Bucheon ramen with adjustable salt and oil: Gyeoretsu Ramen

I ate tonkotsu ramen, kara tonkotsu ramen, and mixed fried sides at Gyeoretsu Ramen Bucheon University Branch. I could adjust the salt level and oil amount when ordering, and I chose less oil for the spicy ramen so it suited my taste.

How do you get there from Bucheon Station, and is parking available?

The restaurant is 432 meters from Bucheon Station Exit 3. The address is 4 Buil-ro 445beon-gil, Wonmi-gu, Bucheon, South Korea, 1st floor. There is no parking at the restaurant, and visitors are directed to use public parking.

The hours listed in the original post are 11:30–21:00 from Tuesday to Sunday, with a break from 15:00–17:00. It is closed every Monday.

The interior gave me the feel of a Japanese ramen shop.

Are the seats spacious, and does the food come quickly?

The table space was not especially generous, but the seating arrangement felt efficient. There were many customers when I visited, yet tables turned over quickly and the food came out soon.

I felt it would be suitable for eating alone, a date, or a family meal. There was a restroom inside, and having hair ties, toothpicks, and aprons available was convenient.

What is available at the free rice station and self-service bar?

Pepper, red pepper powder, and kelp vinegar were placed on every table. I could add them to the ramen to suit my taste.

I could take as much free rice as I wanted. The self-service bar also had pickled radish, minced garlic, takana (mustard-leaf pickles), and pickled ginger, which were good to eat alongside the ramen.

There were also instructions for how to eat the soup ramen and mixed noodles. When I visited, a promotion was posted offering a drink or two fried gyoza for taking part in a receipt review.

What menu items are available, and how do you choose the salt and oil levels?

The menu included tonkotsu ramen, iekei ramen, mazesoba, spicy ramen, and soup-less tantanmen. Descriptions of each ramen's broth base and ingredients were provided, which was useful when choosing an unfamiliar dish.

I could adjust the salt level and oil amount at the kiosk while ordering. The standard noodle texture was described as slightly chewy and firm. Side dishes, extra options, drinks, and alcohol were also available to choose from.

I ordered tonkotsu ramen for ₩9,000, kara tonkotsu ramen for ₩9,500, mixed fried sides for ₩4,500, and a drink for ₩2,000. The water came in a bottled format. Among the self-service side dishes, I especially liked the takana, or mustard-leaf pickles.

How were the tonkotsu ramen broth and chashu?

The ₩9,000 tonkotsu ramen was described as Hakata-style ramen made with a broth simmered for a long time from pork and chicken bones, then mixed with a special sauce. Homemade chashu, menma, wood ear mushrooms, green onions, and seaweed were placed on the pale, rich broth.

The chashu was so tender that it easily fell apart when touched with chopsticks. It was savory without any unpleasant smell, and I regretted not adding extra chashu.

Wrapping the noodles in chashu let me enjoy the savory flavor and the texture of the noodles together.

The noodles had absorbed the deep broth flavor and stayed chewy rather than becoming soft while I ate.

Adding crisp menma and chewy wood ear mushrooms to the noodles made the textures more varied. I finished the broth as well.

How spicy is the kara tonkotsu ramen, and what is it like with less oil?

The ₩9,500 kara tonkotsu ramen is a spicy ramen made by blending several kinds of red pepper powder into tonkotsu ramen. I chose less oil.

The broth with less oil did not feel greasy to me, and its sharp, spicy flavor came through clearly. It suited me because I like spicy food.

The spicy broth had soaked into the springy noodles as well. By my standards, it was more pungently spicy than Shin Ramyun.

I also liked wrapping the spicy noodles in the mild, tender chashu.

Adding minced garlic from the self-service bar gave the broth a stronger garlic aroma and deeper flavor.

I was already full, but I liked the spicy broth enough to add rice to it. Unlike eating the noodles, it felt more like eating a hearty spicy soup with rice.

How were the mixed fried sides?

The ₩4,500 mixed fried sides consisted of fried jumbo gyoza and chicken karaage. They arrived warm and freshly fried.

The chicken karaage was crisp on the outside and juicy and moist inside. It went well with the ramen either on its own or dipped in sauce. The jumbo fried gyoza was also crisp outside and moist inside, and it made me think of beer.

It was a little disappointing that the table space was tight, but the food came quickly and I could adjust the ramen's salt and oil levels to my taste. I especially liked the kara tonkotsu ramen with less oil and the tender chashu.