Yeoksam Chinese restaurant with a self-serve bar: Jjamppong Jijon

How to find Jjamppong Jijon Yeoksam Branch and where to park

Jjamppong Jijon Yeoksam Branch is a Chinese restaurant on the 2nd floor at 21 Teheran-ro 10-gil, Gangnam-gu, Seoul, a 5-minute walk from Exit 3 of Yeoksam Station on Line 2. It's open 10:00-22:00, with free parking right in front of the building and paid valet available too.

You can get there in about 5 minutes on foot from Yeoksam Station Exit 3! Walk straight for about 3 minutes, turn left, then walk straight for another 2 minutes and you'll see the Jjamppong Jijon building. There's free parking in the lot right out front.

Jjamppong Jijon Yeoksam Branch is on the 2nd floor of that building, about a 5-minute, 400-meter walk from Yeoksam Station!

Just head up the stairs on the right side of the building. They lead straight to Jjamppong Jijon on the 2nd floor.

Inside Jjamppong Jijon: seating for group dinners in Yeoksam

Inside, Jjamppong Jijon Yeoksam Branch is a large restaurant with 20-seat group tables, solo dining seats, and spacious tables for 6 or more. I heard office workers around Yeoksam Station come here a lot for lunch, and it looked totally fine for a group dinner too.

The inside was huge. I heard office workers nearby come here a lot for lunch, and with tables that roomy it seemed great for group gatherings too. They said there are 20 group-table seats. There are also solo seats and spacious tables for 6 or more. Once inside, the staff were all friendly and the space was spacious and pleasant — I liked it.

Near the entrance, on the inner wall, there was even a Nescafé coffee machine so you can have coffee after your meal to cleanse your palate. You could also get yulmu (job's tears) tea.

What's at the self-serve corner?

The self-serve corner at Jjamppong Jijon Yeoksam Branch is near the entrance, and you can help yourself to pre-meal drinks — blue lemon ade and yuja tea — extra side dishes, and as much rice as you want with no extra charge. There were even disposable aprons and individually wrapped hair ties laid out.

There's a self-serve corner right at the entrance! You grab all your extra side dishes here.

What impressed me most was how well set up the self-serve corner was. Both pre-meal drinks — blue lemon ade and yuja tea — were refreshing and delicious, and you could scoop as much rice as you wanted with no extra charge!! The aprons were neatly provided as disposables too. And above all, when eating noodle dishes it's often annoying if you didn't bring a hair tie, so having individually wrapped hair ties ready for that was such a thoughtful touch… 💕

Popular dishes at Jjamppong Jijon and what two people should order

The popular menu items I saw in the restaurant were signature jjamppong (₩13,000), signature jjajang (₩9,500), and fried eggplant (₩19,000). We ordered rice-flour sweet and sour pork (₩20,000), signature jjamppong (₩13,000), and jjajangmyeon (₩9,500).

• Popular menu: signature jjamppong ₩13,000 / signature jjajang ₩9,500 / fried eggplant ₩19,000
• What we ordered: rice-flour sweet and sour pork ₩20,000 / signature jjamppong ₩13,000 / jjajangmyeon ₩9,500

From what I saw, fried eggplant was the popular item in-store. I was curious about it too, but the rice-flour sweet and sour pork won out this time, so I sadly didn't get to try it,,, next time I'll definitely order the fried eggplant!

Rice-flour sweet and sour pork (highly recommended)

The one dish you absolutely have to order at Jjamppong Jijon Yeoksam Branch is the rice-flour sweet and sour pork! It's crispy outside and chewy inside — genuinely — and frying it with sticky rice flour really gave it a great texture.

These days quabaorou-style sweet and sour pork is popular too, but if you like this more classic, old-school style, you really should try it!! The sauce wasn't overly sweet either, so I could keep eating without feeling sick of it.

For two people, ordering one main dish each plus this as a shared side was just the right amount. I've often ordered expensive sweet and sour pork and ended up too full and leaving leftovers, but this one was ₩20,000 and just right for two — very satisfying!

The meat itself was moist and tender, balancing well with the batter. It was cooked perfectly too… and I liked that even though the sauce was poured on from the start, it didn't go soggy over time 🤩

Signature jjamppong, loaded with clams

We also ordered Jjamppong Jijon's signature dish, the jjamppong (spicy seafood noodle soup). Even from the moment it arrived, you could tell it was packed with a variety of ingredients including seafood.

The seafood and meat were genuinely piled on generously, so the broth had a deep, rich flavor. With jjamppong, the toppings are basically half the bowl, and this had so much meat, squid, clams, vegetables and other ingredients that both the noodles and broth were super tasty.

I ordered the regular spice level and it wasn't as spicy as I expected, so even people who can't handle spicy food much should be able to enjoy it without worry..!! On the other hand, if you like spicy food, I'd definitely recommend upgrading the spice level!

No matter how much you eat, the clams just keep coming hahaha!! And they weren't small clams either — they were nice and big.

Jjajangmyeon at 9,500 won

First off, the jjajangmyeon noodles were really chewy!! The jjajang sauce wasn't overpowering either, keeping a nutty flavor that made it easy to enjoy without feeling heavy. I also liked that you could choose the spice level for the jjajangmyeon too. I went with the regular level, and it wasn't spicy at all.

Since this place's signature is jjamppong, I didn't have huge expectations for the jjajangmyeon, but it ended up being tastier than expected.

The noodles were thin, regular wheat noodles. If you'd feel like you're missing out by only getting jjamppong, I'd definitely recommend ordering jjajangmyeon alongside it too!

Is Jjamppong Jijon Yeoksam Branch worth a return visit?

Chewy rice-flour sweet and sour pork, jjamppong loaded with seafood, and jjajangmyeon that was tasty too — everything here was good. This is a 100% return-visit spot near Gangnam/Yeoksam Station.