Daejeon Korean restaurant galbi kimchi stew: Jeonju House

The day we craved a pleasantly spicy kimchi stew in Bongmyeong-dong, Daejeon

This seal had overeaten for days in a row... (work-trip team dinner issues) and apparently was craving something spicy!! Haha. A kimchi hater who will still eat clean, well-fermented kimchi—this seal, hehe. Off to break into a good kimchi-stew spot~~ We visited Jeonju House (전주하우스), a good place near home~!! My dad's side of the family is from Jeonju, haha. Jeolla-do food is delicious, you know~

Here’s what the place looks like, haha. There isn’t a parking lotㅠㅠ so we parked nearby!! I’d seen this restaurant so many times while passing by, and it absolutely has that good-restaurant smell. LOL. So approachable.

Kimchi they make themselves!! Can you see all those onggi (traditional earthenware jars) full of it~~~~??? That alone certifies this as a good restaurant 🙃

A restaurant with group and family diners

Here’s the dining room. You can’t see it in the photo, but there are more seats inside. There were group diners too. And lots of older guests and families~ (we were the youngest among the young people). All kinds of age groups!! That passes Sumalpik’s good-restaurant test.

The side dishes are set out. Those bean sprouts were so, so, sooooo good! I went back for heaping portions about twice more... The other side dishes were clean and tasty too, haha LOL.

Ordering cauldron galbi kimchi jjigae

Here’s the menu. We ordered ✔️ cauldron galbi kimchi jjigae (kimchi stew with beef short ribs) for two (₩15,000)~~~

Here comes the cauldron-cooked rice 🤍 It was nicely fluffy and the rice was excellent, haha. There was more than a regular bowl of rice too, so we ate plenty.

You can pour in hot water and eat nurungji (crispy scorched rice)! I scraped my rice pot totally clean (it came off easily), so I skipped it~! But the seal poured kimchi-stew broth into theirs LOL and soaked it to eat, haha.

Kimchi stew simmered with whole ribs and kimchi

Here comes the kimchi stew! As expected, it comes in a cauldron too 👍 It doesn’t feel like a hot pot, and there was quite a generous amount of broth, so it looked perfect for adding ramen noodles 🤓 There was plenty of kimchi too. It seemed like there was at least one big whole head of kimchi in there. Rather than murky, the broth was clean! Pleasantly spicy!

You can get more side dishes at the self-service bar. 🐶Pro tip!!!! There’s tofu at the self-service bar!!!! Seriously the bestㅠㅠㅠㅠ

We plopped in a generous amount. The tofu was nicely soft and soaked up the broth well. Let it bubble away~~

After the wait, finally, charge!! Haha. Look at those ribs 😇 There are big, meaty whole ribs in there! Haha, you know the part around the bone is the best, right~? We snipped them up and let them simmer well. The seal isn’t very good with aged kimchi, so we cooked it a little longer.

After simmering the meat well, it was tender, soft, and delicious too, hahaha. It doesn’t have the springiness of pork neck, but the soft meat suited the stew nicely!

The kimchi was full of tang and so deliciousㅠㅠㅠㅠ It was well-fermented but not tough, still crisp, and an amazing match with the meat 🙌 Rice + kimchi stew is an unbeatable combo. Next time I come with friends, I want to try the rolled omelet too, haha.

We added ramen noodles and finished up properly~~~ I’d wanted a home-style Korean mealㅠㅠ and found a new good restaurant~ Next time, I need to try the samgyeopsal (pork belly)!!!