Post-marathon set meal with buckwheat noodles in Gongju: Bapkkot Hana

A Korean set meal after the Gongju marathon at Bapkkot Hana Pieotne

On the day I ran the 2026 Gongju Baekje Marathon, I wanted a proper meal in Gongju — and that's how I ended up at Bapkkot Hana Pieotne (밥꽃하나피었네), a Korean restaurant known locally as a real find.

I've always liked Korean hanjeongsik (set-meal spreads), and this place has been featured on the Blue Ribbon Survey list and shown on TV multiple times for its cheonnyeoncho tteokgalbi (grilled beef-pork patties with cheonnyeoncho cactus) set, so I'd been curious about it even before visiting.

After a solid run on the marathon course, I was even more excited for this meal!

Once I actually ate there, I understood why it's such a popular Korean restaurant in Gongju.

If you're already in Gongju, Bapkkot Hana Pieotne is worth a stop — here's my honest review :)

Bapkkot Hana Pieotne: hours, parking and address

• Address: 502 Sinwonsa-ro, Gyeryong-myeon, Gongju-si, Chungcheongnam-do, South Korea
• Hours: 11:00 - 20:00
• Break time: 15:00 - 17:00
• Last order: 19:00
• Parking: separate parking lot available

Blue Ribbon two years running: inside and outside the restaurant

Selected for the Blue Ribbon Survey two years running, 2025-2026

After finishing the marathon, I wasn't in the mood for anything heavy or spicy — I wanted a meal that would sit easy. Looking for something balanced with both protein and vegetables, Korean food felt like the right call, which is how I landed on Bapkkot Hana Pieotne.

This place has made the Blue Ribbon Survey list two years running, in 2025 and 2026, and it's apparently already well known in Gongju as a Korean food spot.

Bapkkot Farm, where the restaurant grows its own ingredients

What stood out most was that, true to the restaurant's name, they grow their own ingredients at their own Bapkkot Farm. Knowing the food came from ingredients they farmed themselves made me look more closely at what went into each dish on the set.

It felt like a solid spot for a meal with parents, a family outing, or a bigger group gathering. With parking lots 1 through 3, parking wasn't a worry, and private rooms are available too, so it would suit a group wanting a quiet meal.

It's also not just somewhere you stay indoors — there's space nearby for a walk, which made it nice to stroll around before or after eating. Good spot if you want to eat well and take your time in Gongju.

What is on the Bapkkot Hana Pieotne menu?

The menu is mostly hanjeongsik, so you can just pick whatever set suits your taste.

For a first visit, the cheonnyeoncho tteokgalbi set is what catches your eye first. It's known as the restaurant's signature dish, and the minari (water parsley) tteokgalbi is also apparently a popular pick.

No need to worry if tteokgalbi isn't your thing, either — there's also a pork charcoal stir-fry set, basically a jeyuk-bokkeum (spicy stir-fried pork) style dish.

If you're visiting with a group like I was, it's nice that everyone can order a different set and share a taste of each.

Minari tteokgalbi set 30,000 won and pork stir-fry set 25,000 won

We ordered one minari tteokgalbi set and one pork charcoal stir-fry set. The nice part: you don't have to order the same set for everyone at the table!

Being able to each pick a different set made deciding what to order pretty easy when there were two of us.

True to a proper hanjeongsik restaurant, once we ordered, the dishes started filling the table one after another.

This is the fun part of hanjeongsik, honestly.

Instead of just one dish, you get to taste a little of everything, and the whole meal turns into a string of "oh, this one's good too" moments haha.

Bapkkot Hana Pieotne in particular has a wide range of side dishes, so there was more to enjoy than just the tteokgalbi or the stir-fry alone.

🔥 Sweet and spicy charcoal-grilled pork stir-fry

First up, the pork charcoal stir-fry I enjoyed the most!

It's a jeyuk-bokkeum style dish stir-fried in gochujang (red chili paste) sauce, but the seasoning wasn't overly intense — it was the kind of flavor that goes well with rice. Cooking it over charcoal gave it a subtle smoky note, and with the spicy gochujang sauce and rice together, you really can't go wrong with jeyuk.

A piece of meat on a lettuce wrap, plus rice — exactly the tasty jeyuk wrap you'd hope for!

It also paired well with the other hanjeongsik side dishes, and before I knew it, adding one side dish after another had cleaned out a whole bowl of rice.

🌿 Minari tteokgalbi, fragrant with water dropwort

And then the main dish I was most curious about — minari tteokgalbi!

Unlike regular tteokgalbi, the minari gave it a much fresher aroma than meat alone.

The savory, mild flavor of the tteokgalbi combined with minari's distinctive fragrance in a way that worked better than I expected.

If you're someone who finds tteokgalbi a bit heavy, this minari version might suit your taste a little better.

A bite of meat, a spoonful of rice, and that faint hint of minari — it was the kind of flavor that kept me reaching for more.

Which side dishes come with the set?

🥢 The fun of tasting the side dishes one by one

Just as memorable as the main dishes were the variety of side dishes.

Dubu kimchi (tofu with stir-fried kimchi), gaji-muchim (seasoned eggplant), cheonggukjang (fermented soybean stew), burdock root, and chamnamul (wild herb greens) — dishes you'd typically find in home cooking — were laid out one by one, making the whole spread mild and comfortable to eat.

I especially liked having vegetable-based side dishes like the gaji-muchim, burdock, and chamnamul.

Eating a vegetable side dish here and there between bites of meat felt like a palate reset, which kept pulling my hand toward yet another side dish.

🥗 Buckwheat noodles and seaweed noodles to finish

Another dish that felt a bit different was the buckwheat noodles and seaweed noodles.

The buckwheat noodles came with a dressing, so they worked well as a light, salad-like side.

Switching to the buckwheat noodles in between bites of meat and rice felt refreshing and clean, like resetting my palate.

The seaweed noodles with dubu kimchi turned out to be a surprisingly good pairing too.

Is Bapkkot Hana Pieotne worth it near Gyeryongsan in Gongju?

When you think of hanjeongsik, meat, jeon (savory pancakes), and namul (seasoned vegetables) usually come to mind first, but having noodles and various vegetable side dishes alongside kept the whole meal from feeling monotonous.

And once again, I didn't just stop at the main dishes — trying one side dish after another meant I ended up eating quite a lot in total.

If you want to enjoy tteokgalbi and a proper hanjeongsik together in Gongju, this variety of dishes is part of what makes Bapkkot Hana Pieotne worth visiting.