Dish guide · Soups and stews
Kimchi-jjigae
김치찌개
Kimchi stew
A bubbling, sour and spicy stew made from well-aged kimchi, usually with pork and tofu. It's one of the most common home-style dishes in Korea.
What it is
- Older, sourer kimchi gives the best flavor. Pork is the most common partner, and tofu and green onions usually go in too.
- The stock is often made with anchovies. Chamchi kimchi-jjigae uses canned tuna instead of pork.
- Budae-jjigae is a related stew with kimchi, Spam and hot dogs.
How to eat it
- 1It arrives boiling, often in a stone pot or on a burner at the table. Spoon it over rice and eat it with the side dishes.
History
- There's no clear record of how it began. It's one of the most common everyday stews in Korean cooking.
Allergies and diet
Usually contains
- Kimchi usually contains fish sauce or salted shrimp, even if there's no fish in the stew.
- The stock is often made with anchovies.
Recipes differ between restaurants. If you have an allergy, always ask the staff before you order.
🗣️ Allergy card for the staff
Pick your allergy to see the sentence in Korean.
📍 Where to try it
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Kim Buk-sun Keun Nambi-jip (Sinsa) 김북순큰남비집 신사본점
Home-style meals · Gangnam · Since 2002
A kimchi-stew house by Garosu-gil that has been packed since 2002. Each person gets their own little pot of kimchi jjigae with pork, tuna or Spam, and regulars add a rolled omelet or the choran ttukbaegi, a soft egg stew with shrimp and squid. Office workers and foreign visitors share the tables.
Try: Pork kimchi jjigae (kimchi stew)
Short wait - 🥩
Donsadon (Main) 돈사돈 본점
Korean BBQ · Jeju City & North Coast
A veteran of Jeju black pork, specializing in geun-gogi: thick cuts sold by weight and grilled over briquettes. The meat goes into melted anchovy sauce (meljeot) before it reaches your mouth. Bring a group, since the portions are sized for sharing.
Try: Heukdwaeji geun-gogi (Jeju black pork, sold by weight)
Short wait - 🍲
Eunjujeong 은주정
Home-style meals · Euljiro
An old Euljiro favorite in the alleys of Bangsan Market, known for kimchi jjigae you eat wrapped in fresh greens. At lunch it serves only the stew, full of pork and well-fermented kimchi, with a basket of lettuce and herbs; in the evening it becomes a pork belly barbecue that finishes with the same stew.
Try: Kimchi jjigae with ssam greens (lunch)
Short wait - 🍗
Friend Chicken (Huraendeu Chikin) 후렌드치킨
Fried chicken · Itaewon
An old-school fried chicken joint near Noksapyeong where the real draw is sitting outside on plastic stools with a pitcher of draft beer. Order half fried, half sweet-spicy yangnyeom chicken; locals also swear by the kimchi stew. A slice of everyday Seoul nightlife a few minutes from Itaewon's bars.
Try: Banban chicken (half fried, half yangnyeom)
Locals' pickShort wait - 🥩
Geumdwaeji Sikdang 금돼지식당
Korean BBQ · Dongdaemun
Seoul's most famous pork barbecue, near Yaksu Station, and one of the hardest tables in the city to get. Staff grill thick bone-in pork belly and marbled "snowflake" pork neck over a hot grill until crisp, and you wrap it with fresh basil. Join the queue as early as you can.
Try: Bon-samgyeop (bone-in pork belly)
1 hr+ wait - 🍲
Guldari Sikdang 굴다리식당
Home-style meals · Yeouido & Mapo
A Gongdeok institution whose kimchi jjigae is simmered long and served with rice for a filling lunch. Add the rolled omelet or spicy stir-fried pork. Office workers have relied on it for over forty years.
Try: Kimchi jjigae (kimchi stew)
Locals' pickShort wait - 🥩
Namyeongdon 남영돈
Korean BBQ · Namdaemun & Seoul Station
One of Seoul's most talked-about pork barbecue houses, in Namyeong-dong near Sookmyung Women's University. Special cuts like hangjeong-sal (pork jowl) and gabeuri-sal (a marbled shoulder cut) go over real charcoal. Expect to queue.
Try: Hangjeong-sal (pork jowl)
30-60 min wait - 🍲
Sigoljip 시골집
Pubs · Seongsu
A no-menu market pub in Ttukdo Market, nicknamed 'imokase' (an auntie's omakase). You simply ask for what you want, from kimchi stew and stir-fried pork to braised chicken or galbi-jjim, and the owners fetch ingredients from the market and cook it on the spot. Best with someone who speaks Korean.
Try: Kimchi jjigae (kimchi stew)
Locals' pickShort wait - 🍶
Sinsajeon 신사전
Pubs · Gangnam
A big, lively jeon (Korean pancake) and makgeolli house off Garosu-gil. Its trademark is honeycomb makgeolli: staff cut a slab of honeycomb at your table to sweeten your rice wine. Order a platter of mixed jeon or the cheesy potato pancake, and expect plenty of foreign visitors around you.
Try: Sinsa-dong makgeolli with honeycomb
30-60 min wait - 🥩
Taehyeong Sikdang 태형식당
Korean BBQ · Jamsil
A cheerful old-school pork grill in the Bangi-dong food alley, not far from Lotte World. Order frozen pork belly (naengsam) or fresh samgyeopsal, and grill whole-leaf kimchi beside it. A pot of kimchi stew rounds it off.
Try: Naengsam (frozen pork belly)
Short wait - 🥩
Yukjeon Sikdang (Sinseol-dong main branch) 육전식당 신설동본점
Korean BBQ · Dongdaemun
The pork barbecue that made thick-cut pork famous in Seoul. Whole slabs of pork neck and belly, several centimeters thick, are grilled for you by staff until crisp outside and juicy inside. A steamed egg and kimchi jjigae round out the meal.
Try: Tong-moksal (thick-cut pork neck)
Short wait
Sources
We check every fact against at least two sources and write it in our own words. Last checked: 2026-10-31.