Fresh-harvest gondre rice set in Gojan-dong, Ansan: Yeongwolae Gondre

Ansan Korean restaurant Yeongwolae Gondre. Healthy banchan and delicious gondre rice in Gojan-dong.

It's so hot these days that being active during the day is rough. So I've been living like a vampire, coming out in the cool evenings haha. Went for an early dinner in Gojan-dong, Ansan — let's go!

Yeongwolae Gondre Ansan Branch hours and location

Yeongwolae Gondre Ansan Branch is a Gojan-dong set-meal restaurant on the 2nd floor of Gojan Praum City, 33 Danggok-ro, Danwon-gu, Ansan-si, Gyeonggi-do, South Korea, open from 10:30 to 20:50. It's close to Ansan Jungang Station, Gojan Station, Ansan Jungang Park, and Ansan City Hall, so it's very accessible.

The menu board at the entrance is perfect for strategizing what to order before you go in. Sometimes if it looks too pricey I just don't go in haha. Menu board passed the test. And seeing the 'excellent' hygiene grade posted on the door made me trust the place even more.

The hanok-style waiting room and how you're seated

Inside, the waiting room is decorated so elegantly it feels like a hanok (traditional Korean house). Hanok-like yet modern interior — I guess that's what they call fusion, ahem (pretending I know things). In the aquarium that water-gazing fans love, fish were wiggling around.

I briefly forgot why I even came here, lost in watching the fish. My stomach growling brought me back to reality.

During busy meal times, staff might not be right at the entrance, but if you press the bell, someone comes out.

After ringing the bell, there's a sink where you can wash your hands. Since I was planning to eat wraps with my mouth stretched wide today, gotta keep it clean~

Can you buy banchan to take home?

Yeongwolae Gondre Ansan Branch also sells banchan (side dishes) from a refrigerated showcase. There's fresh kimchi salad, mountain lettuce salad, green onion kimchi, lotus root salad, Jeju deodeok (bellflower root), Chinese-style jellyfish salad, and assorted pickles, all at a nice ₩5,000 — except Jeju deodeok at ₩7,000. Anything you loved eating here, you can take home too.

Yeongwolae Gondre is an Ansan Korean restaurant that carefully serves up a healthy spread. The gondre is grown by an elder named Lee Gi-beom in Nam-myeon, Yeongwol. Fresh gondre — I don't know much about it, but it just feels like it'll be delicious.

Dining room atmosphere and seating

It's a spacious Ansan Korean restaurant. A set-meal restaurant with an elegant vibe, moon jar picture frames hanging on the walls. The wooden interior is calm, and the wooden lattice partitions give a nice private feel. Being close to Ansan Jungang Station, Gojan Station, Ansan Jungang Park, and Ansan City Hall, it's great for group dinners or family gatherings.

We didn't reserve, but ended up seated somewhere that felt like a reserved spot. Here's the Yeongwolae Gondre Ansan menu price list.

Yeongwolae Gondre Ansan Branch menu and prices

• Set menu, beautiful because we're together — Yeongwol Mureungdowon set, 2-person mixed spread ₩40,000
• More beautiful than flowers — brass-plate live bulgogi set, per person ₩25,000
• Jeju gold crab set, per person ₩22,000
• Yeongwol pork stir-fry set, grilled mackerel set, countryside doenjang set, southern cockle salad set, each per person ₩18,000
• Extras to make it heartier — pork stir-fry, grilled mackerel, countryside doenjang, southern cockles, Jeju gold crab, Korean bean tofu hot pot, extra bulgogi, and more

Whatever tastes good after trying it, order more.

What comes with the pork stir-fry and grilled mackerel sets?

At Yeongwolae Gondre Ansan Branch, once you order, everything comes out at once, generously.

The main pork stir-fry comes with lettuce for wraps~ The doenjang (soybean paste stew) with mushrooms and assorted vegetables also comes along.

Basic banchan include fresh cabbage kimchi, lotus root salad, seaweed vinegar salad, mountain lettuce salad, Jeju deodeok, jellyfish salad, and assorted pickles. Head to the self-serve bar for unlimited refills — just take what you'll actually eat.

Gondre rice topped with fresh-harvest gondre

The rice is cooked with aged gondre, then piled high with fresh gondre on top. Topped with fragrant sesame seeds, it looks even more delicious. The rice is chewy and fragrant too. Even just the rice alone tastes amazing haha.

Crunchy and spicy seasoned Jeju deodeok, and jellyfish salad with a distinctive tangy mustard sauce.

Self-serve bar refills, plum tea and sikhye

Besides lettuce, the self-serve bar had kale and some other unnamed wrap greens you can grab as you like. It also seems like you can get extra rice — either white rice or gondre rice — added on top of the one-per-person order (carb lovers, shout it out!!!)

Once you try the banchan, you can refill whichever ones suit your taste. There's also plum tea and sikhye as a post-meal service haha.

Where'd the whole grilled mackerel photo go — thick fillet photo wins! The grilled mackerel is savory, not too salty, and the pork stir-fry has just the right kick of spice.

At a countryside-style Korean restaurant like this, it's nice to enjoy all kinds of wraps. I don't usually eat vegetables much, so at Korean restaurants I just go all in haha.

Enjoy it in a fresh way with various wrap greens, rice, and different topping banchan~

Mixing the gondre rice into the tofu-added, not-too-salty doenjang is also incredibly good~!

And of course, we finished with plum tea and sikhye. The sikhye is sweet and seems to help with digestion, so I had another cup~! Felt great eating a Korean meal with home-cooked care again after a while.

Too full, so we finished off with a walk at nearby Ansan Lake Park. Ansan Korean restaurant, Yeongwolae Gondre.