Junggye-dong gamjatang with 7-8 bones and two broth refills: Somunnan

Sent the kids off to grandma's house for once~~ and my husband and I went out for gamjatang (pork bone stew). I'd been wanting to eat gamjatang for a while and found this Nowon spot — Somunnan Gamjatang (소문난감자탕해장국), a 30-year-old institution at its Junggye main branch! I heard they opened a second location nearby recently too.

• Name: Somunnan Gamjatang
• 📍1F, 694 Deokneung-ro, Nowon-gu, Seoul
• ⏰Open 24 hours
• ✔️Takeout, delivery, group dining, parking available

How to walk to Somunnan Gamjatang from Sanggye Station, and where to park

This Nowon Korean restaurant is 256m from Sanggye Station Exit 2, about a 5-minute walk. Parking is available behind the building (the entrance is between Hyundai Exhibition Hall and E-Mart).

There's a second location nearby too, and the owners rotate between the two branches, so you get the same taste as the original! On a hot summer day, their perilla oil buckwheat noodles and cold buckwheat noodles sound so tempting too!

Inside Somunnan Gamjatang's Junggye main branch

The inside of Somunnan Gamjatang's main branch was bigger and more comfortable than I expected, and the staff were super friendly! The tables are spacious too, making it a great Nowon Korean restaurant for group meals — a solid Nowon haejangguk (hangover soup) spot.

Behind and beside the seats, plenty of aprons are on hand.

What's on the menu at Somunnan Gamjatang

This Nowon Korean restaurant's signature dishes are gamjatang and kimchi-bean sprout bone jjim. Their haejangguk lineup includes bone haejangguk, blood sausage haejangguk, spicy sundaeguk, mild sundaeguk, bean sprout hwangtae, and sundae plate (*premium sundae/blood sausage available*). Add-ons include extra bones, sujebi (hand-torn dumpling) sari, vegetable sari, ugeoji (dried radish greens) sari, potato sari, glass noodle sari, ramen sari, rice, and fried rice.

The side kimchi at Somunnan tastes like fresh geotjeori

After ordering, the side dishes came out: kkakdugi (cubed radish kimchi), pickled onions, and kimchi.

The kimchi here was seriously so good. It tasted like freshly made geotjeori (fresh unfermented kimchi) — completely delicious!

The kkakdugi and pickled onions were crunchy too, totally refreshing the palate.

Gamjatang, no kids around, it's Saturday, no car to drive — so we happily ordered one soju and one beer ><

Small gamjatang, 36,000 won: how much food two people get

Gamjatang (small size), ₩36,000.

We went straight for the small gamjatang without hesitation. The menu says the small size serves two, but it came out completely loaded.

Seasoning, perilla powder, and chopped peanuts on top. At first I thought it was minced garlic, but it was peanuts!

The peanuts were really generous, and the perilla powder was generous too, so the broth was seriously nutty and rich. It was already delicious before I even took a bite.

Oh! There were also lots of perilla leaves in it, giving off a lovely perilla aroma. And at the very bottom there was ugeoji, which kept coming up more and more — the pot was deeper than it looked.

How many bones, how much meat, and pulling it off the bone

There were way more bones than I expected, and a good amount of meat still clinging to the bones — exciting.

Adjusting the heat as it simmered made the broth turn really rich. It seemed to deepen even more as the perilla powder and peanuts steeped into it.

There was a ton of ugeoji too.

Loads of meat on the bones.

Trying to pick meat off the bones alone while taking photos was awkward and clumsy haha, but it came off easily.

My husband's bone-picking skills. Seriously an insane amount of meat. Two adult women alone might find the small gamjatang to be too much...?

What does Somunnan Gamjatang's perilla and peanut broth taste like?

Wow, the broth color was seriously deep. The flavor matched that depth exactly. Some gamjatang places have a heavy, murky broth, but this one had none of that — clean and rich with a deep nutty flavor!

Couldn't help but clink a soju glass too. The broth is the kind that clears your hangover and then makes you reach for another drink anyway.

The potatoes, thoroughly soaked in broth, were completely great too.

A serious amount of meat — you eat and eat and it never ends. The meat also came off the bones easily, so we ate in a total trance.

Two broth refills and self-serve sujebi at the table

We asked for a broth refill. It honestly felt like an entirely new gamjatang had arrived haha. After that, while we were still drinking soju, I think we added broth one more time.

At this Nowon Korean restaurant, when you order gamjatang, they also give you sujebi (hand-torn dumpling dough) to tear and cook yourself! You don't have to add it right from the start — you can put it in whenever you feel like it, which is really convenient and lets you fully enjoy the broth's flavor first!

Oh, tearing it thin and cooking it made the broth soak in fast! You really have to tear the sujebi by hand yourself >< We had so much meat that we couldn't even order rice. We thought about getting fried rice, but we were seriously stuffed.

Would we go back to Somunnan Gamjatang? The verdict

At this Nowon haejangguk favorite, Somunnan Gamjatang, ordering fried rice after the gamjatang is basically a must — thinking back now, we're annoyed we missed it, so we'll probably have to go back. But we're genuinely big eaters (?), and the portion was so huge we couldn't even order rice. Were there 7 bones? Or 8? We'll probably visit again soon!! Highly recommend Somunnan Gamjatang, a Nowon/Sanggye Station favorite that plenty of people also stop by for a Nowon haejangguk lunch.