Itaewon breakfast gamjatang, served 24/7: Nuri Maeul Gamjatang

One minute on foot from Exit 4 of Itaewon Station, and open 24 hours so there's zero time pressure! This is Nuri Maeul Gamjatang Itaewon Branch. We were out for a meal anyway, and this place is known as an Itaewon gamjatang (pork bone stew) hotspot!!!!

The moment we woke up, my husband and I yelled "isn't today a gamjatang kind of day?" and rushed out with just our hats on!!! 24-hour gamjatang spot, Nuri Maeul Gamjatang~

A 24-hour gamjatang restaurant 29m from Itaewon Station Exit 4

Nuri Maeul Gamjatang Itaewon Branch

It's at 176 Itaewon-ro, 2nd floor, Yongsan-gu, Seoul, 29m from Itaewon Station Exit 4. Open 24 hours, every day of the year, with group seating, takeout, and reservations available, plus a self-serve side dish bar.

The sign was huge right from the building entrance so it wasn't hard to find! The moment I opened the door, that unmistakable gamjatang smell hit me haha. I was SO hungry that early.

It's on the 2nd floor so we headed straight up.

The weather wasn't hot at all, with a nice cool breeze, so it was perfect timing!! The owner had the door wide open too haha. Even at breakfast time, the place was packed!! It seemed like some folks were still going strong on round 5 or 6 from last night since it was a Saturday haha... wow, their stamina... impressive.

Tables were spaced generously so it didn't feel cramped, and even though it's on the 2nd floor, it's along the main Itaewon-ro street so the natural light was great!!!! Being open 24 hours seems like the biggest advantage — you can go anytime without worry ⭐️

Small Nuri gamjatang with sujebi noodles and soybean cream

These days gamjatang restaurants have such a wide variety of options! There's aged kimchi gamjatang, basic gamjatang, spicy gamjatang, and even mala gamjatang haha. So many curious menu items!!!!

What's on the menu at Nuri Maeul Gamjatang

• Nuri gamjatang (small) ₩34,000
• Added sujebi noodles ₩3,000
• Added soybean cream ₩5,000
• Total ₩42,000

It was just the right amount for two people to eat 😉

Self-serve side dishes and the spicy green peppers

Being able to refill as much as we needed from the self-serve bar was convenient!! There were plenty of side dish varieties and they tasted clean overall. There was spicy pepper, geotjeori (fresh cabbage kimchi), kkakdugi (radish kimchi), and pickled onions haha.

The geotjeori wasn't over-fermented so it tasted fresh and delicious haha. The seasoning was generous, making it great to eat alongside the gamjatang.

The kkakdugi was just slightly underripe but tasty! I wondered if the pepper was really that spicy so I took a small bite — it was seriously, insanely spicy haha. Too scared to eat it plain, so I cut a bit off with scissors and dropped it into the gamjatang!!!

Nuri gamjatang piled with dried radish greens

And here comes Nuri Maeul Gamjatang, ta-da.

It was so good that there were really generous amounts of dried radish greens! The meat on the bones came off soft and easily too. Stirring perilla leaves, green onion, and enoki mushrooms into the broth made it wonderfully clean with no gamey smell!!!!

The broth wasn't aggressively spicy but rather rich and savory, so it was easy to eat without feeling overwhelmed. Adding the sujebi noodles was a good call! The chewy texture went really well with the broth haha. They also had ramen, udon, and glass noodle add-ins, and they all looked so delicious haha.

There was a ton of meat too, so it was seriously good! Nuri Maeul Gamjatang really lived up to being a hotspot!?! Partway through, I got curious about the soybean cream add-on so I ordered it!! Stirring the nutty soybean cream into the gamjatang gave it a spicier, deeper flavor that I really liked!

You can actually order the soybean cream gamjatang from the start too! Just a heads up for anyone curious.

Is breakfast gamjatang in Itaewon worth it?

It was a gamjatang that was tasty without being overly intense — clean and satisfying! This seems like a place I'd come back to for a filling meal whenever I'm in Itaewon.