【Seoul】Beauty trip in Korea -Great value for the price and body-delighting Oyster bossam at Hwatongbonga
Korea is such a fantastic beauty travel destination.
And you can’t miss beauty food explore there!
Bossam is Korean boiled pork wrapped with vegetables.
I love “samgyeopsal” but bossam makes me feel less guilty as it was boiled, not grilled, and the fat can be less by boiling.
The place I visited this time was “Hwatongbonga” (和通本家/화통본가), which serves you the bossam with oysters and has great value for the price!
*Some of the posts include affiliate links in the blog.
Overview
Review by Hearts
Overall
Taste
Value for the price
Customer service
Atmosphere
Advantage
◆Guilt-Free
The AGE is expected to be less than grilled pork as it is boiled.
The fat can also be less by boiling. We can take fiber, vitamins, and minerals as we eat the bossam with various vegetables together.
◆Beauty food
Many expected beauty food points are considered from the ingredients and the cooking method.
Boiled：
The method that generates less AGE compared with other heat cooking methods
Eat with vegetables：
Dietary Fibers(Stimulates intestinal peristalsis)
Oysters：
Zinc(The material of making “Superoxide dismutase(SOD)” which has strong antioxidant
Pork：
Protein(make our body)
Vitamin B1(promote carbohydrate metabolism)
Garlic：
Allicin
(Recovery from fatigue. The absorptance gets better when you take Vitamin B1 together.)
Eggs：
Protein(make our body)
Amino acid score of 100
Bean sprout：
Dietary Fibers(Stimulates intestinal peristalsis)
Kalium(Excrete extra sodium)
Kimchi：
Probiotics(Deliver the good bacteria to the intestine)
Prebiotics(Become a feed of intestinal bacteria)
Capsaicin(Boost the metabolism)
*The points are rough estimations considered by the contained nutrition.
◆Gluten-Free Friendly
The meal is mainly consistent with vegetables, oysters, and meat.
But please note that the sauce or seasonings can contain wheat.
This does not secure completely gluten-free.
Please be careful if you are allergic to wheat.
Buchimgae or jijimi (Korean pancake), which is served as an appetizer, contains wheat.
◆Lactose-Free Friendly
The meal is mainly consistent with vegetables, oysters, and meat.
But please note that the sauce or seasonings can contain milk products. This does not secure completely lactose-free.
Please be careful if you are allergic to milk products.
◆Keto Friendly
Bossam itself is low carb as it is pork.
◆Accessible
A minute on foot from exit 15, Jongro 3(sam)-ga
You can also go there in 10 minutes from exit 4, Euljiro 3(sam)-ga.
The direction was almost straight and understandable.
What’s around here?
Jongno 3(sam)-ga is the nearest station to Ikseon-dong, which is famous for its nice cafes and shops.
Insadong is also close to here, where is near from palace(Gyeongbokgung) and you can enjoy traditional Korean streetscape and art.
1 stop by line 1(about 5 minutes) from the shopping area Dongdaemun.
You can also come from the touristic place Myeongdong in about 10 minutes including a transfer.
Great access to/from famous touristic areas in Seoul.
◆Foreigner Friendly
Some menus are written in Japanese or Chinese.
Couldn’t find the English menu.
But the owner and the staff are so nice and they tried to convey something in Japanese!
◆Cashless Acceptance
They can accept credit cards!
JCB was also available.
*FYI, you can see the review criteria on this blog from here:)
Features or strength
You can eat Korean food like bossam, jokbal(pig’s trotters), and grilled fish, etc.
This is the place introduced by popular YouTubers or TVs and you can see the signboards outside of the shop.
Not only the bossam but you can also eat it with oysters.
That’s one of the great points and features of here.
You will also be satisfied with the variety of appetizers, the part of cover charge, which are almost like main dishes.
You can see how they look in the “Order” section below.
Appearance
This is how the entrance looks.
The red roof and the pictures of Kaori the YouTuber and KBS TV program are landmarks.
굴보삼(gulbossam)is how you write it in Korean. You can see the letters on their signboard.
Inside
This is the inside of the shop.
It was almost full house when I went there at 1 pm on Friday.
That was just in time and I could take a seat without waiting there.
You can see Hangul all over the wall.
You could put your stuff into the chairs and there was an apron inside.
That’s a good point if you wear white clothes:)
And here’s an outlet on the side of the table!
It was pretty helpful as my battery was almost dead. (Thank you!!)
Menu
You can see the menu on the wall.
Not all of them but some menus are translated into Japanese and Chinese.
The left blue menu is lunch specials and it seems they serve grilled fish sets.
The fishes are mackerel, white croaker which is rare in Japan, etc.
Both are KRW 12,000.
There was an octopus and bossam set when I went there in this March. (as of 2024)
The mushroom and oyster rice cooked in an iron pot looked also delicious♡
Orders
There were so many appetizing menus and that made me more indecisive.
But I ordered oyster bossam which was my original aim to come here.
The smallest size was KRW 28,000.
One of my favorite points is the nutritionally balanced combo as the set includes vegetables, proteins like pork, and eggs:)
Appetizer(Part of cover charge)
You will be surprised with the appetizers as they are served one after another and the table gets full in the blink of an eye!
Please note that I only ordered oyster bossam.
Gyeran-jjim, dotori-muk(Korean acorn jelly), beansprout namul, and pot served big gamja-tang.
You’ll also get buchimgae(Korean pancake) in the middle of the meal.
*This photo was taken after they served bosom.
◆Gyeran-jjim
Hot off the stove and gentle taste.
The amount is almost the same as the gyeran-jjim that you order a la carte at the general shops in Korea.
So surprised that this size was served!
◆Dotori-muk
The unique and a bit bitter taste of acorn was not too strong and the hot dipped sause was also nice!
I usually don’t eat dotori-muk proactively but the taste was not too strong and I felt that was more delicious than others.
◆Gamja-tang
It was rather than the main dish:’D
I can’t believe it is served as a side.
There were chunky bone-in meats in the soup generously.
I couldn’t find a block of gamja(potatoes) but it might be melted in the soup and that’s why the soup was thicker and so tasty.
I can come here only to eat this!
The soup looked red and you may think it’s hot.
But I felt it was not that hot.
◆Kimchi buchimgae
It was served in the middle of the meal and that was just hot off the stove!
The outside was crispy but the inside was kind of creamy.
That was so delicious!
Oyster bossam
And here comes the oyster bossam!
Wrap the oyster and the boiled pork with vegetables, the bossam kimchi(sweet taste radish kimchi), and salted shrimp sause.
Such a nummy healthy wrap♡ I loved that.
Especially this yangnyeom(seasoning) of the bossam kimchi was think and so addictive taste.
I’m not too sure if the oyster was raw or boiled honestly but I think that was hybrid.
It was bigger than I expected and wobbly. You cannot miss it if you like oysters:)
They showed me a paper written in Korean and I thought that meant “We serve the boiled oysters” but it meant “We recommend eating boiled oysters if your immune system is not too strong or you have an allergy to them.
I ate the oysters assuming they were boiled but the texture was close to raw in my impression.
Store info
Address:
33 Supyo-ro 20-gil, Jongno District, Seoul, South Korea
(서울특별시 종로구 종로3가 123-3)
It’s just by Exit 15(stairs) or 14(escalator) of Jongro 3(sam)-ga station. (Metro Line1)
It takes almost the same time.
Opening hours:
10:00 am-11:00 pm
*No break time information
Close:
Open all year round
Tel:
02-2269-8877
(as of Mar. 2024)
Others
・There’s no single serve so you need to order a small size for 1 person.
・If you don’t want to eat raw oysters, they can boil them. And it seems they can’t serve the raw oysters depending on the season but they serve the boiled one.
Impression
The value for the price was so impressive. Everything was so nummy and the amounts were all generous.
The staff were kind, careful and tried to communicate in Japanese.
The owner was also friendly and I talked with him in Japanese and broken Korean.
The location was also nice! I went there from Eulji-ro 3(sam)-ga station (Exit 4) but I could go there in 10 minutes.
The way was almost straightforward and understandable.
It’s closer if you go there from Jonro 3(sam)-ga station.
This is just an estimation but the beauty food level is also high from the ingredients and how-to-cook perspectives.
Especially the oysters include zinc which tends to lack.
Zinc is used as the ingredient of antioxidant enzyme.
So that’s one of the minerals which we don’t want to lack.
You can eat the pork lightly as it is boiled and the fat is reduced.
The vegetables are served together so the balance is also nice.
I would like to go there again!
If you have a chance to go to Seoul, I can recommend to visit here:))