Gilpost · Geochang-gun, Geochang-eup
Jindam
진담 A rebuilt house in Geochang where beef is steamed in a cypress basket and a herb-broth hot pot is simmered at the table.
Korean · Geochang-gun, Geochang-eup
Data as of · Published ·
Jindam is a Korean restaurant down a lane in Geochang, across from the SGI cultural hall. The blue roof shows from a distance: it is a house, and several writers were told the owner rebuilt it himself from a derelict one. You come in across a small yard of stone paving and artificial grass, where there are outdoor tables and a pavilion to wait in. Two dishes carry the place. One is pyeonbaek-jjim, beef and vegetables steamed in a hinoki-cypress basket. The other is a hot pot of shin-of-beef and fat dumplings in a broth built on medicinal herbs, simmered at your table. A set brings both, ordered by head count, and at lunch there is a separate tray of steamer plus stew for ₩12,000 a head. You order from a screen on the table, and when the food arrives the owner comes over to explain the order to eat it in and which sauce goes with what. Thirty posts reached us; twenty-two of them are what we counted. Six were written by the restaurant on its own blog, one is a listicle of ten places in the county, and one lays out seat counts and closing days in a table but never says what the writer ate. The posts run from June 2025 to September 2026.
The basics
| Address | 경상남도 거창군 거창읍 강남로1길 196-22 196-22 Gangnam-ro 1-gil, Geochang-eup, Geochang-gun, Gyeongsangnam-do |
|---|---|
| Phone | 055-944-9678 |
| Floor area | 46 m² |
| Status | In business |
When it opens
Of 11 posts: 7 wrote Weekdays 11:00–22:00, 7 wrote Weekends 11:00–23:00, 2 wrote 11:00–22:00.
| Open | 11:00–22:00 2 of 11 posts last seen 2026-05 | |
|---|---|---|
| Open | Weekdays | 11:00–22:00 7 of 11 posts last seen 2025-08 |
| Open | Weekends | 11:00–23:00 7 of 11 posts last seen 2025-08 |
| Last order | 21:00 3 of 3 posts last seen 2026-09 | |
| Closed | 수요일 2 of 10 posts last seen 2026-09 | |
| Closed | 일요일 7 of 10 posts last seen 2025-08 |
Counted from what bloggers wrote in their posts; we did not confirm it with the restaurant. Where the values differ, it may be a change over time rather than a disagreement, so we show when each one was written.
What sets it apart
- Not a chain: one person built it. A writer was told by the owner — who came from Tongyeong — that he nailed the old wreck of a house back together himself in this quiet residential street; other posts describe the house being pulled down and rebuilt, or a country cottage converted. Two posts say the name comes from a phrase meaning 'to put your true heart in', and that it has been registered as a trademark. There is no second branch to compare it with.
- The explaining happens at the table, not on the menu. Post after post describes the owner coming over once the food is down to say which sauce goes with the steamer, and in what order to work through the hot pot — noodles into the broth, then porridge at the end. One writer was told to try the onion sauce and tasted something apple-like in it; another learned in conversation that the seasoning is built on soy sauce rather than salt. A first-timer is unlikely to be left guessing.
- One pot turns into three courses. You fish out the hot pot, drop noodles into what is left, then cook rice porridge down in the last of it — two writers were given fresh broth to keep it going. Hence the refrain that one order is already too much; one party meant to add more dishes and gave up when they saw the table. Six to eight small side dishes arrive separately.
- There are tables out in the yard, and one writer found the inside itself split, half of it half-open to the air; the lights go on out there in the evening. It depends on the season, though: one visitor came on a cold day and could not sit outside, and several posts put off the idea of a drink in the yard until warmer weather.
- Book ahead is the recurring advice. Reservations go through Catch Table or Naver — one post notes same-day cancellation is not allowed — and one writer says it is worth ordering the food in advance too. Another simply writes 'booking essential'. The restaurant's own blog describes months filling with group bookings, and plenty of visitors came for a work dinner or a family gathering.
- The lunch tray is not for one: two posts say the minimum order is two people. The evening set is also sold by head count — two, three, four — so eating the signature dishes alone is awkward. The one writer who came alone took food away.
- Through the whole span we read, the restaurant was running a review promotion: write one and a dish comes free. Several posts mention 'today's dish' as the giveaway, and one writer names the acorn jelly they were given that way. So some plates on these tables were not paid for — and our count of what people ate includes them.
What 22 bloggers said
We read all 22 in full. The most common claims are “Large portions” (11) and “Would return” (11).
What they liked
Things you can check on site
| Outdoor terrace seating | 8 of 22 posts |
|---|---|
| Independent, not a chain | 6 of 22 posts |
| Takes reservations | 4 of 22 posts |
| Review event | 4 of 22 posts |
| Self-order screen | 3 of 22 posts |
| Takeout | 3 of 22 posts |
| Chef credentials | 3 of 22 posts |
| A minimum number of portions on the first order | 2 of 22 posts |
| Large windows | 2 of 22 posts |
| Waiting area | 1 of 22 posts |
These are raw counts, not percentages. Someone who did not mention something is not someone who disagreed.
What people order
The most ordered dish is pyeonbaek-jjim (편백찜 (소고기편백찜·미니 편백찜)) — 14 of 22 posts.
The prices here are what bloggers wrote down in their posts, and they may have changed since. Check Naver Place for the current menu and prices. This list is not a menu board — it counts what bloggers actually ordered and ate. Check on Naver Place
Parking
2 posts say you can park. None say you cannot.
| Posts saying you can park | 2 of 22 posts |
|---|
Whether there is a car park of its own, we do not know. Two writers say where they actually left the car, and both say the roadside near the restaurant; one of them, scoring the visit category by category, gave parking three stars where everything else got four or five. Several more posts say only 'parking available', always welded to the same block of address, phone and opening hours — copied from the Naver listing, as we read it, so we did not count them. That a post says something is not the same as someone having seen it.
Who came, and with whom
| Family visit | 9 of 22 posts |
|---|---|
| Group visit | 3 of 22 posts |
| With a friend | 3 of 22 posts |
| Came with children | 2 of 22 posts |
| Came by car | 2 of 22 posts |
| Solo visit | 1 of 22 posts |
Getting there
Naver Map has a full English mode — Settings → Language → English. In Korea it gives better walking and transit directions than Google Maps.
Getting inside
| Toilet inside | yes 0 · no 1 |
|---|
Not one post says whether you can get in with a wheelchair or a pushchair. Nobody mentions a step at the door, a ramp, or a level change. Several describe the stone path and artificial grass you walk in along, but none says whether that path is flat or whether wheels cross it. That the toilet is out off the yard is as far as our knowledge goes. This is not a 'no' — it is a 'we do not know'. Ring ahead if it matters.
No one mentioned: Second floor · In a basement · Lift to the floor · Ramp at the door · Step at the entrance · Step-free access · Accessible toilet · Separate restrooms. That is not the same as there being none — it means we could not confirm it. Worth calling ahead, and do tell us: we will put it here.
How to read these posts
- Posts saying they paid themselves3 of 22 posts
- Posts saying nothing either way19 of 22 posts
Posts that followed a TV spot
Of the 30 posts we gathered, 8 went up on a single day right after a TV spot and show no sign of a visit. They retell the broadcast, so we left them out of the counts.
We do not discard them. That a TV spot produced a burst of posts is itself something worth knowing about a place, and a star rating will not show it.
When the posts appeared
Month by month
| Month | Posts |
|---|---|
| 2025-08 | 9 |
| 2026-01 | 1 |
| 2026-05 | 3 |
| 2026-08 | 2 |
| 2026-09 | 7 |
What we do not know
- Six of the posts were written by the restaurant itself, on a blog called after the shop, in the voice of the house — 'we have prepared', 'we serve', 'thank you for coming'. The awards, the holiday notices, the new dishes and the owner's family holiday photographs all come from there. We took those six out of the denominator: they are not a record of anyone going and eating. No post declares a sponsorship, and three say outright that they paid their own way. But a cluster of near-identical posts went up in the first days of August 2025 — address, phone and opening hours in the same order, an opening 'Hello!', a closing 'put it on your list'. Each does say what was ordered and eaten, so we kept them; they do not read like the work of strangers to each other.
- Almost nobody writes down a price. What we have: ₩12,000 a head for the lunch tray, from four posts in August 2025; and from one party of five in February 2026, ₩75,000 for the four-person set, ₩15,000 for each extra person, ₩6,000 for abalone, ₩4,000 each for the porridge and the noodles. Neither signature dish is priced anywhere on its own, though several writers ordered them that way. What two people pay for the set, we do not know.
- Exactly one person wrote about the toilet. That writer puts it outside the dining room, off the yard, and notes it is the restaurant's own rather than shared with other tenants — and docked a star for the walk out there. Whether it is split by sex, or how big it is, no visitor says. The restaurant's own blog has a photograph captioned 'ladies', and that post is one we excluded.
- No post says what floor it is on. Many describe walking in through the yard of a converted house, but not one mentions stairs, an upper floor or a basement. The most detailed account of the space says only that the inside is divided between a room and a half-open area.
- No customer writes about queueing. The lines about having to wait without a booking, or about queues through the holiday season, all come from the restaurant's own blog. The closest a visitor comes is one post relaying that the place fills quickly and advising you to dodge the lunch peak. One writer found a pavilion in the yard for waiting in; another — a post we excluded, since it records no meal — found that pavilion being used as a store room. This is not evidence of no wait, only that nobody wrote about one.
- Not one post explains how to get here by bus or train. Every direction is written for a local or a driver: across from the SGI hall, over the bridge along the riverside road from the county-office roundabout, look for the blue roof. Nobody gives a walk from Geochang bus terminal or names a stop. Without a car, how long it takes we do not know.
- The closing day has changed. Everything written in the summer of 2025 says Sunday, with 11:00–22:00 Monday to Thursday and 11:00–23:00 Friday and Saturday. The 2026 posts say Wednesday. One post from May 2026 says Friday, which does not agree with the others from that year. Only three posts mention an afternoon break, and all three give different times — 14:00–16:00, 14:00–16:30, and 14:30–16:30 or 15:00–16:00 depending on the day. Ring before you go. Hours change from year to year, and what we read is a record of when it was written.
- People do take food away — a boxed pork tray, a spicy chicken-and-tripe pot with steamed egg and rice balls, and one party who ordered a chicken-tripe hot pot to take home as they were leaving. But the ones who only collected food describe nothing of the room: no seating, no toilet, no wait. And no post lists what can and cannot be packed up.
Sources (22)
Every number above was counted from the posts below.
- 거창송정리맛집 가족외식식당 찾는다면 진담 추천 2026-09-18 · 꿀피부를 위한 지름길 · via Daum
- 거창읍맛집 감악산 다녀와서 먹기 좋았던 진담 2026-09-15 · 킴비's 블로그
- [거창] 진담 l 거창 여행에서 제대로 몸보신하고 온 곳, 특별한 밥집, 편백찜과 아롱사태만두전골 2026-09-09 · 야미와 냠냠여행 O_< · via Daum
- 거창저녁맛집 퇴근 후 든든하게 즐긴 진담 한식도시락 2026-09-09 · 수고했어, 오늘도 · via Daum
- 거창 감악산축제맛집 감악산 나들이 후 한 끼 하기 좋은 진담 2026-09-08 · 즐거운마음 · via Daum
- 거창송정리맛집 뜨끈한 전골이 생각날 때 찾기 좋은 진담 2026-09-06 · 목표 ::: 1일 20시간 쉬기 · via Daum
- 거창저녁맛집 진담에서 먹어본 아롱사태 왕만두전골 2026-09-01 · 민동이의 블로그 '_' · via Daum
- 거창단체식당 회식하기 좋은 진담 아롱사태전골 후기 2026-08-22 · 선블리의 하나뿐인 블로그 '_ '♥ · via Daum
- [거창 맛집] 촌캉스 갔다가 발견한 퓨전오마카세 '진담' 소고기편백찜+아롱사태 만두전골, 산삼막걸리... 2026-08-07 · Miya's picnic story · via Daum
- [거창] 피톤치드 잔뜩 느끼며 편백찜이 먹고 싶을 땐 진담 2026-05-15 · Yun-it's Table
- [거창 맛집/카페] 거창 진담 : 편백찜, 버섯만두전골 맛집 & 카페 하.... 2026-05-15 · 놀고 먹고 생각하는 삶
- [경남 거창] 거창맛집 보양카세 진담, 부모님과 함께한 보양식 한 상 2026-05-01 · 이음단미의 맛잘알 달콤투어 · via Daum
- 저녁식사 2026-01-26 · 지금 나는 · via Daum
- 거창군청맛집 진담 보양식 세트로 푸짐하게! 2025-08-19 · 카피바라 더쿠의 세상
- 거창점심추천 진담 편백찜과 찌개의 든든한 한 끼 2025-08-12 · 노재미에 일상 글
- 거창군청맛집 진담 분위기와 맛 모두 잡은 곳 2025-08-11 · 러뷰
- 거창점심맛집 저녁맛집 아롱스지만두전골의 진한 맛 한가득 2025-08-11 · 꿀피부를 위한 지름길
- 거창모임장소 진담, 아롱스지만두전골로 완벽한 모임 완성 2025-08-08 · Merci, Bonjour lady
- [거창 퓨전오마카세 맛집] 거창 퓨전오마카세 맛집 '진담' 방문기 .... 2025-08-04 · 녹색치유소 ▶ 내 일상의 모든 것을 치유하자
- 거창점심추천 편백찜과 찌개를 점심으로! 진담 2025-08-04 · 뾰로롱뾰롱 블로그
- 거창밥집추천 진심을 담은 소고기 편백찜 진담 2025-08-04 · :)
- 거창군청맛집 편백찜을 가성비 있게 먹을 수 있는 진담 2025-08-01 · 뭘 보냐고 물어보신다면
Of 124 candidate posts we opened 48 and kept 22 as evidence. We stop once 30 are confirmed: beyond that the counts grow in proportion without changing the answer.