Gwangju jokbal restaurant date-night couple's set: Kkankkan Jjokbal

Hi, it's Ttu-ttu~!! If you're from Gwangju, there's no way you don't know this place — the city's go-to charcoal-grilled jokbal spot! I visited Kkankkan Jjokbal Suwan Branch. I usually only order delivery from here, but this time I went with my boyfriend for a proper date and ate in the restaurant!

I'll walk you through everything A to Z about Kkankkan Jjokbal Suwan Branch, a Suwan district favorite — atmosphere, menu, parking, all of it!

Where is Kkankkan Jjokbal Suwan Branch, and where do you park?

Kkankkan Jjokbal Suwan Branch is located at 44 Suwan-ro, Gwangsan-gu, Gwangju, and Naver Reservations is available. There's no dedicated lot, so you'll need to use nearby shared public parking or park along the street!

Luckily there were plenty of spots around, so parking was easy! There's a shared public parking area marked in yellow near the restaurant, and I've found it super convenient to park there whenever I have plans to eat in Suwan district. I parked in the shared lot right in front of the restaurant.

There's a tiled roof up top with lighting hanging underneath, so it caught my eye even from far away.

Inside Kkankkan Jjokbal: does it work for family meals and work dinners?

There was a lot of seating inside Kkankkan Jjokbal Suwan Branch, with plenty of standard 4-person tables plus larger group seating — it seemed like a perfect spot for anything from family gatherings to work dinners! Hall reservations through Naver were available for up to 10 people.

I wonder when I'll stop finding menu boards like this fun, haha. It looks like a stadium roster with player names hung up... secretly, I think it's fun....

The free side dishes, including sundubu jjigae

The basic table setting at Kkankkan Jjokbal Suwan Branch comes with pickled radish, sesame salad, wrap radish, lettuce, steamed egg, and even sundubu jjigae (soft tofu stew). Sundubu jjigae isn't included with delivery, so it's a spread you can only get by dining in.

First, the basic table setting comes with pickled radish, sesame salad, wrap radish, and lettuce.

Then the steamed egg and sundubu jjigae join the table!!

Delivery doesn't come with sundubu jjigae, so finding out there was extra stuff you only get in-store was its own little treat :)

They also gave us a raw egg to crack into the sundubu jjigae. Once the stew boils, drop the egg in and simmer over medium heat for about 5 more minutes — the flavor turns out just right!

Menu and prices: why the set menus cost less

There's no paper menu at Kkankkan Jjokbal Suwan Branch — you can only browse the menu through individual tabletop kiosks...^_T So I've pulled the menu info from Naver Map instead.

For reference, the prices shown are for small-size takeout, and in-store orders start from medium size. Think of it as medium +₩10,000 and large +₩15,000 on top of the listed price!! That's how the menu is structured, and we were planning to order the medium charcoal-grilled jokbal along with bibim makguksu (spicy buckwheat noodles). But once I checked the menu tabs, it turned out we could get exactly what we wanted, cheaper, through a set menu!

• Couple's set (2 people) from ₩48,000: medium jokbal + mul-naengmyeon or bibim makguksu
• Friends' set (3 people) from ₩57,000: large jokbal + mul-naengmyeon or bibim makguksu
• Friends' set (3 people) from ₩58,000: half-and-half jokbal + mul-naengmyeon or bibim makguksu

There are also plenty of other set menus, like the family set, the jokbo set, the three-flavor half-half-half set, and the pork tail set — so depending on your group size, appetite, and taste, you can order the exact set that fits. I think that's the charm of Kkankkan Jjokbal. We got the couple's set (2 people) and had the charcoal-grilled jokbal and bibim makguksu!!!

How does the charcoal-grilled jokbal taste? Baseball on the screen, too

The medium charcoal-grilled jokbal that came with the couple's set was boiled first, then grilled once more directly over charcoal, giving it a chewy texture with smoky flavor worked into the meat. They even had a baseball game playing on a huge screen, which made for great viewing while we ate.

Eek! Protein galore. Let's take a closer look at the good stuff, haha.

Boiled meat grilled once more directly over charcoal, chewy with that smoky flavor worked in — honestly... it's Gwangju's signature dish through and through ;; The ratio of chewy collagen parts to tender meat parts was just right, so it was really delicious. They had baseball playing on a big screen too, which made it fun to watch while eating~!!

(Kia was winning, which made it even better) Honestly, how big of a perk it is for a Gwangju restaurant to have baseball on — any baseball fan will get it, haha.

If you're looking for a good restaurant in the Suwan district, how about a bite of jokbal at Kkankkan Jjokbal Suwan Branch? I think I've already explained enough about why this became Gwangju's go-to jokbal spot — soft, chewy meat with no gamey smell at all. There are people who've never tried it, but nobody who's only had it once. That's where I'll end this review of Kkankkan Jjokbal.