Gapyeong dog-friendly dakgalbi with free parking: Jayeon Dakgalbi

Today's recommendation from my food-and-style-and-Yeoni-follows-along series takes us to Gapyeong, Gyeonggi-do.

Once the weather turned cool and crisp, I thought, I can't let this weather go to waste! So I decided to take my puppy Bom 🐶 out for a trip. While planning a Gapyeong getaway, I thought — Gapyeong means dakgalbi, right?! And it's dog-friendly too ~~ Since we came all the way to Gapyeong, we had to eat dakgalbi ~~ and of course I wanted it to actually taste good, so after a lot of searching, I found this place.

Visiting in person, the view was amazing, the owner was so kind, the portions were huge, and honestly it was the tastiest dakgalbi I've had in a while — everyone in my family agreed, so let me introduce it to you ~!

Where is Jayeon Dakgalbi, and can you bring a dog?

Jayeon Dakgalbi (자연닭갈비) is a hot-plate dakgalbi restaurant at 1007-10 Bukhangangbyeon-ro, Gapyeong-eup, Gapyeong-gun, Gyeonggi-do, 1st–2nd floor, and it's dog-friendly. Hours are 09:00–18:00, with last order at 17:05.

• 📍1007-10 Bukhangangbyeon-ro, Gapyeong-eup, Gapyeong-gun, Gyeonggi-do, South Korea, Jayeon Dakgalbi
• ⏰09:00–18:00 (last order 17:05)
• 🅿️Parking available
• 🐶Dog-friendly

Parking at Jayeon Dakgalbi: free same-day lots by the Nami Island dock

Jayeon Dakgalbi has a huge parking lot right in front of the restaurant, and there's also a side road leading up the hill to a parking lot in the back!

The front lot is already really spacious, and the back one is roomy too, so honestly you never have to worry about parking haha.

Plus, since you need to take a boat or the zipline to get into Nami Island, you'll have to park your car and walk over — but for diners, they give you free same-day parking. I highly recommend adding this to a Nami Island trip. You can just park right out front, eat, and then go explore Nami Island, since it's right in front of the ferry dock!! ⬇️

Inside Jayeon Dakgalbi and the Bukhan River view

This is the entrance! There's parking both in front and behind the restaurant — the front lot is bigger, but there are stairs at the front entrance, so if you're using a wheelchair or stroller, the back lot on the hill is plenty spacious too, so you can park there and walk in on flat ground instead.

The restaurant sits so close to the river that there's literally a zipline crossing to Nami Island right in front — the view is incredible ✨ And since it's slightly up on a hill, you get an even more open, gorgeous view haha.

The interior is huge too, so even during peak vacation season you'd have plenty of room to sit comfortably. Plus there's group seating already set up, so it looks great for coming with a big group.

Jayeon Dakgalbi menu and prices: hot-plate dakgalbi 16,000 won

Jayeon Dakgalbi's menu has hot-plate dakgalbi and soy sauce dakgalbi. We ordered three servings of hot-plate dakgalbi at ₩16,000 each, plus cheese topping for ₩5,000 and makguksu for ₩10,000.

Besides dakgalbi, the menu also has makguksu, acorn jelly, savory pancakes, potato pancakes, and more, all ready to order haha.

There's no separate physical menu — it's posted inside the restaurant. We ordered by looking at the order slip they handed us along with our water haha. There was hot-plate dakgalbi and soy sauce dakgalbi, and since we like spicy food, we went with the hot-plate version!

• Hot-plate dakgalbi ₩16,000 × 3
• Cheese topping ₩5,000
• Makguksu ₩10,000

And that's our order complete >_<

Side dishes and how the self-serve bar works

The basic side dishes were lettuce for wraps, radish pickle, cabbage kimchi, and seasoned bean sprouts haha. I personally love wrapping food in lettuce, and the greens were super fresh — they also gave us ssamjang (dipping sauce), peppers, and garlic, which was great.

There's a self-serve bar in the middle of the restaurant, so if you need more of a side dish while eating, you can just grab as much as you want, which was really nice.

There were also trays next to it, so it was easy to grab several side dishes at once for a refill.

There were disposable aprons around the restaurant too, so even wearing white, we could enjoy the meal without worry!

How the hot-plate dakgalbi tastes, portion size and the cheese topping

Jayeon Dakgalbi's hot-plate dakgalbi comes out with the hot plate absolutely packed with rice cake, cabbage, perilla leaves, onion, sweet potato, and all the basic add-ins. What is this portion size??? Hahaha, honestly I told myself I'd only eat a little bit... >_< (secretly thrilled though)

The owner kept coming by to stir it so nothing burned, and the dakgalbi cooked up perfectly on the hot plate.

After stirring it for a while, once it was nearly done, they beautifully placed the cheese topping right in the center and kindly told us, "eat it once the cheese melts~" before walking off!

You can see the cheese stretching, right ㅠ We would've been in trouble if we hadn't added the cheese topping ㅠㅠ It's seriously so good.

The spice level was mild enough even for people who can't handle spicy food. (For the little ones, I'd recommend the soy sauce dakgalbi!!) I love cabbage so much that I add extra cabbage even when I order spicy rice cakes, and this had plenty of my beloved cabbage in it too, so I really enjoyed it!

The dakgalbi is made entirely from chicken thigh meat, so the seasoning soaked in evenly and there was no dry, chewy meat — it went down smoothly with all the vegetables haha.

Was the makguksu worth adding?

The makguksu (buckwheat noodles) arrived! The visual was insane..!

Now, I'm not usually a big fan of makguksu?? But why is this one so good. The moment I took the first bite, a nutty aroma spread through my mouth. There were plenty of vegetables in it too, and the combo of fresh veggies plus the icy broth was seriously so delicious.

I originally told my boyfriend to finish it, and then I ended up slurping down the broth myself too... hahaha. That was the first time I realized how amazing the dakgalbi + makguksu combo could be, hahaha ㅠㅠㅜ

Restrooms at Jayeon Dakgalbi

The restrooms are located outside the restaurant! They're gender-separated with 2 stalls each, so you don't have to worry about anyone waiting ^_^ Toilet paper is stocked, and it's very clean, so no need to stress about the restroom situation haha.

Final verdict: is Jayeon Dakgalbi worth it for a dog-friendly Gapyeong meal?

This was the best dakgalbi I've had in a while! I'm a big dakgalbi fan, and you know that exact craveable taste you imagine when you think "I really want some good hot-plate dakgalbi"? That's exactly what this was.

On top of that, parking is super convenient, the portions are huge, and it's dog-friendly, so I'm definitely coming back haha. If you're planning a Cheongpyeong or Gapyeong trip and haven't found a good restaurant yet, I really want to recommend this place :) Since you're already in Gapyeong, wouldn't it be great to go for the famous hot-plate dakgalbi, and specifically a really good one, haha. Highly recommend Jayeon Dakgalbi, a dog-friendly favorite in Gapyeong ~!!