Gwangju Chinese restaurant Sunday family lunch, free rice refills

I heard a new Chinese restaurant had opened in Cheomdan, Gwangju, so I wanted to introduce Mayway. There aren't many places in Gwangju that serve stone-griddle jjajang, so when I found one nearby, I had to check it out.

I visited on a Sunday and the place was packed with customers. Curious, I went straight in with my family.

Mayway's hours and parking

Mayway, a go-to spot for jjamppong (spicy seafood noodle soup) in Cheomdan, Wolgye-dong, Gwangju, is open daily from 11:00 to 22:00. Being open every day for both lunch and dinner is a big plus — you can drop in whenever the craving hits.

There's no dedicated parking lot, so it seems the options are parking in the surrounding alleys or using the Lotte Mart parking lot, maybe combined with a bit of grocery shopping.

Mayway, a popular spot with waits in Cheomdan, also takes reservations — just call the restaurant directly.

Scallion kimchi at the self-serve bar, unlimited rice

The self-serve bar had pickled radish and macaroni salad, plus, unusually, scallion kimchi, along with basic utensils.

Mayway, also known for soju and beer, offers unlimited rice refills, which is great for mixing into leftover jjamppong or jjajang.

Complimentary sweet potato fritters

These sweet potato fritters come free with the meal — the sweet potato is sliced thin and fried until crisp, and honestly they're a real treat. Ordering extra costs around ₩3,000.

I ordered stone jjajang, fried rice, and tangsuyuk (half order). Being able to order a half portion made it easy to pick multiple dishes without overdoing it.

How the stone jjajang arrives

When you order stone jjajang, they set the hot stone plate on the table like this first.

Mayway's stone jjajang, a favorite for jjamppong and hangover cures in Gwangju, arrived. A staff member carefully spooned the jjajang onto the stone plate.

A fried egg sits on top as the essential finishing touch, along with various vegetables and a bit of seafood mixed in. The generous fillings gave the jjajang a really satisfying texture, and the finely chopped hot peppers added a nice kick of spice.

Thin noodles coated in delicious jjajang sauce, sitting on a hot stone plate — what a treat. I think the biggest advantage of stone jjajang is that it stays warm even as time passes.

Eating the egg together with the jjajang noodles is honey-level delicious. The portion seemed just right for sharing between 2 to 3 people.

Thanks to the stone plate, I could eat it warm all the way to the end of the meal.

Thick sirloin tangsuyuk, half order

Next up was the main dish, tangsuyuk (sweet and sour pork). They also run an event where a plate of tangsuyuk is only ₩1,000 if you order two glasses of draft beer — I would've loved to try that if I hadn't been driving.

It came topped with cabbage, served the classic dip-style way by default. The tangsuyuk is made with thick-cut sirloin, and despite the thickness, the meat was remarkably tender — not sure how they fried it just right. I'd definitely recommend the tangsuyuk at Mayway, a well-known Chinese restaurant in Gwangju.

Mixing leftover stone jjajang with fried rice

This fried rice was ordered specifically to mix with the leftover stone jjajang. It also came with a fried egg and jjajang sauce.

They also gave us some jjamppong broth.

Mixing leftover stone jjajang into fried rice is basically the fundamentals, you know? Even though we were already full, we finished off the entire stone jjajang fried rice.

A nice touch — they gave us ice cream after the meal.

This time I visited Mayway, a lunch and dinner favorite among office workers in Cheomdan, Gwangju, and I'd recommend it to anyone looking for a Chinese restaurant in Cheomdan or for stone jjajang in Gwangju.