Junggye-dong bone soup restaurant, special vs regular bones: Somunnan

Today I'm writing about one of my family's favorite foods, gamjatang (pork bone stew), for a blog review.

My husband loves gamjatang and so does my son, so whenever the three of us eat together, gamjatang naturally comes up. It's great because you get to eat meat and a generous serving of ugeoji (dried radish greens), making it a filling meal. This time we went to Somunnan Gamjatang's Junggye main branch near Sangye Station Exit 2.

I'd heard the portions here were generous and the food was good, so I'd been wanting to visit, and a family meal gave me the perfect chance. When you're looking for somewhere to eat in Jungge-dong, you see plenty of meat restaurants, snack spots, and cafés, but finding a proper Nowon restaurant for a real meal is surprisingly not easy.

So if you like warm, filling dishes like gamjatang or bone soup, Somunnan Gamjatang is a local favorite worth recommending.

Sunday lunch at Somunnan Gamjatang in Junggye-dong: the room and the parking

Somunnan Gamjatang's Junggye main branch is open 24 hours, and free 2-hour parking is available in the building next door. My husband, son, and I visited as a family of three on a Sunday. Maybe because it was the weekend, the restaurant was pretty crowded.

I noticed some customers who looked like they'd just come back from a hike. Seeing the place fully packed even on a Sunday, I could tell this is somewhere people in Junggye-dong keep coming back to.

Overall the restaurant had a comfortable atmosphere for eating, and there were other families around too. Parking was convenient as well — we could park in the building next door with free 2-hour parking, so we didn't have to worry much about the clock while we ate. Driving around Jungge-dong, parking is always a bit of a concern, so the two free hours felt quite convenient for a family meal.

What we ordered: three bowls of pork bone soup

When the three of us picked our orders, my husband and son both chose the special bone soup, and I ordered the regular bone soup.

We'd come for gamjatang, but that day we each wanted our own bowl to eat comfortably, so we went with bone soup instead. Not long after ordering, the side dishes came out first. The banchan overall looked neatly prepared.

I especially liked the pickled onions. Tangy, crunchy side dishes like this pair really well with rich, meaty broths like gamjatang or bone soup. Eating a bit of pickled onion between bites of meat kept my palate clean.

Kimchi and other basic side dishes came out too, so there was nothing lacking to go with the rice and soup. When the basic side dish spread is clean like this, it puts you in a good mood from the very start of the meal.

Special vs regular bone soup: what is the difference?

At Somunnan Gamjatang's Junggye main branch, the regular bone soup came with about 3 bones, and the special bone soup with about 4. Once the food arrived, the special bone soup's bowl clearly looked a bit bigger too.

My regular bone soup had about 3 bones, while my husband's and son's special bone soups had about 4 bones each.

You might think one bone doesn't make much difference, but once you actually start picking the meat off the bones, you do notice the difference in quantity. If you especially love meat, I think it's worth going with the special. There was also quite a lot of ugeoji in the broth. It wasn't just bones sitting there — fishing out the ugeoji to eat was part of the fun.

Personally, when I eat gamjatang or bone soup, I care about the ugeoji just as much as the meat. Well-braised ugeoji eaten with the broth goes great with rice, and you get to taste the deep flavor of the broth at the same time.

Tender pork and a rice bowl filled to the top

The most important part of bone soup is, of course, the meat. Picking it apart with chopsticks, it was tender and soft all the way through, easy to eat. Pulling the meat off the bone, dipping it in the broth, and eating it with rice — a bowl disappeared fast.

The amount of rice was impressive too. The rice bowl came packed completely full — no sense of being shorted at all. The rice was nicely sticky, and eating it with the broth made for a very filling meal. These days it's disappointing when a meal's portion feels too small, but that day there was no such worry — we ate until we were full.

So if you're looking for bone soup lunch in Nowon, I think this style would suit you well. Especially at lunchtime, when you want a proper bowl of rice plus meat and ugeoji together, that's a real strength here.

Why Somunnan Gamjatang comes to mind for Korean comfort food in Nowon

Looking around while eating, I saw families as well as customers who looked like they'd just come from a weekend hike. I think it's because gamjatang and bone soup are dishes that don't really divide people by age or preference — they're filling for everyone.

Most of all, eating it myself, I understood why people say the portions are generous. There was no sense of the meat being lacking, the ugeoji was plentiful, and the rice was packed full. The ugeoji was generous and the rice was served abundantly too, which made for a fully satisfying meal.

And the owner was kind to us as well. Good food matters, but a comfortable atmosphere and friendly service on top of that make a restaurant stick in your memory longer.

A relaxed Sunday meal in Junggye-dong

It had been a while since my husband, son, and I sat and talked over warm broth and meat, taking our time. Since it was Sunday, there was no need to rush like on a weekday, and with 2 free hours of parking, we could spend some time afterward looking around Jungge-dong.

Looking back, it wasn't a day with any special plans. We just went out to eat gamjatang, something our family loves, but eating a good meal, talking, and strolling around the neighborhood slowly turned out to be exactly the kind of comfortable time we needed.

When I look for good restaurants, I care about the taste, but I also pay attention to practical things — whether the portion is reasonable, whether the side dishes are clean, whether parking is easy, whether it's good for a family meal. By those standards, Somunnan Gamjatang's Junggye main branch stood out as a solid place for a hearty family meal.

If you're looking for a Nowon restaurant and want a hearty Korean meal, or if it's one of those days when a hot bowl of soup sounds good among Nowon Korean food options, bone soup gets a 👍. And if you're mulling over a lunch option and craving a filling bone soup lunch in Nowon, this place is worth remembering.

In the end, a good meal really does make a family happy. A Sunday when my husband, son, and I ate our fill together again after a while. It wasn't a fancy outing, but simply eating a dish our family loves together was more than enough to make it a good day.

Whenever I have errands in Jungge-dong or find myself looking for a hearty restaurant in Nowon, I think I'll stop by again. That warm bowl of bone soup at Somunnan Gamjatang's Junggye main branch left both my stomach and my heart full.