Chuncheon Day Trip: Myeongdong DakGalbi Street

A visit to Chuncheon is not complete without having its signature dish: dakgalbi (Hangul: 닭갈비) or boneless chicken thighs stir fried with a special spicy sauce, cabbage, sweet potato and rice cake. There is a place in Chuncheon with restaurants specializing in this dish. So after my friends and I visited Gangchon Rail Park and Jade Garden, we decided to have dinner in the downtown area where the “Myeongdong Dakgalbi Street” is located.
From Chuncheon station, we took the taxi to the Dakgalbi Street. The taxi fare is only 3,000 won. It is only about 1.2 km or 20 minutes by foot ~ from exit 1 of Chuncheon station, cross the street and walk 1 km until you reach the rotary. Walk 100m more until you see the sign.

At the entrance of Chuncheon's Myeongdong Dakgalbi Street ~
At the entrance of Chuncheon’s Myeongdong Dakgalbi Street ~

There are so many restaurants to choose from but we decided to go to a small store named “Gumi” ~ the old ladies at the store excitedly welcomed us. One order is 10,000 won (300g of chicken) so we ordered four ~
dakgalbi-02
Dakgalbi is spicy so along with it, a cool iced radish kimchi is served. The “ajumma” (old lady) also served lettuce for wrapping. Then she brought a bottle of “bokbunja” or “raspberry wine” ~ which was delish! WE had to wear aprons to protect our clothes from the splatter of cooking
The restaurant serves free "bokbunja" or raspberry wine ~
The restaurant serves free “bokbunja” or raspberry wine ~

Another specialty of Chuncheon is the “makguksu” or buckwheat noodles. We ordered the “jenbang makguksu” for 12,000 won.
Spicy buckwheat noodles
Spicy buckwheat noodles

We ate everything! Usually, people would order rice to cook with whatever remains of the dakgalbi. We chose not too ~ we were full!
What leftover?
What leftover?

Dakgalbi is one of my favorite Korean food. When I was still in the Philippines, I saw a story on it on Arirang TV and I vowed to try it in Korea. It was in September 2003 when I had the chance to eat it ~ my husband and I spent a day biking in Gangchon and then dinner in Chuncheon. That one day trip ~ Gangchon Rail Park, Jade Garden and Chuncheon Dakgalbi ~ is one I’ll never forget. Got gassy for laughing too much and got sunburned for weeks!