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Home Living in Korea

Lunch in Sejong City at Dweeungbak (뒤웅박)

Posted:12/08/20156 Comments
Dweeungbak restaurant and Hangari vessels for doenjang and gochujang
Dweeungbak restaurant and Hangari vessels for doenjang and gochujang

During my recent visit to Seoul, I kind of had a mini melt down in front of my sisters #2 and #3..I don’t exactly know why it happened but it was basically me feeling frustrated about my blog. It just kind of hit me that I have been blogging for 5 years and I’m still struggling with it. This year, I told myself that I would work harder at it and write posts more often. My sister #1 also decided to help with some of my social media accounts like Pinterest (thank you!) but it still felt like I was not doing enough…hearing my frustrations, my sister #3 had a wonderful idea to become my Seoul correspondent!! Since she gets to visit a lot of great restaurants while she works (she is an English-Korean Conference Interpreter and attends many conferences and seminars), she offered to share her dining experiences with me… and I get to share them with you!! :))

So – here it is from my sister #3 –  THANK YOU  eoni (언니)!!

Earthenware or Jangdok (장독) where gochujang and doenjang are being made
Earthenware or Hang-ari(항아리) /Jangdok (장독) where gochujang and doenjang are being made

I had to accompany my client to Sejong City for a conference. Since it takes approximately 2 hours to travel from Seoul, the client took everyone – 10 of us – to this place for lunch. The name of the place is “dwee-ung-bark go-eul” (뒤웅박고을). Being the linguist I am, I looked up dwee-ung-bak. The plain bak (pronounced baak) means gourd or gourd-bearing vines. Squash family, I heard. Instead of splitting the gourds length-wise, people in the old days would only cut out the tip and used it as containers for grains or seed. This was called dwee-ung-bak.

Dwee-ung-bak
Dwee-ung-bak (뒤웅박)

 

So much for the language lesson. The restaurant is part of this big complex that mainly produces soy sauce, dwoenjang, and gochujang the traditional way using huge earthenware pots called hang-ari (항아리). There were rows and rows of hang-aris- a total of 1,700, I heard. Visually, very impressive.

The food was quite good, too. Who knew I would be having such good lunch in Sejong City. Not over-cooked, over-worked, or over-spiced. Unlike the appearance of the establishment, many dishes were fusion-style.

Green Salad with Perilla dressing
Green Salad with Perilla dressing

Case in point – the bib lettuce salad with perilla (wild sesame) dressing. I fell in love with the dressing. I’ll probably be experimenting with perilla for the rest of my life trying to replicate the dressing.

The jellyfish salad and tangpyeonchae was nothing out of the ordinary, but the dish with the white long squid-looking pieces was a surprise. It was rice cakes (tteok) sautéed with vegetables like japchae, but much more interesting in terms of texture. Chewy and stringy like mozzarella sticks. Yum.

Tteok Japchae at Dweeungbak Sejong City
Rice cakes with Sauteed vegetables at Dweeungbak Sejong City

And then the cod fish grilled with gochujang sauce was equally outstanding. Very fresh, very spicy and addictive. One of those dishes that you can’t stop eating although you’re red in the face.

cod grilled in gochujang sauce
cod grilled in gochujang sauce

The shrimp dish looked interesting but I was too full so skipped it. I’m glad I did, because the final course was rice cooked and served in stone pots with wooden lids.

Simple Bibimbap with hot pot rice
Simple Bibimbap with hot pot rice

This is always a great way to round up a Korean meal. You have to spoon out the rice and pour hot barley tea into the pot and let it steep for a while.

Nurungbap (burnt rice) in corn tea - such a comforting way to end a meal
Nurungbap (burnt rice) in barley tea – such a comforting way to end a meal

The slightly burnt rice will soften and the whole thing becomes like roasted rice tea. We call it nurunbab. Love, love, love it.

Caution! Do NOT eat the doenjang jjigae that is served with the rice. It was so salty, I literally squinched. Strangely, for a place famous for its jangs, the doenjang jiggae was the most disappointing dish of all.

But all in all, this place is definitely worth visiting if you’re headed for Sejong, Cheonan, or Daejeon city. There is also a jang museum, stone sculptures of the 12 zodiac animals of the East, and even a small botanical garden. I wasn’t able to take too many pictures of the outside due to the rain, but take a look at their website www.dweeungbark.co.kr or this blog

If you visit after November, they also allow you to watch how the jangs are made. As for the menu, they let you choose between 2 different set menus.

Hope you enjoyed my sister’s post!!  I will be posting my bungeoppang recipe next so stay tuned!

Have a great Decemeber~~

XOXO

JinJoo

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6 Comments
  1. Micol says

    Posted on 8 December 2015 at 12:45 pm

    Oh JinJoo- your posts are always wonderful. I just shared your writing on your fave places to eat in Seoul with my friends who are there for one night only… Please know that I really appreciate the work and love you put into your blog. It’s a fantastic resource for me- I started cooking Korean food after a trip to Seoul 3 years ago, and your writing inspires and motivates me to keep trying new things. Thank you!!!!

    Reply
    • JinJoo says

      Posted on 9 December 2015 at 3:04 am

      Hello~ Oh thank you so much for letting me know. It REALLY is good to hear those words. I do put a lot of time and effort into my blog – perhaps I spend too much time on my posts because I usually end up spending 2-3 days for 1 post. If feels like so many other bloggers are able to produce lot more posts…Anyway, so happy that my blog keeps you motivated! I hope I can continue the trend. Thank you again and hope to hear from you every now and then. 🙂

      Reply
  2. grace kim lee says

    Posted on 8 December 2015 at 2:30 am

    Thank you so much for your sharing your knowledge! I am an 87 old Korean Grandmother who was born in Hawaii and now live in Seattle.
    Your blog is more than outstanding! Very well written, comprehensive and informative..and beautifully presented.

    Reply
    • JinJoo says

      Posted on 9 December 2015 at 2:57 am

      Hello! Wow that’s awesome!! Thank you SO much for your kind words. I really appreciate it. I am very happy to hear from you. Wish you all the best~

      Reply
  3. Ann-marie says

    Posted on 8 December 2015 at 2:21 am

    Thank so much for taking the time to do this post.I very much enjoy it 감사합니다 .

    Reply
    • JinJoo says

      Posted on 9 December 2015 at 2:54 am

      Hi! Thank you for saying “thank you”. It really is nice to hear that. 🙂 You are very welcome!

      Reply

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Nutritional Facts in my recipe cards are provided PER SERVING and it’s an estimate and may not be accurate. Due to different brands of ingredients having different nutritional values, the values I provide here may be different from your preparation.

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