If you’re heading out to Nami Island, The Garden of Morning Calm, Petite France, or even Gapyeong Rail Park, there’s one thing you have to eat for lunch: dakgalbi. Chuncheon is famous for this spicy stir-fried chicken dish, and while there’s a whole street packed with dakgalbi restaurants, 1.5 Dakgalbi is the spot locals actually go to.

Here, the chicken is marinated in a rich, spicy gochujang sauce, then stir-fried at your table with cabbage, rice cakes, and vegetables until everything is sizzling hot. When you think you’re finished, you’re not — that’s when you add rice to the pan and let it fry in all the leftover sauce, turning it into the most addictive smoky fried rice.

How to Eat Dakgalbi Like a Local

1. Dakgalbi is served family-style. Just order for however many people are at your table.

2. The server will bring out the raw chicken and veggies in a giant pan and start cooking it in front of you. Don’t touch it yet! Let them stir and let the sauce coat everything.

3. When the chicken is cooked through and the veggies have softened, it’s go time. Wrap bites in lettuce leaves if you want (like samgyeopsal), or just go straight in with chopsticks.

4. Cheese dakgalbi (where gooey melted cheese is added to the pan) is a popular twist, but the must-do is ordering rice at the end.

5. After most of the dakgalbi is gone, the server will toss rice, seaweed, and sesame oil right into the pan and crisp it up. This “bokkeumbap” is hands-down the highlight of the meal.
   

Address: 강원 춘천시 후만로 77

Naver map: https://naver.me/FPn5txKT
Open daily: 11:00 AM – 10:00 PM; Last order: 8:30 PM; Closed: The last Wednesday of every month