Paju Simhaksan Chinese restaurant: Donchitang SET and stone jajang

Dolpanseok Jjamppong Paju Simhaksan Branch is a Chinese restaurant in the Simhaksan food alley in Paju, Gyeonggi. I'd gone out toward Simhaksan and was looking for a nearby spot for lunch when I found this place.

That day I was weirdly craving jajangmyeon haha. I generally love Chinese food, so I went searching around for jajangmyeon and ended up at Dolpanseok Jjamppong Paju Simhaksan Branch.

What are parking and the dining room like at Dolpanseok Jjamppong?

Dolpanseok Jjamppong Paju Simhaksan Branch is near the Simhaksan food alley, so there were plenty of restaurants around, but this one had a large parking lot, which made it easy to visit by car. It was meal time, so there were quite a few customers, and people kept coming in — it clearly seemed like a place many people already frequent. We parked and headed straight in.

The interior felt clean overall. The tables were spaced comfortably enough that I never felt crowded by neighboring tables. The staff were friendly and welcoming too, so the first impression was good.

Self-serve bar and unlimited rice refills

At the self-serve bar, you just take as much as you like. I grabbed pickled radish, onion, and black bean paste.

One thing I really liked was the unlimited rice refills. These days a lot of places charge extra even for one bowl of rice, so it was great to be able to help myself freely. I figured mixing rice into the leftover sauce from the stone-plate jajang would be delicious, so I made sure to have a bowl later too haha. After a short wait, our order arrived.

Stone-plate jajang: jajangmyeon over a layer of nurungji

The first thing that caught my eye was, of course, the stone-plate jajang!

It came out on a hot stone plate, sizzling the moment it hit the table — the visual alone got my appetite going haha. Since it stays on the hot stone the whole time, it doesn't cool down easily even if you eat slowly, which I liked.

And the highlight of this dish is the nurungji (scorched rice) layered underneath the plate! Eating the jajang sauce with the noodles and then finishing with the nurungji added a nutty, crunchy texture that made it even more delicious. The jajang sauce was rich and paired well with the noodles.

Compared to an ordinary jajangmyeon at a regular Chinese restaurant, this was definitely more fun to eat. Since I'd been craving jajangmyeon so badly that day, it probably tasted even better to me haha.

How big is the Donchitang SET with pork cutlet and sweet chicken?

The Donchitang SET we also ordered turned out to be quite a large portion.

It comes with pork cutlet and sweet chicken together, and both were fried up crispy and delicious.

I especially liked the sweet chicken — the crispy texture with the sweet sauce made it great to eat one piece at a time between bites of jajangmyeon. Eating pork cutlet and chicken alongside the jajang was a nice combination rather than just eating jajang the whole time. The portion was bigger than expected, so the two of us were quite full afterward.

Dessert corner: yogurt drink and rice crackers

By the time we'd nearly finished eating, dessert was ready too. Normally there's yogurt and rice crackers, but the yogurt was sold out on my visit, so I just had the rice crackers. They were surprisingly good though — I kept reaching for more even though I was already full haha.

They're also running a review event, so keep that in mind.

Is Dolpanseok Jjamppong Paju Simhaksan Branch worth a visit?

Overall, the portions were generous and the menu varied enough for a satisfying meal. Above all, the staff were friendly, which made for a pleasant meal. The place is clean and parking is easy, so it seems like a good spot for a family meal, and also a good place to eat after a date or drive out toward Simhaksan.

Personally, the stone-plate jajang was the most memorable dish I had that day. Being able to eat it warm from start to finish on the hot stone, with the nurungji to enjoy at the end, gave it a different charm from regular jajangmyeon. Next time I'd like to try the stone-plate jjamppong, which I didn't get to this time haha. If you're looking for a Chinese restaurant around Paju's Simhaksan, or want to try a slightly different jajangmyeon, Dolpanseok Jjamppong Paju Simhaksan Branch is worth a visit.