Dakhanmari in Seoul: The Alley, the Ritual and 11 Shops

Dakhanmari is not a dish you order so much as a small ritual you perform. A wide aluminium pot arrives with a whole chicken sitting in pale broth, a burner gets switched on under it, and for the next forty minutes the table works through it in a set order: chicken and potato first, a bowl of noodles at the end. The center of that ritual is a short alley in Jongno 5-ga, between Dongdaemun Market and the old fish-grilling street, where about ten shops still sell almost nothing else.

What is dakhanmari, and how is it different from samgyetang?

Dakhanmari is a whole chicken served as a shared hot pot, not a bowl of soup for one. The kitchen pre-cooks the bird, then sends it out in a shallow pot of broth with potatoes and garaetteok (rice cakes). It finishes cooking on the burner at your table, a server cuts it apart with scissors, and you eat it by dipping pieces into a sauce you build yourself. When the meat is gone, you order 칼국수 사리 (kalguksu sari, a portion of knife-cut noodles) and cook it in what is left of the broth.

That last step is what separates it from its cousins. Samgyetang is a small young chicken stuffed with ginseng and glutinous rice, served one bird per person in its own earthenware bowl, and it belongs to the hot-summer boyangsik tradition (see our samgyetang and boknal guide). Baeksuk is a whole chicken boiled for a long time, often with medicinal roots, and is usually eaten in suburban restaurants as a group meal (more in our baeksuk and boyangsik guide). Dakhanmari has no ginseng, no stuffing and a lighter broth. It is a market workers’ meal, built to be cheap, fast and shared.

How did the Jongno 5-ga dakhanmari alley start?

Most accounts place its start in the late 1970s, as cheap food for the Dongdaemun market trade. The details depend on who is telling the story. A 2017 Seoul Metropolitan Government article dates it to 1978, when shops selling chicken kalguksu to market vendors became so busy that customers rushing for the nearby bus terminal simply shouted “dakhanmari!” (“one chicken!”), and counted nine dakhanmari shops in the alley at the time. The city’s Seoul Sarang magazine (2022) credits the mother of the current owner of Wonhalmae in the 1970s and describes the alley growing as a place for “market traders, factory workers and salaried people with light wallets”. Korea Tourism Organization’s page names Jinokhwa as the oldest surviving shop and notes it was rebuilt after a fire in February 2009. We treat these as competing versions rather than one settled fact.

What is not in doubt is the setting. The alley sits inside Sinjin Market, between Jongno 5-ga and Dongdaemun stations, wedged against the grilled-fish street and a short walk from Gwangjang Market. Today it is busy with visitors as well as locals: a July 2026 report by the news site Wikitree said Japanese diners made up more than half of the customers at some shops, and signs outside several shops are written in Korean and Japanese.

How do you order and eat dakhanmari?

Order one chicken per two people, decide your add-ons at the start, and eat in this order: rice cakes, chicken and potatoes, then noodles. The staff will usually take over the first steps, but it helps to know the sequence.

The dipping sauce: your own recipe

Each table carries the same kit: 다대기 (dadaegi, a paste of chili flakes and garlic), soy sauce, vinegar and yellow mustard, and at some shops chopped chives or cabbage to soak in it. There is no fixed recipe and shops do not insist on one. A practical starting point is one to two spoons of dadaegi, about the same amount of soy sauce, then a splash of vinegar and a little mustard. Taste with a piece of potato and adjust. If you can’t take heat, use less dadaegi and more soy sauce; the broth itself is not spicy at all.

Can you eat dakhanmari alone?

Yes, but you have to choose the shop. Dakhanmari is sold by the bird, and menus such as Baekbujangjip and Bonga Wonjo literally label the chicken “for two”. A 2025 travel feature on the NOL platform put it plainly: dakhanmari usually needs two people or more. In the alley, Sunhine Bindaetteok Dakhanmari is the exception we found, with a half chicken listed at ₩15,000 on its menu. Several other shops sell a half chicken only as an extra for groups. If you are on your own and that shop is full, a solo bowl of kalguksu or a stew is easier; our kimchi jjigae, doenjang and cheonggukjang guide and the baekban and gisa sikdang guide are built around one-person meals.

Which dakhanmari shops should you try?

We start with the alley itself, then move to neighborhood shops that locals go to without the crowd. All shops below showed dated reviews or listings in 2025–2026 when we checked online in October 2026. Prices come from each shop’s posted menu on Dining Code and may change.

1. Jinokhwa Halmae Wonjo Dakhanmari (진옥화할매원조닭한마리) — the name everyone knows

This is the shop most guidebooks point to, and Korea Tourism Organization dates it to 1978. It was one of the restaurants included in the first Michelin Green Guide to Korea in 2011, which is a travel guide; it is not a Michelin star or Bib Gourmand listing. The menu is short: dakhanmari, add-ons and a spicy braised chicken. Expect to take a number at peak times. Reviewers praise the kimchi, which many tip into the broth near the end. 18 Jongno 40ga-gil, Jongno-gu · Jongno 5-ga Station Exits 5–6 or Dongdaemun Station Exits 8–9, about 5–7 minutes · 10:30–01:00 (last order 23:30), open daily (Korea Tourism Organization) · dakhanmari ₩33,000 on its posted menu; one blog in January 2026 recorded ₩28,000, so check the board on the wall

📍 Open in Naver Map

2. Myeongdong Dakhanmari, Main Branch (명동닭한마리 본점) — the alley’s Centennial Store

The name is misleading: it has nothing to do with Myeongdong today and sits a few doors from Jinokhwa. It is the only dakhanmari shop in Seoul on the government’s Centennial Store (Baengnyeon Gage) register, selected in 2022. Its listing describes broth simmered with eumnamu (prickly castor-oil tree) grown by the family in Paju, and water kimchi on the side. The same listing gives two different founding dates (a 1991 registration date and a description saying the first owner opened in 1987), so we leave the year open. Two sister shops nearby, the Geoseong and Sijo branches, serve the same menu if the main shop is full. 14 Jongno 40ga-gil, Jongno-gu · same stations as above · 10:00–00:30 per its Centennial Store listing · eumnamu dakhanmari ₩33,000 (for two), glutinous rice porridge ₩2,000 📍 Open in Naver Map

3. Wonjo Wonhalmae Somunnan Dakhanmari (원조원할매소문난닭한마리) — a family shop, no branches

Seoul’s Seoul Sarang magazine profiled this shop in 2022 as a third-generation family business with “45 years” in the alley and no branches, crediting the owner’s mother with helping start the alley in the 1970s. The menu is organized by group size, which makes ordering easy for first-timers: Set A for two, B for three, C for four. One reviewer noted that vegetable refills are limited to one. 25 Jongno 40ga-gil, Jongno-gu · same stations as above · 11:00–23:00 (Sundays to 22:30) · dakhanmari ₩33,000; Set A (2 people) ₩37,000, B (3) ₩55,000, C (4) ₩69,000 📍 Open in Naver Map

4. Sunhine Bindaetteok Dakhanmari (순희네빈대떡 닭한마리 동대문본점) — the half-chicken option

Two dishes under one sign: mung-bean pancakes and dakhanmari. For solo travelers, the key line on the menu is the half chicken, which none of the alley’s better-known shops list as a main order. Reviewers describe a broth with jujubes and ginseng that leans slightly toward samgyetang. A shop registered as “Gongneung Dakhanmari (Jongno)” is listed at the same address with a different phone number; we could not confirm how the two relate, so look for the Sunhine sign. 20 Jongno 40ga-gil, Jongno-gu · same stations as above · 10:30–22:30 · dakhanmari ₩33,000, half chicken ₩15,000 📍 Open in Naver Map

5. Baekbujangjip Dakhanmari (백부장집 닭한마리) — the office-district version

A 2017 news report described this shop as having held its corner of Jongno for 30 years; it was also featured on the food show Wednesday Food Talk. Its menu prices dakhanmari explicitly “for two”, and reviewers say the staff add more broth when a larger group shares. It closes in the afternoon and on Sundays, so it suits a weekday lunch near Jonggak or Insadong. 100-1 Sambong-ro, Jongno-gu · Jonggak Station (Line 1), about 3–4 minutes · 11:00–22:00, break 15:00–17:00, closed Sundays (online listing) · dakhanmari (for 2) ₩28,000, rice cakes or green onion ₩2,000, potatoes ₩3,000 📍 Open in Naver Map

🍲 More dakhanmari in Seoul — 6 more shops (online menus checked October 2026)

📍 Jinwonjo — Open in Naver Map 📍 Geoseong — Open in Naver Map 📍 Bonga Wonjo — Open in Naver Map 📍 Dongdae — Open in Naver Map 📍 Hongdae Dakhanmari — Open in Naver Map 📍 Gongneung — Open in Naver Map

Walking times marked ”~” are our estimates from map distance. English menus are not confirmed at any of these shops; pointing at the menu board and holding up fingers for the number of chickens works everywhere.

Neighborhood dakhanmari we have covered elsewhere

Dakhanmari is everywhere in Seoul once you look. We have written up Dakkal Wonjojip (1980) in Chungjeongno, Jangwon Dakhanmari in Dapsimni, the 24-hour Obok Dak Hanmari in Mia and Seokgwandong Dakhanmari in Seokgwan-dong. At the alley’s entrance, Songjeong Sikdang has grilled chili-marinated pork over briquettes since 1988 (by a blogger’s account); it gets its own entry in our bulgogi guide. If the noodle course is your favorite part, continue with our kalguksu nopo top 10.