Mild vs fried dakgangjeong half-and-half, large ₩30,000: Mannyeon

There's really such a wide variety of food in Jeonju Hanok Village. As someone who buys and eats fried chicken with my own money at least 10 times a month, whenever I travel somewhere I always make a point of trying the local dakgangjeong or chicken shop. This time in Jeonju, I visited the most famous dakgangjeong place around — Mannyeon Dakgangjeong.

To cut straight to the conclusion: I'm very confident this belongs in the top 5 dakgangjeong shops in Korea.

Location and hours of Mannyeon Dakgangjeong Hanok Village Direct Store

Mannyeon Dakgangjeong's Hanok Village branch sits right in the middle of Jeonju Hanok Village, so it's very easy to get to. There's usually a wait on weekends, so if you're planning to get takeout, I'd recommend calling ahead.

• Address: 27 Taejo-ro, 1st floor, Wansan-gu, Jeonju-si, Jeonbuk State, South Korea
• Hours: Weekdays 11:00–21:00 / Weekends 10:00–22:00

It's open until 9pm on weekdays and until 10pm on weekends, which is good to know.

At first I wondered, why is there dakgangjeong in Jeonju Hanok Village? But then I realized dakgangjeong can really be called a distinctly Korean food. Once I thought of it that way, Mannyeon Dakgangjeong sitting in the Hanok Village suddenly felt completely natural.

Menu and flavor choices — how spicy is spicy?

Here's Mannyeon Dakgangjeong's menu. Dakgangjeong comes in mild, soy, and spicy flavors, and there's also plain fried chicken. Half-and-half orders are possible, so I went with that. They also sell shrimp gangjeong separately, but since this was my first visit, I wanted to focus on the dakgangjeong itself, so I went with mild dakgangjeong / fried chicken half-and-half.

When I asked about the spice level, they said the spicy version is a bit spicier than Yeolramyeon, so as a spice wimp I chose mild without hesitation.

Review event and Jeonju moju

If you leave a Naver review right now, they give you a chicken toy as a gift. If you're buying, make sure to join the event and get one! And in one corner of the store, they were also selling Jeonju moju (a traditional rice-based drink).

Gyodong jjondegi, ₩4,000

What surprised me a bit was that alongside the dakgangjeong, they also sell Gyodong jjondegi (a chewy snack), something kids and adults can enjoy together! And I was shocked that it only cost 4,000 won. For a tourist area, that seems like a very fair price. I once paid 7,000 won for jjondegi in Seoul... thinking back on that, this place feels really honest.

They'd also kindly prepared an English menu so foreign tourists could order comfortably. And I heard dakgangjeong tastes even better once it cools down, and doesn't smell greasy even when cold — so I tested it myself, and honestly, there was no smell at all.

Half-and-half dakgangjeong, large, ₩30,000 — how much food is that?

Half-and-half dakgangjeong, large: 30,000 won. You can choose medium or large size, and since I ordered half-and-half, I went with the large. Thirty thousand won for a large size might sound expensive, but as you can see in the photos, the portion is massive, to the point where it actually felt cheap. Comparing it to the portions from Man0 Dakgangjeong and Jung0 Dakgangjeong that I recently ate, this is about 1.6 times bigger.

I snapped a photo the moment the mild and fried versions finished cooking, and just from taking the picture, before even tasting it, I could tell this was going to be delicious dakgangjeong. It was tossed beautifully, and the fried chicken looked perfectly cooked just from the visuals.

Taking it home — stays crispy even after cooling

Here's what the takeout dakgangjeong looked like. The packaging had a certain charm to it that suited my taste. Weirdly enough, for dakgangjeong, I think this kind of traditional mood works so much better than any fancy gimmicks.

When I got home and opened the lid, the coating had stayed just as crispy as right after cooking, with barely any difference, and there was no greasy smell at all.

They must manage the oil carefully and use good quality raw chicken. Mannyeon Dakgangjeong's Hanok Village branch especially seemed to manage everything really well. The staff cooking the dakgangjeong were also working really hard, and I think that's why the tossing was so perfectly done.

The fried chicken

I took my first bite of the fried chicken, and it was exactly the style I've been loving lately. The seasoning was neither too weak nor too strong, the coating was crispy, and combined with the soft boneless thigh meat, it was a perfect piece of fried chicken. The seasoning in particular was so well done that even eaten plain, without any extra sauce, it went endlessly well with beer.

The mild dakgangjeong sauce

The dakgangjeong sauce wasn't overdone either — the sweetness and a hint of spice went perfectly with the plump thigh meat inside, and I really enjoyed it. Personally, this sauce was genuinely delicious and the thigh meat was so tender that I loved it. It was among the best dakgangjeong I've had recently. I'm not exaggerating, so I'd confidently recommend you try it yourself.

If you're looking for good restaurants in Jeonju Hanok Village, or great food anywhere in Jeonju, make sure to try the dakgangjeong at Mannyeon Dakgangjeong Hanok Village Direct Store!