Korean lunch set with mackerel in Gangseo-dong, Cheongju: Oneul Haru

There's a Korean restaurant in Cheongju's Gangseo-dong that I've been going to a lot lately ..🤍 It's the kind of place that gives solo renters a hearty home-cooked meal! They've got everything from jeyuk bokkeum (spicy stir-fried pork) to pork cutlet, the ultimate soul food for the guys haha. It's the place I visit whenever I can't decide what to eat, so let me introduce it.

Oneul Haru's location, hours, and parking

Oneul Haru is a Korean restaurant located next to Hana Hospital in Cheongju's Gangseo-dong. It's open from 11:00 to 22:00, and parking is available in the building's basement lot.

• 📍Oneul Haru
• OPEN : 11:00
• CLOSED : 22:00
• 🚘Basement parking available in the building

This is Oneul Haru, located next to Hana Hospital in Cheongju's Gangseo-dong! It has a clean, modern interior haha. Parking is available in the building's basement lot, and roadside parking works too.

The atmosphere and the partitioned group seating

The inside of Oneul Haru is quite spacious, so you can get seated without waiting.

The neat, tidy dining atmosphere really brings out Oneul Haru's vibe even more 🥰

There's also group seating available, which makes Oneul Haru a great lunch spot for office workers! The group seats have their own partitions, so you can enjoy an even more private meal 🥰

Tteokbokki, fried snacks, and side dishes at the self-serve bar

Besides the main menu, Oneul Haru also has a self-serve bar where you can try a variety of dishes haha. They had tteokbokki (spicy rice cakes) and all kinds of fried snacks ready to go. Who knew the tteokbokki + fried snack combo was this amazing~~ Last time it was fried eggplant, so the type of fried item seems to change depending on the day — the fried eggplant here is seriously delicious...

You could also grab side dishes like lettuce wraps and salad.

What I ordered and the prices

Oneul Haru is a Korean restaurant known in the Gagyeong-dong area haha. I ordered the grilled fish stone-pot rice set for ₩17,000 and the gochujang bulgogi set for ₩13,000 haha!!

While you're busy piling up side dishes to eat, your stomach starts filling up little by little lol. The fried snacks came in several kinds too — sweet pumpkin, mushroom, sweet potato, and more — which I liked even more haha.

About 10 minutes later, the main dishes arrive! A neatly laid-out spread that makes Oneul Haru, a Gagyeong-dong Korean restaurant favorite, look even more appetizing!

The grilled fish stone-pot rice set: gondre stone-pot rice and mackerel

Oneul Haru's grilled fish stone-pot rice set comes with seasoned laver, seasoned bok choy, seaweed soup, and more, with rice served as gondre (mountain vegetable) stone-pot rice. You can't leave stone-pot rice out of a proper Korean meal, right? And as if the stone pot weren't enough, Oneul Haru packs it full of gondre greens too•• Is this not basically a confession of love? lol. You get to enjoy the nutty texture of the gondre while you eat.

You can scoop out the gondre rice separately and pour hot water in for sungnyung (scorched rice tea) lol. Great value and great taste, which is why this is one of my go-to Cheongju Gagyeong-dong lunch spots!

The grilled fish comes out as a well-cooked mackerel that's so easy to pick the bones from, and there's none of that dry, chalky texture mackerel can have — I loved that. Squeeze a bit of lemon juice on it and it kills any fishy smell completely, and it pairs great with wasabi too 🥰

Eating it wrapped in laver like this feels like being back at your mom's house — that's Oneul Haru, a Gagyeong-dong Korean restaurant favorite 💛😂

How was the gochujang bulgogi set?

Oneul Haru's gochujang bulgogi set had the same overall setup, but since it's bulgogi, it also came with lettuce wraps! With the seaweed soup too, it really felt like a birthday spread at Oneul Haru!

There's a small burner underneath to keep it warm for a long time. The tender meat with onions works so well with the sweetness and the spicy gochujang-based sauce — the pork, tender and free of any gamey smell, is truly the best... I actually tried the pork cutlet set last time too, and that one was so, so good!! Overall, Oneul Haru's food quality is quite high, which I think makes it even better haha.

Honestly, this makes me want to say I could finish two bowls of rice! Delicious with the gondre rice, and happy-making wrapped in lettuce too — that's Oneul Haru, a Cheongju Gangseo-dong favorite.