Gamjatang, a savory pork bone soup with a rich, red broth that is slow-cooked for hours, is one of our favorite dishes, and is even harder to find in Korean restaurants. Enter Hanmaru Gamjatang, in the Allston section of Boston, MA. Hanmaru serves up table-side cooked gamjatang in either traditional or the spicier “mala” variety. Gamjatang either derives its name from the “gamja” aka potato in the soup (tang), or from the pork backbone, depending on who you ask. Either way, it’s delicious.
We opted for the 3-person/large “mala” variety of gamjatang, which had a slight Szeuchuan kick to it. However, the Korean gochugaru flavors were there, and the savoriness of the meat came through. The stew featured pork neck bones and was served generous portions of tofu, cabbage, potato, glass noodles, hand-torn noodles, watercress, and bean sprouts, with sides of rice. The banchan set of kimchi, daikon, onions, and potato salad complemented the meal nicely. Kindly enough, Hanmaru provided gloves for tearing the meat off the bone. Needless to say, we still had enough leftovers for a 4th meal.
Hanmaru Gamjatang has some other off-the-beaten path offerings. We were excited to see jokbal on the menu, which is braised pig’s feet (trotters), with several stir fry options like soy-garlic, spicy, and mala. My more Southern, waygook interpretation of bossam, or boiled pork belly, is to slow cook it and make it fall-apart, which has a different aesthetic than the boiled Korean version which is chewy. Hanmaru offers both traditional and garlic bossam. Sure, they offer BBQ meats, bibimbap, katsu, soondubu jigae, kimchie fried rice, and japchae, for more common Korean cuisine. Add to that a personal-sized gamjatang (hangover soup, haejangguk), and there’s something for everyone.
There’s no liquor license for the establishment, but they do serve Thai iced teas. With all the boba and variations and bars in the neighborhood, beverages can be found elsewhere.
In all, we’re excited to have a solid place to take friends for gamjatang, and look forward to the jokbal and bossam offerings, in a future visit.
