Korea: BongChu Jjimdak

Back in September, Abby's boyfriend UK had a business trip planned to Singapore.  He took advantage of the chance and added a trip to South Korea to see his family.  He invited Abby to go with him and like the busybodies we are, CK, Jiejie, and I decided to invite ourselves along.

I told my co-workers that we were going to be checking out the future in-laws, but in truth, we just wanted an excuse to go on vacation.  In the end, we only really overlapped with Abby and UK for two days.  We spent a couple days in Seoul before they arrived, met up with them when they did, and then ditched them for Tokyo.

We arrived in Seoul around noon.  After checking into our Airbnb, we set out for some shopping and of course, food.  While CK met up with her cousin for dinner in Myeongdong, Jiejie took me to BongChu:

I was pretty excited because I'd heard of BongChu before, but because the closest one is in Los Angeles, I'd never been.

Since it was early, the place was pretty much empty:

That or BongChu isn't as popular in Korea as they used to be.  What do I know?

All I know is that there's only one thing to order at BongChu and that's their jjimdak or braised chicken.  There are three choices: small, medium, and large.  The two of us split a small (₩22,000 or around $18.69):

I'd never had jjimdak before, but I was a bit surprised by how familiar it tasted.  The flavors reminded me of a similar dish that my mom makes, just slightly sweeter and with a spicy kick.  The chicken came on a bed of glass noodles with onions and potatoes, all soaking up this wonderful sauce.  The sauce was so good, I didn't even need the chicken.  I could've just eaten rice with that sauce and been perfectly content.

I'm so glad there's a BongChu in California.  Now if only they would open a branch in the Bay...


봉추찜닭
서울특별시 중구 충무로1가 25-8 2층
02-3789-9381
http://www.bongchu.co.kr/