Boneless dakbokkeum after Yesangho Monorail, shared seating: Sijang

When you travel to Yesan, browsing the market and eating well go hand in hand. This time, while wandering around Yesan Market, I stopped by Sijang Dakbokkeum, a place I'd really wanted to try. I'm normally a big fan of jangjorim (soy-braised beef) with shishito peppers, so I was especially curious how shishito peppers would work with dakbokkeum (spicy braised chicken).

To cut to the chase: from the sauce to the shishito peppers to the extra noodles, it was so much more to my taste than expected that it's stuck in my memory as one of the must-try spots at Yesan Market.

Let me share the story of Sijang Dakbokkeum, a restaurant I'd really recommend for anyone traveling to Yesan :)

Sijang Dakbokkeum: location, hours, and parking

• 🏢 Address: 충남 예산군 예산읍 예산시장길 2 174호
• 🕒 Hours: Daily 11:00–20:30
• 🚗 Parking: Use Yesan Market public parking lot
• 👶 Kid convenience: No high chairs or kids' tableware available (spicy menu not suited for children)

Why I stopped by Yesan Market on my Yesangho trip

If you're planning a Yesan trip route around Yesangho restaurants, Yesan Market is hard to skip.

We also stopped by on a weekend after riding the Yesangho Monorail, and arriving at Yesan Market, I felt an energy that was a bit different from the typical traditional market vibe I'd expected.

All kinds of food stalls are gathered inside the market, and the setup lets you buy dishes from different places and eat them together in the central shared seating area, which gave it a bit of a mini food-trip feeling. Yesan Market is also well known as part of a market revitalization project carried out in Yesan, the hometown of Baek Jong-won. The market itself has become a kind of travel destination.

Maybe that's why it was so packed even on a Sunday afternoon! With so much variety of food, it felt like a great essential stop for a Yesan trip.

Among the shops inside Yesan Market, Sijang Dakbokkeum felt like a genuinely local Yesan restaurant, loaded with shishito peppers grown in Yesan.

Sijang Dakbokkeum is located a little up the central path of Yesan Market's central dining area. From the opposite entrance, it's close to Gate 4, Yesan Jangteo Plaza.

The table out front and Yesan Market's shared seating area

In front of Sijang Dakbokkeum there was one 4-person table for eating right there.

But Yesan Market also has a large shared seating area where you can bring food from various stalls and eat together, so we ended up eating there comfortably. The space is fairly spacious and had fans running, so eating inside the market felt less stuffy than expected.

Once we finished eating, staff members came by regularly to clear the tables and tidy up afterward. That was such unexpected service, honestly.

Where do you order rice?

Steamed rice isn't ordered directly from Sijang Dakbokkeum — you order it at the grill-rental stall located inside Yesan Market's shared seating area.

That said, it can be a bit inconvenient with kids. Since you're sitting around round tables on light plastic chairs, there's some risk of kids slipping off or feeling unsteady.

Maybe that's also why Sijang Dakbokkeum seems to be a popular Yesan Market restaurant for takeout, especially for people visiting Splais Resom Resort during their Yesan trip.

The menu is a single item, shishito pepper dakbokkeum, available bone-in or boneless. Besides adding extra noodles, they also sell apple slush in front of the shop.

Boneless shishito pepper dakbokkeum with cheese and glass noodles

What we ordered this time was boneless shishito pepper dakbokkeum with cheese and glass noodles (bunmoja) added.

At first I expected something similar to dakbokkeumtang (spicy chicken stew), but eating it, it actually had a bit of a jjimdak (braised chicken) feel, and the sauce was seriously savory.

It's a spicy sauce that you can't stop going back to, and it worked great not just with the chicken but with the extra noodles too.

Do shishito peppers really go with dakbokkeum?

Above all, the shishito peppers matched much better than I expected. I usually love jangjorim with shishito peppers, and here the crunchy texture stayed alive while the spiciness layered on top, making an excellent combo with the dakbokkeum.

Rice cakes come included as a base add-in, so there was plenty to eat even without ordering extra noodles.

Still, I'd personally really recommend adding the glass noodles. Since the sauce is savory and spicy, it clings beautifully to the springy glass noodles, and it was genuinely delicious.

The base rice cakes were nice and chewy too, but the glass noodles have a totally different texture, so eating them together was fun.

The cheese was also more generous than I expected, adding a nutty richness to the spicy dakbokkeum. Spicy shishito peppers, a savory sauce, chewy noodles, and cheese on top — it was a combination I kept reaching back for.

Since even ordering just the dakbokkeum comes with noodles included, it made for a solid, filling meal in the middle of exploring different food at Yesan Market.

Sijang Dakbokkeum: overall summary

• ✔ A filling meal option at Yesan Market
• ✔ Seating available both at the shop's table and the large central shared seating area
• ✔ Recommended as a Yesan Market restaurant on a Yesan trip route
• ✔ Can be a bit inconvenient for use with young children

If you're visiting Yesan Market as part of a trip route near Yesangho, I'd recommend Sijang Dakbokkeum for a filling meal.

Come experience the retro yet lively atmosphere of Yesan Market along with Sijang Dakbokkeum, a Yesan Market restaurant loaded with local Yesan shishito peppers :)