Ansan : Cheap but Delicious Food at Dongmun Sikdang (동문식당)

October – November 2012.
Ansan, Gyeonggi-do, South Korea.

Among one of my favourite restaurants around school is 동문식당, which we nicknamed “the 4000 won Place” because the food here (along with the banchan) cost around that price and the food here was delicious.

The restaurant here serves a variety of stews, bibimbap, soups and mixed rice. No matter what you order, as in Korean restaurants you will get side dishes known as banchan to consume with your food and their banchan changes from time to time, sometimes you get salads, ham and eggs or Korean pancakes.

Stews such as the Dongtae Jjigae 동태찌개 (13000 KRW), or Pollock Stew are meant for at least 3-4 people. Similar to Budae Jjigae or jjigae in general, the flavor was roughly the same as they used the same kind of gochujang base except the dominant ingredient in this dish is Pollock fish. This hearty stew is also filled with other ingredients such as enoki mushrooms, leeks, beansprouts, tofu, radish etc.

You could also find classics like the Bibimbap and the Hot Stone Bibimbap (4000 KRW) known as Dolsot Bibimbap돌솥비빔밥. However, after 1-2 weeks in Korea, we got rather bored with bibimbap, they basically tasted the same, only the ingredients or rice texture differ.

If you are not into the heavy hearty stews, something light such as like the Dakgomtang 닭곰탕 (4000 KRW) or Korean Chicken Soup is available. Take note dakgomtang do not use ginseng, the key difference between dakgomtang and samgyetang. This milky soup has eggs, scallions, glass noodles and chunks of chicken in it. It is quite a flavorful (and peppery) soup but comparatively lighter than the gochujang based jjigae.

One very popular dish served at this restaurant is the Galbi Deopbap 갈비덮밥 (4000 KRW). Deopbap normally means mixed rice/ or served with rice. In this dish, tender pieces of pork are served with seaweed and one fried egg with a sweet (bulgogo-like) sauce. You would then enjoy this is with some rice.

However, my favourite goes to the Sundubu Jjigae 손두부찌개 (4000 KRW) here, this tofu stew has clams, enoki mushrooms, egg and soft tofu (sundubu) served in a gochujang based soup. It is very delicious (and rather spicy) especially in this restaurant. The red hot soup was rather sweet and you can enjoy the contents like a mini-hotpot with the rice provided. 

Dongmun Sikdang
동문식당
경기 안산시 상록구 사1동 1151-3번지
031-407-8685
The restaurant is located opposite a BBQ place named In and Out and near a bar named Plan B.