Daejeon seafood restaurant with cheese clams: Widaehan Jogae Jeongol

After waiting 3 hours to buy bread at Seongsimdang Bakery, I headed to Widaehan Jogae Jeongol, a popular spot in Yongun-dong, as part of my Daejeon trip. 🐚

Widaehan Jogae Jeongol for lunch in Dong-gu, Daejeon

I found this place while looking for good restaurants in Dong-gu, Daejeon, and I had high expectations after hearing it was also popular for kalguksu (knife-cut noodle soup) and lunch.

The tank of fresh clams right by the entrance immediately caught my eye. Seeing it full of live clams in person made me even more excited for the meal.

Fresh ingredients are especially important for jogae jeongol (clam hot pot), so being able to see the lively clams right in front of me made it feel even more trustworthy.

One side of the restaurant was covered in celebrity signatures, which made it clear that plenty of people had visited this well-known spot. 😊 It was fun looking over the signatures while waiting for the food.

Without any hesitation, we ordered the ₩45,000 clam hot pot. 🐚

When we walked in, the spacious, clean atmosphere made it a comfortable place to eat.

A huge pot filled to the brim with clam hot pot

A little later, I was startled when a huge pot arrived at the table. It was packed with clams, and the visual alone was amazing. It looked so generous that I wondered, “Can we finish all of this?” 😄

The plump, fresh color of the clams immediately drew my attention. They looked as if they had just come out of the tank, glistening away and making my mouth water just looking at them. 🤪

The bundeigi (silkworm pupae) served as a side dish brought back memories of foods I ate as a child. 😊 It had been a while, so it felt oddly welcome and nostalgic. Picking at them one by one while waiting for the clam hot pot was fun, too.

They even included crisp, chewy fried squid spring rolls as a side dish, and I really understood why people say Chungcheong-do is so generous. 😊

As it bubbled away, the clams began opening one by one. Their clean, briny flavor seeped into the broth, and the smell grew more delicious by the minute. It was also fun fishing out and eating the clams one at a time.

More than anything, I loved how fresh everything was. The abalone and squid were plump and springy, and each bite brought out that refreshing taste of the sea. The broth was clean and bright too, so I kept reaching for another spoonful.

The cool, deep broth drawn from the clams also had chewy fish cakes in it, making it fun to pick out different bites. The clam broth and savory fish cakes worked so well together that I kept scooping up the soup.

What clam hot pot tastes like with cheese

The most surprising thing was the cheese! Cheese with clam hot pot? At first I wondered whether they could possibly go together, but once I tried it with the clams, they worked unexpectedly well. 🧀🦪

The salty, nutty cheese paired with the mild flavor of the fresh clams for a unique treat. I had no idea clams and cheese could work this well together.

Fresh clam meat with rich, soft cheese was an unexpectedly perfect combination. 🐚🧀 The stretchy cheese was fun to watch, too. Pulling apart those long strands of cheese and eating them with the clams was such a treat. 🐚🧀

The scallops, mussels, and pen shells were all nutty and mild, with absolutely no fishiness, so I could really taste the shellfish themselves. 😋

Kalguksu cooked in the leftover clam broth

Once you have eaten a good amount of the clams, it is time for another specialty here: kalguksu.

After finishing the clams, we added kalguksu noodles to the remaining refreshing broth and cooked them. With the deep, clean flavor drawn from the clams and chewy noodles, it was just perfect for lunch.

Adding spicy kimchi really woke up my appetite. A bite of kalguksu followed by a piece of kimchi was totally addictive 😍 They apparently make the kimchi themselves, and perhaps that is why it was crisp, naturally seasoned, and so delicious.

Looking around the restaurant, I heard that the owner is a chef with a certificate related to a master of jang-making, or traditional fermented sauces. That explained why I could feel such care in every dish, from the house-made kimchi onward.

People often say, “Chungcheong-do is generous.” But after coming here and experiencing it myself, I realized that saying did not come from nowhere. From the abundant spread of food to the warm generosity, it was such a pleasant meal. I would recommend it to anyone looking for kalguksu or lunch in Dong-gu, Daejeon.