Wonju Chueotang Offers Freshwater Delight
By Jonathan Sanfilippo
Staff Reporter
While it's quite common for traditional Korean restaurants in rural areas near lakes and streams to specialize in dishes made with freshwater fish or crabs, finding such establishments in the heart of Seoul can be difficult.
But if you search down a small hallway in the Jisan building next to Chungmuro Tower, you can find a place called Wonju Chuotang that prides itself on bringing freshwater catches to its downtown dinner tables.
Wonju Chuotang ― a restaurant that originally opened during the 1960s in Wonju, Gangwon Province, before moving to its current location seven years ago ― is perhaps best known for its unique stew made with catfish and freshwater crab.
The stew, which is served in a pot on a table-top stove, is a tasty concoction of the catfish and crab mixed with potatoes, pieces of dough and a variety of mushrooms and onions, all boiled with red pepper for seasoning.
The stew is spicy enough to provide good flavor, but not hot enough to deter eaters with sensitive taste buds.
A large pot of the stew, which can provide an adequate amount of food for four or five people, can be purchased for 40,000 won, while a smaller serving that can feed about three can be bought for 30,000 won.
Wonju Chuotang offers other foods as well, including a popular appetizer dish of deep-fried mudfish. Served on a plate, these bite-sized morsels are a tasty treat, especially when dipped in the soy sauce and wasabi that come with them.
The deep-fried mudfish is available on a large plate for 10,000 won and in a smaller serving for 5,000.
Like most traditional Korean restaurants, Wonju Chuotang gives its customers a free assortment of side dishes, which included white rice, different types of kimchi, fermented squid and seasoned lettuce. These foods taste similar to the side dishes served at most other Korean restaurants in Seoul.
The atmosphere at Wonju Chuotang is extremely casual, as customers are required to remove their shoes and sit on the floor. It's a good setting to sit down and relax with friends but not somewhere to go during a formal night on the town.
The menu is written entirely in Hangul and the staff communicates in Korean, so foreigners who haven't adjusted to this country should probably bring a Korean friend with them to make ordering easier.
In short, Wonju Chuotang is a place that specializes ― and excels ― almost entirely at serving dishes made with freshwater fish.
If you're looking for something else in a restaurant, like more variety or a fancy atmosphere, you should probably go somewhere else.
But if you want to enjoy good catfish and crab stew made with traditional Korean flavor or if you'd like to try the unique taste of deep-fried mudfish, this is the place to go.