Ulsan Korean restaurant for yukhoe bibimbap: Boksan Haejang

We visited Boksan Haejang Nam-gu Sinjeong Branch (복산해장 남구신정점) so my partner could recover from drinks the night before.

Boksan Haejang Nam-gu Sinjeong Branch: location and parking

Boksan Haejang Nam-gu Sinjeong Branch

It is near Gong-eop Tap and Ulsan Grand Park. Parking is surprisingly hard to find in this neighborhood, so I loved that there was space to park right in front of the restaurant.

Boksan Haejang is open only for lunch, from 11:00 to 14:30. Remote waitlisting is available through Tabling, so if you are going during the lunch rush, be sure to check the app before visiting :D

Restaurant atmosphere and facilities

Clean wood interior

I arrived right when they opened on Saturday, so there were plenty of seats, but I imagine it gets busy at weekday lunch. The tables were fairly close together.

I peeked into the open kitchen, and it was incredibly clean. Anyone who lies to customers is a bad bastard, haha.

The restroom is indoors, and there is also a high chair 👶🏻

Ordering Boksan hangover soup and yukhoe bibimbap

My partner ordered Boksan hangover soup, while yukhoe (Korean beef tartare) lover me ordered the large yukhoe bibimbap. Along with their signature hangover soup and yukhoe bibimbap, they have a nice variety of dishes, including kalguksu (knife-cut noodle soup), yukhoe mulhoe (cold raw-beef soup), and spicy pork bulgogi. Keep in mind that mungtigi (thick-cut raw beef) is sold only on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Fridays.

Boksan Haejang uses its own direct-trade system to offer fresh meat in generous portions at reasonable prices. I had their Boksan pork cutlet and it was really delicious, so I was already excited before eating 🤤 TMI: it is top-tier pork cutlet in Ulsan by my standards.

Not only the meat, but ingredients such as rice and chili powder are 100% Korean-grown too 👍🏻

Each table has salt, pepper, sansho pepper, and perilla seed powder, so you can add them to taste. The banchan (side dishes) were simple: kkakdugi cubed radish kimchi, pickled onions, and seasoned shredded radish.

Nice touch with the hair ties~

Our food arrived just five minutes after ordering.

The Boksan hangover soup comes with rice, while the yukhoe bibimbap comes with a small bowl of soup and gochujang. (The rice is underneath.) I liked how everything arrived neatly arranged as a complete table setting.

Clear yet spicy Boksan hangover soup

The Boksan hangover soup arrived bubbling away in a ttukbaegi (earthenware pot), looking so appetizing. Although the broth was red, it was not overly spicy or harsh—just a clear yet pleasantly spicy beef hangover soup. It was packed with big pieces of beef, radish, bean sprouts, and more, so my partner was very happy with it.

A generously portioned large yukhoe bibimbap

This is the large yukhoe bibimbap I ordered. You cannot see it because the rice is underneath, but the portion is sooo huge, haha. Maybe about 1.5 to 2 bowls of rice...? And it was not just the rice that was plentiful—there was lots of yukhoe too! The little soup felt similar to, yet different from, the hangover soup. The broth base seemed the same, but without bean sprouts and radish, it was a little less clear and more strongly seasoned.

You can tell from the photo how good that yukhoe color looks, right? It was a simple combination of yukhoe, egg yolk, lettuce, and seaweed, but the beef itself was so fresh that it was absolutely delicious 🤤

It was delicious as is, but adding just a little gochujang halfway through gave it a different feel for round two.

Proof that I finished the bowl..✌🏻 (Actually, it was so much that I shared a third with my partner, haha.) I recommend Boksan Haejang Nam-gu Sinjeong Branch to anyone looking for a hearty Korean meal near Ulsan’s Gong-eop Tap or Ulsan Grand Park 🍀