Guwol-dong abalone hanjeongsik with entrail porridge: Jeonbokchon

📍Closed September 24–25, 2026 for Chuseok 📍Closed every Monday 📍Break time daily 14:40–17:00 📍Multiple private rooms 📍Dedicated parking available

Where is Jeonbokchon in Incheon?

Jeonbokchon is an abalone-focused Korean set-course restaurant at 35 Yesul-ro 204beon-gil, Namdong-gu, Incheon, on the 1st floor of the Hain Building, between Yesulhoegwan Station and Incheon City Hall Station. There are a lot of offices between those two stations, so on weekday lunchtimes there are tons of office workers and tons of restaurants too. Today I visited one of them: Jeonbokchon.

Abalone dishes aren't something you run into every day, and there aren't many places that specialize in them, so just visiting felt like a new experience 🙊 I was half nervous, half excited even before I got there.

I'd booked for around 1pm, and on the way over I already saw office workers packed into cafés after finishing lunch. With City Hall and the Office of Education nearby, this neighborhood looked like it gets slammed at lunch.

Parking and finding the entrance

This is the back entrance you reach through the parking lot — as you can see, there's a lot reserved just for Jeonbokchon customers, which makes it good for group visits too.

It's tucked behind some greenery so it's hard to spot from a distance. Turns out this is the entrance for people arriving on foot without parking.

Once you're standing right in front of the restaurant, it's easy to see.

I didn't know this before visiting, but the lunch special looked really packed and well put together. We didn't order the lunch special, but the composition looked similar.

This was my first time at a dedicated abalone restaurant, and knowing it had been on TV made it feel even more trustworthy.

What is the floor-seated private room like?

The room at Jeonbokchon has floor seating, but you can drop your legs into a well underneath, so it looked really comfortable. There were a lot of other guests inside and a few tables that hadn't been cleared yet, so I couldn't take too many photos. We waited about 5 minutes before being seated.

The room inside looks like this, and the table was a motorized desk, so it looked like the height could be adjusted too.

By the time we left it was break time, so I could shoot more comfortably — and since so many side dishes come out, I really liked how wide the table was.

How does the two-person abalone set course arrive?

We visited as two and ordered the abalone set course. First up was geuu-juk (abalone entrail porridge).

Geuu refers to abalone innards, and as a starter to settle the stomach on the first bite, it worked really well. Even someone in our group who usually can't handle the strong taste of innards cleaned their bowl, so I don't think it's too much even for people who say they can't eat innards :)

A salad came out alongside the geuu-juk, and the black sesame dressing paired really well. Right about when we finished, the table was cleared and the dishes started coming out.

Not everything fit in one photo, so let me walk through each dish.

Seafood scorched-rice soup

The seafood scorched-rice soup was really good for settling the stomach, and it was packed with ingredients. Everything was cooked soft and easy to eat, and the flavor didn't fall short at all.

Steamed abalone, two pieces per person

Steamed abalone comes out as 2 pieces per person, and eaten with the innards, it was delicious even without any extra sauce. This was my personal favorite of the whole course :D The leftover sauce was good enough to mix into rice.

I don't know the name, but it was a dish that let you enjoy steamed abalone alongside what I think was a yuzu dressing. The refreshing, chewy texture was really appealing.

Raw abalone

The raw abalone tasted the way I remember abalone tasting. Chewy and slightly crunchy? It was great with chojang (vinegared chili paste), and honestly felt like a course made for pairing with a drink.

Codfish gangjeong and abalone innards

The codfish nugget stir-fry had a really standout sauce, and you could eat it bones and all without having to pick anything out. Went in for the abalone, fell for the stir-fry sauce...

Abalone innards with what I think was a salad — I imagine people who dislike innards might find this one tough. The strong sesame oil aroma kept it from feeling overwhelming, though.

Pollock sashimi salad and abalone sushi

The pollock sashimi salad worked well as a side to pair with the other abalone dishes.

I'm a big fan of sushi anyway, so this satisfied me, and it was a dish that really showed off abalone's signature chewiness.

Beef bulgogi

The beef bulgogi comes out with a lid on, and they light a candle underneath — once it's bubbling, you're supposed to take the lid off and eat. How am I supposed to know when it's bubbling? I just took the lid off and ate 😂 Turns out since it's just a candle, it doesn't actually bubble much — more like keeping it warm.

Rice, abalone seaweed soup and plum tea to finish

Around the time we finished the course, the main meal arrives — seaweed soup, a bowl of rice, and side dishes.

Bean sprouts, kimchi, dried radish, abalone seaweed soup, a bowl of rice. It's seaweed soup made with abalone, but the flavor was so deep I wondered if they'd snuck in some beef. Instead of coming out in individual bowls, it comes in one earthenware pot to share between two people, with a bit left over.

Afterward they bring out plum tea, and the plum flavor was strong enough to feel like it settled everything we'd eaten — such a refreshing, satisfying way to finish 👍

What occasions is Jeonbokchon best for?

We didn't leave a single dish unfinished, and it really felt like a great place to book a private room for important occasions like a matchmaking meeting or family gathering. Next time I should bring my parents 😊