Cheese jjimdak too big for two in Hongdae, Seoul: Ongdarae Jjimdak

Where is Ongdarae Jjimdak Hongdae?

Ongdarae Jjimdak Hongdae is a jjimdak (braised chicken) restaurant at 122 Yanghwa-ro, Mapo-gu, Seoul, near Hongik University Station, open daily from 11am to 11pm. The menu includes jjimdak, cheese jjimdak, and more.

I wanted to eat a solid dinner before heading off to a hobby activity, so I was looking around near Hongik University Station for something to eat and ended up at Ongdarae Jjimdak! These days there are so many options around Hongdae that I always end up agonizing over the choice, but for some reason that day I was craving something you eat properly with rice haha. So it had been a while, and I decided on jjimdak.

The restaurant wasn't hard to find from Hongik University Station, and you could tell right away from the outside that it was a jjimdak place, so I found it quickly. I visited during dinner time, and the inside was bigger than I expected — I liked that the tables weren't crammed together.

How to order cheese jjimdak with a crispy rice add-on

At Ongdarae Jjimdak you can order right at your table while looking at the menu, and there were more types of jjimdak than I expected. After some thought, we went with the cheese jjimdak! And here we made one more very important decision: adding crispy rice.

At the time I just thought, "crispy rice would probably taste good~" and added it, but to cut to the chase, it was absolutely the right call hahaha.

While we waited after ordering, the basic side dishes and salad came out first. The corn in the salad wasn't the usual plain, crunchy kind — it was big and sweet, like it had been picked kernel by kernel from steamed corn. Seriously good.

What the cheese jjimdak looks like, and how the crispy rice tastes

Ongdarae Jjimdak's cheese jjimdak is, first of all, piled with so much cheese that you can't help but take a photo the moment it arrives. Cheese blankets the chicken and sauce, and hidden underneath it is the crispy rice I added.

Yum~!

This is the crispy rice — the parts that soaked up the jjimdak sauce turn slightly moist, while the parts that stay crunchy are nutty and savory, so the texture really changes as you eat. Eating the crispy rice alongside the jjimdak, rather than just the jjimdak alone, gave it more bite and made the whole meal a lot more fun. Personally, adding crispy rice was the real genius move of the day — even more than adding extra cheese...!

Is one cheese jjimdak enough for two people?

We ate hard as a pair, but Ongdarae Jjimdak's cheese jjimdak came with big chunks of chicken, so the portion turned out to be more than expected. The cheese wasn't just a light layer on top at the start either — it kept coming, stretching endlessly as you ate, so cheese lovers in particular will love it. Picking up chicken with sauce together with the cheese, and every so often adding in a bite of crispy rice, made for a really good combination.

Even though we thought we'd eaten a lot, almost half was left over between the two of us haha. Comparing it to a hand, the pan it came out in was actually pretty huge. We were full, but it felt too wasteful to leave it, so we ended up packing it to go.

Luckily the leftovers could be packed up, so we brought them home neatly. We went out for dinner and ended up securing our next meal too haha. If you like dishes with generous portions, I think you'll be satisfied here.

The self-serve dessert corner on the way out

Off to one side of Ongdarae Jjimdak there was a dessert corner too, and on my way out I noticed they had homemade scones and other simple items ready to go. I thought the meal was just going to be the main dish, so this little dessert touch stuck with me.

Is Ongdarae Jjimdak Hongdae worth a visit?

If you're craving jjimdak but want to try something a little different from the usual — like cheese or crispy rice — this was a restaurant near Hongik University Station worth a visit. Personally, if I go back next time, I'll add crispy rice again without a second thought haha. The portion was generous enough that the two of us ate our fill and still had leftovers to pack — a satisfying dinner! If you're looking for a place to eat a solid meal with friends in Hongdae, give Ongdarae Jjimdak a try :)