, our gamjatang arrived.

It came out generously piled in a huge pot — even for 2 servings, the pot was seriously as wide as 4 hands spread out side by side!!

I love gamjatang with perilla leaves in it, and this one passed the test 💗

Once it's boiled for a bit, you pull out the aged kimchi and cut it into chunks. There was so much aged kimchi in there — a whole heavy head's worth — that cutting it took quite a while, haha.

Once it's all cut up, it looks like this, haha.

Tender bone meat soaked through with seasoning — time to dig in for real.

A clean, mild piece of meat is delicious even just dipped in soy sauce,

and piling aged kimchi and fresh kimchi on top of white rice however you like and popping it in your mouth is unbelievably good, ugh. Personally, whenever I eat gamjatang I always order a bowl of rice, because rice with the stew's broth is an unbeatable combo. Even the medium size had about 5 bones in it, so I was already full at this point, ugh. But no, we're not done yet.

Udon noodles and two rounds of self-fried rice

We also had udon noodles and fried rice on top of all that!!

First, once there was about one bone left, we scooped that out and threw in the udon noodles, haha.

Ahh, udon noodles soaked in gamjatang broth were seriously chewy and delicious. I only wished my stomach had more room.

Fried rice can't be skipped either!! So we ladled out some broth and got to making it, haha.

Ta-da. We accidentally (?) ordered two servings of fried rice, and it filled that huge pot right up to overflowing, haha. By this point I felt like my stomach was seriously going to burst, but the nutty flavor of fried rice was so addictive that I remember just pushing through and eating until I physically couldn't anymore.

Is Nuri Maeul worth it for lunch in Itaewon?

Open 24 hours and right by Itaewon Station Exit 4, so it's easy to get to, and we got to enjoy a satisfying meal packed with aged kimchi bone stew, udon noodles, and fried rice. If you want a filling meal of delicious gamjatang, I'd recommend Nuri Maeul as one of the best gamjatang restaurants in Itaewon!