Bone soup restaurant near Sangye Station for solo lunch: Somunnan

Went to Sangye after a while for some Nowon comfort food. Locals say this place has been a famous spot for years, so I went in with high expectations — the famous Somunnan gamjatang.

📎 Somunnan Gamjatang / 00:00–24:00 (open 24 hours)

How to walk to Somunnan Gamjatang from Sangye Station

Somunnan Gamjatang is about a 5-minute walk from Sangye Station. Getting off at Sangye is faster than Nowon Station! The sign alone already gives off major good-restaurant energy hahahahahahaha — red sign, totally fits gamjatang and haejangguk (hangover soup).

The sign only shows gamjatang and bone soup in big letters, but they also sell samgyetang (ginseng chicken soup) and have quite a few other menu items.

Somunnan Gamjatang's menu: gamjatang, pork bone soup and samgyetang

The Somunnan Gamjatang menu board. Gamjatang and bone soup are clearly listed at the top like the signature dishes, and there's also homemade samgyetang and various haejangguk — great options to have if you're craving a bowl of soup with rice.

Is Somunnan Gamjatang comfortable for solo dining?

A cozy, homey interior. The staff are friendly without being over the top — a bit of that comfortable, unfussy 'ajumma/imo' vibe hahahahaha. Inside it's set up with tables and goes back fairly deep. I visited during the day and already spotted a group of middle-aged men getting nicely tipsy on bone soup and soju hahahahaha, but there were also plenty of people just quietly eating a simple solo meal on the other side — a great atmosphere for coming in alone for a bowl of soup.

While looking around, I spotted a photo of the spicy braised pork bone with kimchi on the wall. I really love that dish... looks so good (says the person about to eat bone soup).

Side dishes: pickled onion, fresh kimchi and diced radish kimchi

The side dishes at Somunnan Gamjatang are pickled onion, fresh kimchi (geotjeori), and diced radish kimchi (kkakdugi), plus a mustard sauce that comes out for dipping the meat. Just looking at the color of the geotjeori and kkakdugi, you can already tell it's good.

How much comes in the basic pork bone soup

And here comes the bone soup. Even though it's not the large size, just the basic — it's still hefty.

I really love piping-hot stone-pot dishes among Korean food. Point: eat stone-pot food while it's still bubbling hot! I can never forgive a cooled-down dish. Anyway, seeing this visual got me excited and I quickly snapped photos, getting ready to eat.

First, a sip of the broth alone. Oh... it's rich.... Nothing too sharp or overpowering, just a solid flavor anyone would enjoy.

Meat that slides off the bone with no effort

I moved a bone to my side plate first to pick off the meat, and — why is it this tender...? It just falls off if you simply hold it there. The inside felt so moist that picking off the meat was super easy.

Proof that the meat came off in whole chunks without needing to tear it apart hahahahahahaha. Seriously, no effort needed — the meat just slides right off.

This is from someone who hates doing 'labor' in front of food. Even that person admitted this comes off easily. Diligently picking away.

Why Somunnan Gamjatang's bone soup ranks number one

There were about three big bones inside, and while picking off the meat, what surprised me was

• it comes off so easily
• the meat is moist
• there's a lot of meat

But out of all that, the thing we both really raved about was how much meat there was — honestly, of every bone soup I've ever eaten, this one ranked number one. What really struck me while eating was that the meat just never seemed to run out no matter how much we ate... no need to ration it at all, you can just shovel it in and there's still meat left hahahahahahaha.

Dip it in the sauce and eat it with the fresh kimchi — need I say more, it's amazing. Especially since the kimchi really needs to be good too, and both the geotjeori and kkakdugi were top notch. Personally the kkakdugi was tasty too but the geotjeori was so good I just kept eating that.

Look at this, the meat is just so substantial. And yet? It's not dry at all, it's moist.

Getting kimchi refills: call the staff

Somunnan Gamjatang doesn't have a self-service corner, so you call a staff member over for refills!! They gave generous portions each time, so we didn't hold back and ate our fill, kimchi included.

Two branches: Junggye main and Sangye

On the way out I found out the owner rotates between two locations — the Junggye main branch (open 24 hours) and the directly operated second location in Sangye. It must be good if they opened a second branch....(certified good restaurant). People living around here are lucky to have two good bone soup spots so close by.