Since we ate the seasonal eels last week, we shall partake another seasonal food that the Korean will take in the sweltering heat – ginseng chicken soup or samgyetang.
Jangsu Hanbang Samgyetang 장수한방삼계탕 is located in the basement of an office building the middle of the town just behind the Seoul Center for Performing Art. Normally one would not venture into this building. But in many of these office buildings are really good eats.
Chicken used are domestic version that are humanely raised and adhere to local GCAAP food safety standards. And from the wall full of polaroids from the yesteryears, you know this place has been a round a long time.
It’s like coming home to someone’s living room and eating their mother’s cooking. There’s a shoes-off area that they will take the soup from which suspiciously looks like a living room.
In Korea, samgyetang 삼계탕 (ginseng chicken soup) is traditionally eaten on the three hottest days of summer, known as Samgyeongil 삼경일 (三庚日) or Sambok 삼복 (三伏). Samgyetang is a nutritious soup, believed to help replenish lost nutrients due to sweating and physical activity during the summer heat. The ginseng and other ingredients in samgyetang are thought to help restore energy and vitality during the hot summer months.
A complimentary shot of Insam-ju 인삼주 (ginseng wine) is served. You can bottom-up the shot of liquor with intense ginseng flavour, or you can enhance the soup by pouring this shot into the soup. Go on, it’s quite OK to dump it into the soup. And accompanying the soup are baechu-kimchi 배추김치 (napa cabbage kimchi) and kkakdugi 깍두기 (cube radish kimchi) that you can refill as much as you wanted.
They sell only one thing. and that is their hanbang samgyetang (ginseng chicken soup with medicinal herbs). This nutritious dish consists of a whole chicken stuffed with glutinous rice that has been slowly cooked with a variety of healthy medicinal herbs, resulting in tender meat that fell right off its bones and a rich yet light broth.
You can order a half chicken portion or whole chicken portion, but everyone needs to get a pot. It is not a sharing dish. Besides the chicken used are not large, so there isn’t enough to go around. Remember, this restaurant does not sell anything else – no pancakes, no banchan, nothing. So Princess got the original, and I got the herbal version.
Besides the main ingredient of 인삼 ginseng, most samgyetang have at least these herbs as part of the broth – 헛개가지 Oriental ginseng (胡桃枝), 당귀 Angelica gigas (当归), 엄나무 Atractylodes japonica (蒼朮), 감초 Licorice, 황기 Astragalus membranaceus (黃芪) and 대추 Jujube.
And on the topic of food for health, these deer antler called 녹각 Nokgak (鹿角) were added into the herbal version of the soup as they are supposed to improve your virility. It is believed to provide benefits like boosting energy, aiding recovery, and supporting joint health. I couldn’t taste the difference between the two versions, but I do like the idea of the strength boosting effect.
Princess and I really enjoyed our lunch. The ajumma was so nice that she tried to explain to us how to eat it, and then she gave up due to language barrier and just showed us how to split open the chicken. She even demonstrated how to dip the chicken with the salt and pepper. Being close means you can replenish your energy here after a walk in the palaces. No reservations.
Jangsu Hanbang Samgyetang 장수한방삼계탕
South Korea, Seoul, Jongno District, Saemunan-ro 5-gil, 13 변호사회관 지하
Tel : +82 (02) 725 3260
Visited Aug 2025
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