16.358 Jeonguk Odae Jjambbong: The Bokseongru

Cycle 16 – Item 358

POST 5,837

29 (Mon) December 2025

Jjambbong

3.5

at Bokseongru

-Miwon, Gunsan, Jeollabuk, Republic of Korea-

with the Family

Winter Holiday Roadtrip 2025, Day 4 of 4

In lieu of an overseas destination for our annual winter trip, we’re staying local.  Gongju + Buyeo + Gunsan.  For me, it’s all about jjambbong.  W’s motives are historical.

LUNCH

TEJOJ (Try Every Jeonguk Odae Jjambbong)

The original plan had been to eat at Bokseongru on Saturday as our first meal in town, but I discovered too late that they close at 4pm.  And they don’t open on Sundays.  So, our last opportunity was lunch on Monday before heading back home.

Arriving at 11:20, the queue was already 25 pax long.

Bokseongru is a Korean-Chinese restaurant.  Famous for jjambbong – one of the “Big Five.”  Founded “over 50 years ago” (according to the guy behind the counter).

Located 199 km from home – the farthest that I’ve ever driven for a meal, beating out Donghaewon by 70 km.

Jeonguk Odae Jjambbong [listed in order of distance from home]:

  1. Yeongbinru (Pyeongtaek) (50 km)
  2. Donghaewon (Gongju) (130 km)
  3. Bokseongru (Gunsan) (200 km)
  4. Gyodong Banjeom (Gangneung) (200 km)
  5. Jinheung Banjeom (Daegu) (280 km)

Having covered Yeongbinru earlier this year, and Donghaewon and Bokseongru on this trip, Gyodong Banjeom and Jinheung Banjeom remain.

Similar to Donghaewon, the menu is limited to a handful of items.  In fact, we were informed that the rice dishes and japchae were sold out, so our options were limited to 3 dishes: jjajang myeon, mul jjajang, jjambbong.

8 tables.

We were seated at 12:00, wait time of 40 minutes.

1 counter.

The jjambbong is graded on GMTD’s 4-point scale, applied to the dish’s 3 primary components.  The final score is the average of the 3 subscores.

BROTH.  Rich in taste, oily in texture.  Subscore: 3.0

NOODLES.  Pleasantly thick.  Al dente.  Subscore: 3.5

TOPPINGS.  Loads of pork and seafood, including shrimp + squid + mussels + clams.  Subscore: 4.0

CONCLUSION.  The first jjambbong in the series that at least looked like some effort had been put into the preparation.  Worth the travel/cost/wait: not really.  Final score: 3.5.

So far, TEJOJ has been overwhelmingly disappointing.  Even worse with the wait times.  I will look forward to trying the remaining 2 restaurants in the Big Five, but I have zero expectation that they’ll be any better.

I ate the least (far right), while W ate the most (bottom).
As we were leaving, a bowl of mul jjajang was served at an adjacent table; the customer allowed me to take a photo – it didn’t look that good.

(See RESTAURANTS IN KOREA)

(See GLOBAL FOOD GLOSSARY)

(See HANSIK)

(See BOOZE)

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