Yeoju Outlets Korean restaurant: 52-min Saturday wait, Nadeulmok

Last weekend I went shopping at the Yeoju outlets, and of course before or after shopping you start looking for somewhere to eat a proper meal. This time I visited Nadeulmok Yeoju Ssalbap (나들목 여주쌀밥), a well-known Korean set-meal restaurant near the outlets. I went for Saturday lunch and the wait was serious. Still, I got stone-pot rice made with Yeoju rice and lots of side dishes, so I was happy. For anyone looking for a Korean set-meal place near the Yeoju outlets, here's my detailed review.

Nadeulmok Yeoju Ssalbap location and opening hours

Nadeulmok Yeoju Ssalbap is a Yeoju rice set-meal restaurant where the table comes with starters and 10 namul (seasoned vegetable) sides. Hours are Mon–Fri 11:00–20:30 and Sat–Sun 10:30–20:00, with break time Mon–Fri 15:30–17:30 and Sat–Sun 15:00–17:30, and it's closed every Wednesday. The address is 488-9 Sejong-ro, Yeoju-si, Gyeonggi-do. It has a large private parking lot, and takes groups and reservations, with Wi-Fi and high chairs.

It's in Jeombong-dong, Yeoju, about a 10-minute drive from Yeoju Premium Outlets, so it works well before or after shopping. We came after shopping at the outlets.

Where to park at Nadeulmok Yeoju Ssalbap

As you'd expect from a popular Yeoju restaurant, the private parking lot is huge.

If the lot in front of the restaurant is full, keep driving inside and you'll find a big open lot. Park there.

How long is the Saturday lunch wait?

When I registered for the waitlist at 1:18 p.m. on Saturday, there were 28 parties ahead of me, and it took about 52 minutes to actually get in. This wait was the biggest surprise of the visit. We'd shopped at the Yeoju outlets in the morning, and when I signed up there were a whopping 28 parties ahead of me, hahaha. I was worried it would be over an hour and a half, but the seating alert came at 2:10 p.m., so it was much shorter than the estimate.

The restaurant has a break time, so on-site waitlist sign-ups close earlier. Considering the break time, I recommend arriving by 2 p.m. Quite a few people were turned away because the waitlist had closed.

Dining room and private rooms

Finally, we're in! It was full, so I couldn't take photos of the interior, but it's bigger than I expected. There are also private rooms, so group reservations are possible.

Nadeulmok Yeoju Ssalbap menu

They say it's a nature-friendly traditional Korean set-meal restaurant that uses 100% pure Yeoju rice grown by local farmers (the "Daewangnim" brand) and seasonal vegetables from small-scale growers.

The menu is a basic Korean set meal: starters, seasonal namul side dishes, doenjang jjigae (soybean paste stew), spicy pork, plus a main dish and stone-pot rice. The standard Nadeulmok set has grilled mackerel as the main, and there are also a bulgogi set, a braised cutlassfish set and a crab set.

The ₩25,000 braised cutlassfish set, starting with the starters

When I ordered the braised cutlassfish set (₩25,000 per person), four starters came out first.

They were tangpyeongchae (mung bean jelly salad), a salad, japchae (glass noodle stir-fry) and fried eggplant, a nice light lineup to whet your appetite before the set meal. The fried eggplant has good reviews and Dobi (my companion) ate it happily too. Me? The japchae 💀 You can order extra fried eggplant for an additional charge, so eggplant fans, take note.

10 seasonal namul side dishes and spicy stir-fried pork

After the starters, the real table is set, and you get as many as 10 side dishes including seasonal namul. There was seasoned zucchini, young radish kimchi, napa cabbage kimchi, braised potatoes, seasoned king oyster mushrooms, seasoned eggplant, seasoned bellflower root, stuffed cucumber kimchi and more, a huge variety. On top of that come the doenjang jjigae, the spicy pork and the main braised cutlassfish.

Even with lots of side dishes, it's a shame when some of them go untouched, but I enjoyed pretty much all the sides here. If you're like me and prefer a little of many different sides over just one dish, you'll be very happy. (I'm the one who eats several sides with every spoonful of rice.)

I also liked that spicy pork is included in the set by default. It's slightly spicy, just right with rice. Braised cutlassfish is the main, but getting stir-fried pork too made the table feel even fuller. It tastes different from the cutlassfish, so it's fun to alternate between them.

How does the braised cutlassfish taste?

The braised cutlassfish here was delicious without being salty, and I remember about 4 pieces of fish. There's radish in it too. You know how radish that has soaked up the sauce is amazing, right? This sauce is so good that the radish is incredible. When the sauce is too salty, you end up eating too much rice or can't taste the other sides properly, but here it never felt salty, just right.

The sauce was so good that I mixed it into my rice. Braised cutlassfish is the main dish so I was looking forward to it most, and it was even tastier than I expected. The set isn't cheap, but you get to enjoy other dishes besides the cutlassfish, which I liked.

Yeoju stone-pot rice and nurungji (scorched-rice tea)

There's no plain bowl of rice here; everything comes as stone-pot rice, which was one of my favorite parts. As you'd expect, stone-pot rice is much better than rice from a regular cooker. Look at that shine.

And this is the charm of stone-pot rice: sungnyung (rice tea)!! Pour water over the nurungji (scorched rice) and you can finish the meal with nurungji rice tea. The rice was good, but I love this nutty rice tea so much that even if I leave rice behind, I can't give up the sungnyung.

Verdict: a ₩25,000 braised cutlassfish set worth the money

I tried the braised cutlassfish rice set at Nadeulmok Yeoju Ssalbap, a Yeoju outlets favorite, and overall it was a satisfying meal. At ₩25,000 per person it's not cheap, but with Yeoju rice stone-pot rice, braised cutlassfish, spicy stir-fried pork, doenjang jjigae and a variety of seasonal namul sides, I never once felt it was a waste of money.

The cutlassfish sauce especially was really good and not salty, so it was easy to eat. The stir-fried pork and doenjang jjigae were tasty too, and I liked getting to eat many different sides evenly. Plus the rice tea at the end. If you want to properly enjoy a full-table rice set meal, I recommend this place. I definitely want to come back! Just, as a famously long-wait Yeoju restaurant, factor in the wait if you visit on a weekend.