502 Jjigae Maeul (502찌개마을 & 옛날삼겹살) is a Korean stew and pork belly restaurant on Achasan-ro near Konkuk University Station in Seoul, known for kimchi stew, spicy braised chicken and pollack stew served in big pots for two or three. A coworker and I went there after work one evening in March 2026 and ordered only one dish, the mukeunji dakbokkeumtang, spicy braised chicken with aged kimchi. It was very good, and it is the reason I would go back.
- Name: 502찌개마을&옛날삼겹살 건대직영점 (502 Jjigae Maeul, Konkuk University branch)
- Address: 1F, 209 Achasan-ro, Gwangjin-gu, Seoul (서울 광진구 아차산로 209 1층) · Google Maps
- Hours: open 24 hours, every day (DiningCode, checked September 2026)
- Visited: an evening in March 2026, after work with a coworker
- What we ordered: mukeunji dakbokkeumtang (묵은지 닭볶음탕). DiningCode lists it at 32,000 won for two and 42,000 won for three; I did not keep the receipt, so I have not given what we paid
- Ordering: tablet on the table
- My rating: 4.5 / 5
- Info checked: September 23, 2026
A stew restaurant after work in Kondae
The area around Konkuk University Station, which Koreans call Kondae (건대), is full of places to eat and drink after work. We walked in that evening and got a table without waiting. The full name on the wall is “502 Jjigae Maeul & Yetnal Samgyeopsal”, which means roughly “502 Stew Village and Old-Style Pork Belly”. The big sign in the dining room calls it “the most delicious stew specialist in the country” and adds the line “a restaurant where the rice tastes good and the drinks taste good”. That is the restaurant’s own claim, of course, not mine.
The dining room has floral wallpaper, marble-topped tables with a round burner in the middle of each, and wooden coat stands. Each table has a small tablet for ordering. One wall is painted dark, with strings of coloured bulbs, handwritten price cards for drinks, posters for the three main stews and a printed board of side dishes and add-ons.
The three stews
The menu is built around three stews, each sold in a medium size for two and a large size for three. According to DiningCode, the medium comes with two bowls of rice and two side dishes, and the large with three bowls of rice and two side dishes. These are DiningCode’s prices from September 2026:
| Stew | Korean | 2 people / 3 people (won) |
|---|---|---|
| Black pork kimchi stew | 흑돼지 김치찌개 | 25,000 / 30,000 |
| Spicy braised chicken with aged kimchi | 묵은지 닭볶음탕 | 32,000 / 42,000 |
| Pollack stew in a brass bowl | 양푼 동태탕 | 28,000 / 35,000 |
The posters on the wall describe the kimchi stew as made with native black pork from Jirisan (지리산 토종흑돼지), and the pollack stew poster says the seafood is fresh every day. The restaurant also serves old-style pork belly, as the name says, and DiningCode lists a doenjang stew for 6,000 won and extra bowls of rice for 1,500 won.
Mukeunji dakbokkeumtang
Dakbokkeumtang (닭볶음탕) is chicken pieces braised in a spicy red sauce with potatoes and vegetables. Mukeunji (묵은지) is kimchi that has been aged for a long time, so it is soft and sour, and here it is cooked in with the chicken. Ours arrived in a wide pot and went on the burner in the middle of the table. It was topped with sliced green onion, a bunch of enoki mushrooms and a sprinkle of chili powder, and under the sauce were pieces of chicken on the bone, including drumsticks, with chunks of potato and the long pieces of aged kimchi.
We let it bubble for a while and then served it out with the ladle. It was very good. The aged kimchi was pleasantly sour, which cut through the richness of the sauce. It was spicy, but only moderately, not so hot that it got in the way. The chicken was tender and came off the bone easily. And the broth was thick and deep, good enough to spoon over rice on its own. It was the only dish we ordered.
Side dishes and add-ons
A printed board on the wall headed “side dishes you can’t not order” lists extras that go with the stews. These were the prices on the wall in March 2026 (in thousands of won on the board):
| Item | Korean | Price (won) |
|---|---|---|
| Giant rolled omelette | 대왕 계란말이 | 15,000 |
| Grilled mackerel | 고등어구이 | 17,000 |
| Seasoned cockles | 꼬막무침 | 17,000 |
| Naengmyeon (cold noodles, in broth or spicy) | 냉면 (물, 비빔) | 8,000 |
| Grilled Spam | 스팸구이 | 10,000 |
| Fried eggs (5) | 계란후라이 (5p) | 5,000 |
| Steamed egg | 계란찜 | 6,000 |
Below it is a board of add-ons (사리 추가) for the pot: ramyeon noodles, udon, tofu, dumplings and sujebi (hand-torn dough) at 2,000 won each, cheese rice cakes at 3,000 won, ham at 4,000 won and two packs of seasoned laver at 1,500 won. Some of these prices were different on DiningCode in September, so check the menu on the day.
Getting there
The restaurant is at 209 Achasan-ro, on the main road near Konkuk University Station (Lines 2 and 7). DiningCode lists it as open 24 hours every day, with a self-service side dish bar and high chairs for small children.
Next time: the pork belly
On the way out, my coworker and I agreed to come back and try the old-style pork belly next time. We only tried one dish, so I cannot say anything about the kimchi stew or the pork belly yet, but the dakbokkeumtang was very good: sour kimchi, moderate heat, tender chicken and a rich broth. From me it gets 4.5 out of 5.
More places we have eaten around Konkuk University and Seongsu:
- Taeyang Gopchang, spicy stir-fried gopchang near Konkuk University Station
- Guwoldong Kkachine, a pojangmacha-style pub in Kondae