Ilsan Beach, Ulsan Chinese restaurant: 16-team wait, 38,000 won set

So what did we eat today?

We stopped by Ilsan Beach in Ulsan for a swim, and how could we not swing by this place. We visited Daewangam Dol Jjamppong, famous as a local Ilsanji favorite. Dol jjamppong (stone-plate jjamppong) — there are supposedly only three in the country: Ulsan Daewangam Dol Jjamppong, Busan Songjeong Dol Jjamppong, and Miryang Dol Jjamppong. And FYI, they only run direct-operated branches!!

Ulsan Daewangam Dol Jjamppong: hours, parking and how to find it

Ulsan Daewangam Dol Jjamppong is at 6 Ilsanjin 5-gil, 1st floor, Dong-gu, Ulsan. It's open Mon, Wed, Thu, Fri, Sat, Sun 11:00–21:00 with a break time from 15:30–17:00. Closed every Tuesday.

• Hours: Mon Wed Thu Fri Sat Sun 11:00–21:00 / break time 15:30–17:00
• Closed: every Tuesday
• Parking: private lot in the building — there's a genuinely huge lot right in front, so even with a long wait, parking was easy, good good
• Location: 6 Ilsanjin 5-gil, 1st floor, Dong-gu, Ulsan
• Parking available / separate restrooms / table registration app

How long is the weekend wait at 1pm?

We visited on a weekend at 1pm and there were 16 teams waiting — exactly 1 hour. Waiting is managed through a table registration app.

We came on a weekend at 1pm and there were 16 teams... waiting. The wait was exactly 1 hour.

A pretty brutal-looking photo of the waiting list, haha. But there's a waiting area inside the restaurant so it was really comfortable. I think it'd be good to register on the app first and then go check out Ilsan Beach!

The waiting zone — between here and the register, there's yogurt and rice snacks set out. Ready to drink while waiting or on the way out, haha. As some ladies were leaving after their meal, they said:

This is the best Chinese restaurant in Ulsan.

They said this on their way out. So I waited with even more excited anticipation.

Inside the restaurant and the free self-serve bar

The dining hall at Ulsan Daewangam Dol Jjamppong has two sections, one on each side of the entrance, and the table spacing was wider than it looks in photos. Being the weekend, there were a lot of families.

The table spacing was wider than in the photo, and there are two dining sections, one on each side of the entrance!

Definitely a lot of family groups since it was the weekend, haha.

The self-serve corner set up on one side of the restaurant. Raw onion, danmuji (pickled radish), chunjang (black bean paste), green onion kimchi, and rice, all unlimited refills. The green onion kimchi here is seriously a gem... the best. Not telling you I went back for seconds.

What we ordered and what it cost

We ordered the dol jjamppong (2-person) plus dontang and chitang set for ₩38,000 at the spiciest of the 3 spice levels, plus a yuni-jjajang for ₩6,000 and 2 soft drinks for ₩4,000, for a total of ₩48,000.

Looking around, every table had dol jjamppong on it! I'd had dol jjajang before but never dol jjamppong, so I hesitated a bit — but between the restaurant's name and what everyone else was ordering, we decided to get the dol jjamppong too, haha.

• ✔ Dol jjamppong (2-person) + dontang + chitang set ₩38,000 (option: spiciest of 3 levels)
• ✔ Yuni-jjajang ₩6,000
• ✔ Soft drinks (2) ₩4,000
• TOTAL ₩48,000

The side dishes were set right as soon as we were seated.

Stone jjamppong at spice level 3: how hot is it?

It only takes 10 minutes for all the food to come out. Even with a wait, once you're seated the food comes fast.

I'd never seen visuals like this. A mountain of crisp bean sprouts piled on top of a bubbling jjamppong, giving it kind of an izakaya vibe?! While serving it, they told us to mix the bean sprouts in well and that there's rice hidden at the very bottom.

The broth was seriously... delicious even on its own, rich but clean. Clean yet full of seafood umami and a spicy aroma — one sip in and I knew we'd ordered right.

The jjamppong toppings had the usual vegetables plus seafood in sizes bigger than usual, of every kind.

Since the noodles keep cooking on the hot stone plate, they come out with a bit more bite to them — chewy. Kind of like stir-fried jjamppong. Certified Ilsanji, Ulsan favorite.

Kids' yuni-jjajang for 6,000 won

We got a side of yuni-jjajang for ₩6,000, the kids' version. I'd heard the jjajang is delicious too, so if you're curious, just order it — you won't regret it.

You could really taste the ground meat inside, and the sweet, slightly spicy combo with the dol jjamppong was very good.

Jjajang with green onion kimchi — is there any way this fails? A genuinely famous, can't-lose combo.

Dontang and chitang soups included in the set

The dontang and chitang included in the set are two styles of sweet and sour: dontang is pork-cutlet style, chitang is chicken style.

The dontang felt like a mini tenderloin cutlet from a specialty cutlet shop, and the chitang felt like boneless dakgangjeong (sweet fried chicken). Two sauces come with it: dontang sauce (cutlet sauce) and chitang sauce (seasoned sauce).

Tips for eating stone jjamppong at its best

Once you've eaten some of the dol jjamppong and get to enjoy the scorched rice at the bottom, mix in the yuni-jjajang with white rice on the side and alternate between the two — pure bliss. You have to try it.

Among all the spots, Daewangam Dol Jjamppong is famous as an Ilsanji, Ulsan favorite. It's close to Ilsan Beach too, so I'd highly recommend it for a weekend outing! After the jjamppong we did some light rain plus beach swimming — thoroughly satisfied.