Jeongwang-dong restaurant with non-spicy royal bone stew: Cheongchun

A Jeongwang-dong restaurant I visited while looking for a place to eat gamjatang (pork bone soup) — Cheongchun Bulbbyeojjim & Gamjatang Jeongwang Station branch!

Cheongchun Bulbbyeojjim Jeongwang Station branch: hours and parking

Cheongchun Bulbbyeojjim & Gamjatang Jeongwang Station branch is open weekdays 07:00–23:55 (last order 23:25) and weekends 08:00–21:00 (last order 20:30), and parking is available at the building.

I visited on a weekday for lunch and seats weren't super spacious, but even though I'm someone who still finds parking a bit tricky, I managed to park without any trouble haha. From the reviews, it looks like weekend parking is a little more relaxed!

Where it is in Jeongwang-dong's main shopping arcade — and yes, you can eat alone

Cheongchun Bulbbyeojjim & Gamjatang Jeongwang Station branch is located in the Jeongwang-dong main shopping area, so it was easy to find. You can eat in, or a lot of people order takeout or delivery too. The signature menu items are a meat-heavy haejangguk (hangover soup), bbyeojjim (braised bone stew), and a great-value 2-person set menu.

With gamjatang places, you usually feel like you need a group, but this place has menus set up so you can eat solo, with family, on a date, or as a hangover cure after drinks. Sure enough, quite a few people were eating lunch alone when I visited.

Haejangguk usually comes in a solo portion, but having a solo portion even for bbyeojjim!!! This is such a great spot to come eat alone!!!

Cheongchun royal braised pork bone (small), 34,000 won: non-spicy and sweet-savoury

What I ordered was the Cheongchun gungjung bbyeojjim (small) at 34,000 won. When you hear bbyeojjim, you probably think of the spicy bulbbyeojjim first, but gungjung bbyeojjim is a sweet-and-savory palace-style stew that's easy to eat even with kids or people who can't handle spicy food!!

I visited with my mom, and since we both prefer sweet-and-savory over spicy, we ordered the gungjung bbyeojjim. The small size is just right for two women! When the dish first arrived it was so good I wanted to add more meat, but by the time we finished eating we were so full I was glad I didn't get greedy haha.

The free steamed egg that arrives first

I was debating whether to add a side or get egg stew, and then this bone stew restaurant near Jeongwang Station just served the egg stew for free!!

Egg stew lovers, welcome!! I ordered the gungjung bbyeojjim, but if you get the spicy bulbbyeojjim, egg stew is basically essential — the owner's sense here is amazing haha.

The gungjung bbyeojjim has a jjimdak (braised chicken)-style vibe!! This sauce can't possibly be bad!! I ended up adding a bowl of rice haha.

The meat was tender and fell right off the bone, plump and plentiful!!!! Picking the meat off the bones is half the fun of bbyeojjim!!

What's already in the pot: rice cake, quail eggs, glass noodles

Rice cake, quail eggs, wedge potato, wide glass noodles, enoki mushrooms — such a variety of sides included as standard!!!

Honestly, when I was first ordering I was going to add a bunch of extra sides, but then I heard some come included as standard, so I skipped it — glad I did haha.

It's delicious dipped in the sauce, and delicious plain too!!! I came looking for gamjatang and ended up falling for the bbyeojjim instead haha.

Can you dial down the spice on the fiery bulbbyeojjim?

One of Cheongchun Bulbbyeojjim & Gamjatang's signature menus is bbyeojjim. The bulbbyeojjim is known for its deliciously spicy-sweet sauce. Apparently it's addictive enough that people mix rice into the leftover sauce after eating the meat off the bones, so I'd love to try the bulbbyeojjim next time.

They also said the spice level can be adjusted. If you're like me and can't handle spicy food, it's worth checking whether spice adjustment is possible when you order. On the other hand, the gungjung bbyeojjim I had that day is sweet-and-savory, so it's great to eat instead of something spicy.

The set for two: gamjatang value in the low 20,000s won

Cheongchun Bulbbyeojjim & Gamjatang sells not just bbyeojjim but also gamjatang and haejangguk. What especially caught my eye was the 2-person set menu! You can get a set with bone haejangguk, mukbap (buckwheat jelly dish), cold noodles, bone kalguksu, and more, and ordering the set comes with free coolpis (a sweet Korean drink) and egg stew!

I was actually considering the 2-person set that day too, so next time I want to come back for the set to try a few different things!! In the low 20,000s won you get to share bbyeojjim or haejangguk together, so it seemed like a good option for lunch too.

If you're eating alone, a bowl of haejangguk will fill you up nicely, and if you're with others, ordering bbyeojjim or gamjatang to share seems like the way to go.