No-wait weekday lunch at Yesan Market chicken stir-fry spot: Sijang

It had been a while since I got out for some fresh air, so I headed to Yesan Market. Eating what I'd been craving and browsing around was such a nice time. Best of all, it's not too far from Cheongju, so it's a great option for a day trip 🚗

The main dish on the menu that day was Sijang Dakbokkeum's chicken stir-fry, loaded with shishito peppers. Since it's soy sauce based, it's a great dish to share with kids too. I ordered it boneless, which made it easy to eat without picking around bones, and adding cheese meant they piled it on generously — pure indulgence 👍

Where is Sijang Dakbokkeum and what are its hours?

• Address: 충남 예산군 예산읍 예산시장길 2 174호 (2 Yesansijang-gil, Yesan-eup, Yesan-gun, Chungcheongnam-do, South Korea)
• Hours: Daily 11:00–20:30
• Parking available

Yesan Market on a weekday: no wait, easy free parking

Yesan Market is one of the classic stops visitors combine with a trip to Splash Resom. It used to be so busy you'd have to line up to eat, but these days weekdays are pretty quiet, so I was able to eat without any wait. There's a big free parking lot in front of the market, so you can park easily and just walk in.

In the market plaza there are plenty of tables where you can grill meat or eat food you've ordered. The weather had cooled off, so it was comfortable even without a fan running.

Walk past the plaza and further inside, and you'll spot Sijang Dakbokkeum. It opens at 11 every day with no closed days 🔥 Thanks to that, I could head over on a weekday without worrying whether it'd be closed.

One dish only: shishito pepper dakbokkeum, ordered at the kiosk

Sijang Dakbokkeum has just one menu item: shishito pepper dakbokkeum for ₩25,000. The sign said it's spicy in a delicious way, but honestly there's not much heat, so I thought it'd be perfect to share with the whole family. You order through the kiosk, leave your phone number, and you'll get a KakaoTalk alert when your food is ready to pick up. You can eat in the plaza or take it to go, whichever works. If you've got a room booked nearby at Splash Resom, takeout would be a great option too.

They're running an event where leaving a receipt review gets you a free apple sparkling drink 🔥 We joined in and got an apple ade, sweet and perfect as dessert. There are also tables set up in front of the restaurant itself, not just in the market plaza. We liked the plaza vibe more, so we ate there.

For rice or alcohol, you can get those from the nearby "grill-pan lending shop."

Market noodles instead of rice, ready in 15 minutes

We decided to try noodles instead of rice 👀 We'd come all this way, so we had to try everything! It took about 15 minutes after ordering for it to be ready. You could browse the market while waiting, but we'd already done a full loop, so we sat at a table and waited for the KakaoTalk alert before going to pick it up. The moment the alert came in, we hurried right over. Carrying it back, the sweet-salty sauce smell hit us right away.

Is the 3,000 won cheese add-on worth it?

Adding cheese is basically an act of love (+₩3,000). There are other toppings available, but personally I think cheese is the best pick. It comes piled thick and gooey on top, pure indulgence, and torching it made it even richer and nuttier.

How does the boneless soy sauce dakbokkeum taste?

Since it's a soy sauce based dakbokkeum, it was salty and sweet with a strong shishito pepper aroma, so it wasn't greasy at all. I went back and forth between bone-in and boneless before picking boneless, and I was glad I did since there was no bone-picking hassle. If eating it at a hotel room, bone-in might be nice too. (From what I've seen in other posts, most people take the bone-in version home, so it tends to sell out faster.)

The shishito peppers in the dakbokkeum taste even better eaten together with the onions — a real find in Yesan Market. Maybe because shishito peppers aren't very spicy, there was basically no heat in the dish, so even my spice-shy husband ate it all up happily 🤤

The chicken was tender, which suited our taste even more. There was even rice cake in it, which was a nice bonus 👍 The portion was generous enough that just the two of us ate ourselves stuffed at Sijang Dakbokkeum.

A great find in Yesan Market where you can eat a really generous meal. It's perfect for when you're visiting Yesan and can't decide what to eat. Big portions, no closed days, easy parking 👍 Once you're done, there are also desserts like castella, donuts, and apple pie to round things off, so make sure to stop by.