Yesan chicken restaurant with torched cheese: Sijang Dakbokkeum

Arriving at Yesan Market and finding Sijang Dakbokkeum

We had plans in Chungnam, so my family and I stopped by Yesan on the way to our destination. It felt like it was practically my first time visiting Yesan?! There was so much to see and eat, and our fun Yesan day trip with the family began at Sijang Dakbokkeum (시장닭볶음) 😋🍴

Free parking: done at Yesan Market Parking Lot 🫡 The spaces were roomy, so parking was easy. Come in through Gate 4 at Yesan Market Square.

Keep going straight down this alley,

and we spotted the standing sign for shishito pepper chicken stir-fry!! We had arrived at Sijang Dakbokkeum 🤗

Ta-da, the retro sign was so charming hahaha. Yesan Market was also full of that cozy feeling of the market alleys I used to visit with my mom as a child.

Retro atmosphere and shishito pepper chicken stir-fry

Sijang Dakbokkeum reportedly received an “Excellent” rating in the restaurant hygiene grading system too!! 👍🏻 I love places like this that you can eat at with confidence. You can’t talk about Yesan Market without mentioning CEO Baek Jong-won, and Sijang Dakbokkeum is also said to be a popular spot born from his touch! The dish is made with a recipe he developed himself and heaps of fresh Yesan shishito peppers 🙌🏻🙌🏻

We headed into the interior, where the retro concept had been recreated down to every detail, and ordered!

The one-and-only menu item, shishito pepper chicken stir-fry, is for 2–3 people! So we got the shishito pepper chicken stir-fry (₩25,000) and added cheese, shishito peppers, and quail eggs (₩2,000 each) 💕 Almost all the ingredients were domestically sourced too!

Adding cheese created absolute chaos ✨✨ It was finished with a waterfall of cheese and torch-fired flavor!!!

The chicken stir-fry was ready on a tray, along with those nostalgic little side plates from snack shops!

A bite with extra cheese and shishito peppers

It was so delicious 🫠🫠🫠💛💛💛 The subtly spicy shishito peppers were the perfect kick! The sauce was neither overly salty nor sweet, and it was not too spicy, so we weren’t thirsty or left with a coated mouth afterward. (It might be a little spicy for kids, though..!) Adding quail eggs was a genius move too 🥚 It had a hint of soy sauce jjimdak (Korean braised chicken), yet the stir-fried flavor was clearly different from jjimdak. The chicken was tender and chewy too! I didn’t know Yesan was famous for shishito peppers, but their heat really spread gently through the mouth while their signature crisp texture stayed intact 🫠 With the tasty chicken-stir-fry sauce on top, I could have eaten this forever 💛

No, seriously—if you pull apart the chicken, shishito pepper, and overflowing cheese waterfall, then eat all three layers in one bite, it is heaven ✨ I kept regretting only adding shishito peppers once ㅠㅠㅠ Next time, I’m adding them three times. Seriously, trust me and add lots and lots of shishito peppers 🙏🏻

Can you see that cheese stretch 🤤🤤🤤 It never turned hard even by the time we finished; it stayed soft and pulled beautifully, so it was delicious until the very end.

No matter how much we ate, the portion barely seemed to shrink, so it was so generous that we eventually had to ask to pack up the leftovers ㅠㅠ It was the best 👍🏻

Apple ade and takeout

The squeezed apple ade we received for writing a review 🍎 Yesan is famous for apples, which is probably why they gave us apple ade. Drinking it alongside the meal cleared away the spice, and it was a perfect match with the chicken stir-fry 👏🏻👏🏻

Sijang Dakbokkeum at Yesan Market: delicious food and so clean!

Hahaha, we found a Sijang Dakbokkeum flyer while looking around the market. Even the flyer on the wall somehow felt nice to see, so snap 📸 If you’re planning to stop by Yesan Market in Chungnam, definitely try Sijang Dakbokkeum! I totally recommend it 👍🏻👍🏻