Rainy-day kimchi stew and buckwheat roll in Gojan-dong, Ansan: Choburi

Choburi Kimchi Jjigae Gojan Main Branch hours and parking

Choburi Kimchi Jjigae Gojan Main Branch (초부리김치찌개 고잔본점) is at 145-7 Gwangdeok 3-ro, Danwon-gu, Ansan, Gyeonggi, South Korea, units 111–113 (lot-number address: Gojan-dong 705-3). It's open daily 11:00–21:00, with a break from 15:30 to 17:00, last order at 20:30, and no days off.

It's near Homeplus and NC Department Store in Gojan-dong, so you can walk there from Gojan Station. There's no parking in the building, but you can use the public roadside parking lot in front: free on weekends and holidays, paid on weekdays.

• 10% off for Hanyang University ERICA students and staff
• Free raw pork topping for police, military and firefighters
• Don't forget the dessert after your meal: coffee, misutgaru (roasted grain drink) slush and ice cream!

What is the atmosphere like at Choburi Kimchi Jjigae Gojan?

The day we visited Choburi Kimchi Jjigae Gojan Main Branch, it was raining. Even so, plenty of people had come out for a meal.

We walked in right at opening, before any other customers, and look at this: the place is huuuge. It has wood-tone interiors and generously spaced tables, so it felt airy the moment we stepped in.

There are seats for four people up to big group tables, and in other reviews I'd read that people often come for company dinners and group outings. I got it right away. Partway through the meal I also saw several people dining alone, and it doesn't feel awkward at all, so coming solo is no pressure.

At the lunch peak a crowd of office workers pours in, so it gets a bit busy, but the bright, clean, café-like interior makes it comfortable to stay a while. You order at a kiosk, and every seat is set with water for the pot rice and buckwheat tea.

Choburi Kimchi Jjigae menu and toppings

Are the side dishes and self-serve bar refillable?

The three basic side dishes are roasted seaweed, pickled chili peppers and stir-fried fish cake, and you can refill them without limit at the self-serve bar. Simple, but neatly laid out.

While waiting for the stew I kept picking at the side dishes............ wow, I could honestly finish a bowl of rice with just these. The stir-fried fish cake is sooooooo good. I kept going back for refills.

The basic side dishes are unlimited at the self-serve bar, and you can keep refilling the kimchi stew broth and rice too. The dishes have hygiene covers, so it feels like they take cleanliness seriously, which gave me confidence.

What two of us ordered: 2-person set, fresh pork topping and kimchi buckwheat roll

At Choburi Kimchi Jjigae you have to order one serving per person, so the two of us ordered the 2-person set and added a raw pork topping. The set comes with pot rice and kimchi stew as standard. A single diner can order one serving too, so it's really great for eating alone.

Golden gardenia pot rice and sungnyung (scorched-rice tea)

The golden gardenia pot rice (황금치자솥밥) is Choburi's signature pot rice, tinted yellow with gardenia.

I moved the rice from the pot onto a plate, then poured hot water over the scorched rice stuck to the bottom to make sungnyung (scorched-rice tea). For the rice on the plate, I mixed in a perilla-oil fried egg, stir-fried fish cake and soy sauce.

Side dish: kimchi buckwheat roll

The kimchi buckwheat roll (김치메밀전병) we ordered as a side arrived too.

I'd been torn between this and the Bongpyeong buckwheat pancake with boots-style fillings, but went with the kimchi buckwheat roll, and it was a generous portion and tasty as a side.

How do you cook the kimchi stew at Choburi Kimchi Jjigae?

A staff member set the induction burner to level 6 for 7 minutes and said it switches off on its own when the time is up. While we ate the side dishes, the main dish, the kimchi stew, was boiling.

Once the induction burner turns off, you can start eating, and if you set it to level 1–2 you can keep the stew nice and hot. I'd booked through Naver, and if you book through Naver you get a free silver ear mushroom topping worth ₩3,000!!

Best way to eat Choburi kimchi stew

They said the stew tastes best when the broth is low!! But we added the extra broth meant for ramyeon noodles to make it soupier. (I'm the type who skips the solids and just drinks the broth, so...) Still, they say it's better with less broth, so keep that in mind!!

How was the flavor and portion size at Choburi Kimchi Jjigae?

Two people eating two servings of Choburi's kimchi stew was plenty, and even though I don't usually eat much Korean food, I enjoyed it sooo much. Once the stew had finished boiling, we ate it with the pot rice we'd set aside.

Two people, two servings, and it was so filling and delicious. I feel like even someone who hates kimchi stew would come here and end up loving it... Maybe because we added extra meat as a topping, we felt even fuller. After finishing the meal, if you wrap up with a clean bowl of sungnyung,

you'll feel so fuuuuuull you could skip eating for the rest of the day. (Secret: we were so stuffed we never even added the ramyeon noodles and left them behind.)

What desserts does Choburi Kimchi Jjigae offer?

The dessert corner at Choburi Kimchi Jjigae Gojan Main Branch has ice cream, misutgaru and coffee.

The misutgaru (roasted grain drink) at the dessert corner is also really, really good......!!!! Do try a glass each...

They say they've stuck to a recipe handed down through three generations since 2006 and draw 50,000 visitors a year, and I think you can tell at Choburi that's not just a number. It's a place that bets everything on a single dish, and once you eat here it makes sense. The flavor is great, the value is great and the dessert is generous too, so we were very satisfied.