It seems that as South Korean popular culture is becoming bigger, people are also looking more into the cuisine and food trends that rise. Already amongst certain groups, snacks like honey-butter flavoured potato chips and sugar-crusted flavoured almonds have seen cult followings, and similarly is the case with the recent 2020 trends of the Parasite movie-inspired ramdon, and fluffy “reverse latte” dalgona coffee. People are paying attention to South Korea for food, and for good reason – this trendsetting population loves their eats, and their absolute obsession with food shows in every facet of their popular culture.

Tourists go to South Korea for tastes of the food right at its origin, often starting in the capital of Seoul and making trips south to Busan, known as a foody paradise, and Jeju for its hallabong mandarin oranges (한라봉) and its rich black pork barbecue. Jeonju is now also the third most visited city in South Korea, famous for its history, culture – and its status as a UNESCO Creative City of Gastronomy. While you can find all of your typical Korean specialties in this city, it’s also home to some unique dishes of its own, so we aimed to give as many a go as we could.

Ujok Tang Cow’s Hoof Soup (우족탕)

Cow’s hoof is uncommon in western dishes, but is often used in Asian, African, and Caribbean cuisine to make use of every part of an animal. Though it contains very little muscle meat, it is highly nutritious and high in protein, thanks to the connective tissue present in the form of tendons and cartilage. When cooked for long periods of time, especially in a soup, these connective tissues contribute to a rich texture. The marrow also contributes many minerals such as calcium and magnesium, as well as a deep flavour.

Ujok tang (우족탕), or cow’s hoof soup, can be found in a few cities around South Korea including in Seoul, and in Jeonju it is a particularly common dish with a couple of restaurants in the city offering this unique fare.

MoRaeNae Ujok Tang (모래내우족탕)

We found a restaurant specialising in this dish just a few minutes’ walk from our accommodation in Jeonju. While we enjoy gelatinous pork trotters, we thought this was a good time to try something we didn’t know was really a thing at all. The restaurant is very traditionally Korean, where footwear is removed at the door and you are seated on mats at low tables, and it was full of Korean uncles chatting and slurping their dinners, which was a good indication we were in for a great time. The smell of meat, onions, and something roasty was strangely similar to burgers, and that made us all the more hungry.

The menu is pretty basic, and features different parts of the cow from kkori tail (꼬리) to dogani knuckles (도가니). We ordered the typical ujok tang cow’s hoof soup (우족탕) at ₩10,000 (US$8.25), and the galbi tang beef rib soup (갈비탕) at ₩9,000 (US$7.40), which came in generously-sized stone bowls as well as a huge number of side dishes including some beef cuts, which are best eaten dipped in a little bit of the salt provided.

The ujok tang is translucently milky in colour. Rather than a creamy taste, there is a rich mouthfeel and the slight sweetness from the flavour of the bones, but the soup is otherwise unseasoned. Salt is provided to season the dish to your liking. The soup is also crammed with lots of cuts of meat, from the hoofs to some meatier parts, which are difficult to identify but all delicious in different ways. Thanks to a combination of connective tissue and some meats, there is a variety of textures from soft and gelatinous to firm and chewy. With a little bit of the sour, salty kimchi to cut through the richness of the soup, this makes for a great warming dinner for cooler nights.

The galbi tang rib soup is much less unusual; the broth is not milky, but rather a typical flavourful beef broth. The meat delightfully falls apart – rather than the muscle fibres disintegrating, the connective tissue around the fibre bundles seem to have softened enough that it falls apart while retaining the familiar chewy meat texture. This is definitely the dish for the less-adventurous looking for an incredible Korean-style beef soup.

The restaurant, though small, is very popular with the older Korean folk, but the food is so delicious we would recommend it to anyone looking for something different to try in Korea. If you enjoy pork trotters, chicken feet, or tendons, then this is a great restaurant to visit for some incredible food. Though the textures may be unusual, the mild, rich flavours means it can be enjoyed by anyone who’s open to trying something new.

KongNaMul GukBap Beansprout Rice Soup (콩나물국밥)

Following the Korean war, restaurants selling cheap dishes became much more commonplace as the country worked tirelessly to rebuild itself. Kongnamul gukbap beansprout soup (콩나물국밥) is one such example of this, making use of Jeonju’s famous beansprouts that grows well thanks to the soil and water quality. These beansprouts are longer and thinner than the average variety, with a texture that holds up well in the soup. This light but filling dish, though typically eaten at breakfast, can be eaten around the clock and is often recognised as a meal to alleviate hangovers.

Jeonju Waeng-I KongNaMul GukBap (전주왱이콩나물국밥)

About ten minutes’ walk from Jeonju’s famous Hanok Village is a restaurant famous for its beansprout soup. This place is so popular that it remains open 24 hours a day, and even has an overflow restaurant right next door which is open during the peak hours after around 2pm. The menu is simple: kongnamul gukbap beansprout soup (콩나물국밥) for ₩7,000 (US$5.80). That’s it. Otherwise, you can also order alcohol and an extra side of squid.

The soup comes in a stone bowl, filled with beansprouts and topped with finely chopped kimchi, spring onions, and tiny pieces of squid. We each also got a bowl of rice, some side dishes to share, a packet of dried laver seaweed, as well as a steamed egg. The half-cooked egg is typically eaten by pouring some hot soup over to cook it a little further, or adding to the soup, but there are no rules. Eat it however you like!

The soup is very light in flavour, consisting of an anchovy-based broth that contributes to savouriness, and the slight sourness and spiciness from the kimchi which tickles the back of the throat. The beansprouts have a crisp texture, and the squid is firm but not too chewy. Because it’s low in fat, it is very easy to eat, and it’s satisfying to eat a lot of. This restaurant is one of many selling this particular dish, but if you love your soup, kongnamul gukbap is definitely for you.

Mul JjaJangMyeon (물짜장면)

In our earlier visit to Incheon, we’ve already established the significance of Chinese-Korean food in South Korea, the cheap meals being a staple food for the immigrant Chinese population. Though the dishes are completely distinct from its original Chinese counterparts, the Korean styles have several variants that likely developed from the Chinese chefs who adapted the dish to suit Korean palates.

Jeonju is known for a style of jjajangmyeon called mul jjajangmyeon (물짜장면), which translates into “water” jjajangmyeon, with jjajangmyeon being the classic black bean sauce on top of thick, chewy noodles. Jjangmyeon (짜장면) in the original Chinese zhajiangmian (炸酱面) translates to “fried sauce noodles”. With the mul “water” added to it, we figured that the sauce on top would have more liquid, more akin to a thick gravy, though still “stir-fried” in a wok rather than simply a thickened soup. This dish is often spicy, so it looks more like a drier or gravy version of a jjamppong (짬뽕) spicy seafood soup noodle than the classic jjajangmyeon black bean noodles.

JinMi BanJeom (진미반점)

This Chinese restaurant is located around ten minutes’ walk northwest of the main Hanok Village of Jeonju, and is pretty difficult to miss thanks to the ostentatious stereotypical Chinese décor of dragons wrapped around pillars and a whole lot of red. The menu consists of the typical selection of stir-friend Chinese-style dishes, sweet-and-sour dishes, and typical Chinese-Korean noodles and rice. Of course, we opted to go for the mul jjajangmyeon (물짜장면; 水炸酱面) at ₩8,000 (US$6.60), and for our second order, the yukmi jjajangmyeon (육미짜장면; 肉泥炸酱面) minced meat noodles at ₩7,000 (US$5.80), under recommendation from the chef. We ordered them to be not spicy, as we’ve discovered that you can get a better taste of the dish this way.

The mul jjajangmyeon was, visually, as we expected, consisting of a thickened, oozy sauce crammed with onions, mushrooms, and seafood poured over classic thick, chewy noodles. The sauce had to be mixed through the noodles before eating, and what an incredible experience it was to have a huge, slurping bite of the dish. The sauce was expectedly delicious, using what is likely a base of chicken stock, sweetened by the onions and very savoury, but what we noticed immediately was the wok hei (鑊氣).

Known as the “breath of the wok” or the “flavour of the wok”, this is the indescribably fragrant, roasty, toasty flavours imparted into the sauce from the heat of a perfectly-seasoned wok. When combined with the thick sauce and the satisfyingly toothsome noodles, it was one of the best dishes we ate in Jeonju, despite several incredibly strong contenders.

The yukmi jjajangmyeon is much more familiar to the typical jjajangmyeon, consisting of a black bean sauce with finely-chopped meat on top of chewy noodles. There is not so much the wok hei in this dish compared to the first, but it was still a different experience to other jjajangmyeon we’ve had; not quite as salty or sweet, it tastes more like a standard Cantonese dish with a thick sauce. Not particularly beany, it is still very savoury with the pork mince imparting delicious flavour throughout.

In the time since we tasted the Chinese-Korean dishes both at JinMi BanJeom and in the Incheon restaurant ManDaBog (만다복), we realised that Chinese-Korean food may be in a different category of its own, but there’s nothing quite like eating these dishes made by Chinese chefs. If you’re ever in Jeonju looking to take a break from standard Korean fare, this restaurant offers some incredible food that earned both Noms’ and Jos’ pick for recommended eats, and a rightful place in our hearts.

Jeonju-Style BiBimBap (비빔밥)

You can’t look at a travel article on Jeonju and not be recommended to eat the iconic dish of Jeonju-style bibimbap (비빔밥). Bibimbap, meaning “mixed rice”, is a classic Korean dish of rice topped with a variety of vegetables and meat, to be mixed at the table with gochujang red pepper paste (고추장). A good, balanced bibimbap is said to have at least the five basic colours (yellow, white, red, black, and green), and the five basic flavours (sweet, salty, savoury, spicy, and bitterness). It’s usually served in a heated stone bowl, and was thought to be the result of using up leftover meat and vegetables to create a quick meal with no wastage.

The Jeonju version uses the Jeonju-famous kongnamul beansprouts (콩나물) like the ones used in the soup we’d tried earlier. The rice is cooked in a beef bone broth, and the toppings much more elaborate, consisting of a complex balance of elements, flavours, and nutrition. Two key ingredients besides the beansprouts used in the Jeonju-style are hwangpo muk acorn jelly (황포묵) and yukhwe beef tartare (육회). Because of the extravagance, the dish can become pretty expensive.

HanGugGwan (한국관)

One of the most famous places to stop of for Jeonju-style bibimbap is HanGugGwan (한국관), which is located a few kilometres or a couple of miles north of the Hanok Village. The huge restaurant was in full swing during our late-morning visit, and thanks to a large number of international tourists offers a menu with Korean, English, Chinese, and Japanese, as well as pictures so you know exactly what you’re getting.

We ordered the signature brassware yukhoe bibimbap (한국관 전통 육회 비빔밥), which has raw meat in a cold brassware bowl at ₩14,000 (US$11.60), as well as the stoneware bibimbap (돌그릇비빔밥), which comes with cooked meat, at ₩12,000 (US$9.90). To our disappointment, the rice was mushy, clumping in near-flavourless globs. It was possibly the lowest standard of rice we ate possibly throughout our entire trip through Asia.

With the rice being half the dish, it made the experience unfortunately lacking, as the bibimbap were otherwise tasty enough. Thanks to a combination of ingredients, there was a good balance of textures and flavours: crispy, crunchy, tender, chewy, smooth, soft, spicy, sweet, salty, savoury, and a hint of the promised bitterness. Definitely, the fragrance of the sesame oil, as well as the sweetness from the cooked meat and the roasted laver seaweed of the stoneware bibimbap made for a good meal.

We aren’t sure if we happened to visit at a bad time, but it wasn’t near the best bibimbap we’ve ever had, solely down to the rice. As such, we can’t give our wholehearted recommendation for this restaurant, though of course we encourage everyone visiting Jeonju to try their bibimbap a go.

Deok GalBi Minced Beef Ribs (떡갈비) and YukJeon Meat Pancakes (육전)

Deok galbi (떡갈비) is a popular dish in Jeonju, consisting of a cheap cut of meat that is finely chopped before being packed back onto a rib bone, marinated, and grilled. It’s a method of using meat that would otherwise be tough, and creating something flavourful and delicious.

While galbi (갈비) refers to ribs, the deok (떡) in its name refers to the sticky rice cakes that is popular as a snack in Korea. While there is no actual deok involved, the process is similar in that the meat is like rice that is ground down and then reformed to be cooked in its new form. Having the rib imitates a more expensive cut of meat, but also imparts flavour.

Yukjeon (육전) on the other hand, is a popular street food that is found throughout Korea, but also very popular in the Jeonju Hanok Village. Jeon can sometimes better be described as fritters; a savoury ingredient such as sliced vegetables, or in the case of yukjeon flat pounded sheets of meat, is dredged in flour and egg and pan-fried. Jeon is a popular celebration food, but it’s also great for a snack.

GangChon Deok GalBi (강촌떡갈비)

On the southern outskirts of the Hanok Village is a restaurant who claims to have been open since 1997, as stated on their menu. Despite this, our visit was a little chaotic, with ambiguous opening times and a long wait between ordering and the meal itself. The restaurant isn’t trying to sell itself as fine-dining, or even really directed towards tourists. Simply, it’s selling food for cheap, as indicated by its popular set menu of deok galbi, stir-fried squid, rice, and noodles for only ₩10,000 (US$8.25).

We opted to order a portion of each their handmade deok galbi (수제떡갈비) for ₩9,000 (US$7.45) and their beef yukjeon (소고기육전) for ₩7,000 (US$5.80). The deok galbi came on top of a hotplate with a bed of enoki mushrooms – thanks to the preparation of meat by chopping into tiny pieces, the tough meat is made much more manageable. The flavour is very meaty, and the sweet soy marinade complements it well. The mushrooms also add a crispy chew, contributing a dish that is a toothsome play on textures more than flavours, though it is very tasty. Those who like chewy things and meaty textures will love deok galbi.

The yukjeon also likely uses quite a tough cut of meat, but similarly, thanks to the method of pounding down to a thin strip and its quick cooking, the texture becomes enjoyable more than burdensome. It was perfectly seasoned and a little toasty thanks to the fried flour-egg dredge combination. The side of raw onions and the spicy, salty-sweet sauce made for the perfect accompaniment – the onion, which is not as pungent as we’re accustomed to, gave it a moreish bite and crispness.

In reality, we wouldn’t ask anyone to expect much in visiting this place. The meat is obviously cheap, and the style of food simple. However, it’s because the food is so homey, the dishes simple, that it’s soulful and delicious in the same way that comfort food is. We enjoyed the meal far more than we expected. While you don’t get the full experience of cooking the meat yourself at this restaurant, it’s one of the cheaper options for deok galbi, and we highly recommend it for a simple, relaxed atmosphere and some solidly good food.