Cheonan Byeongcheon Sundae Street
A market-town food street in eastern Cheonan where Byeongcheon sundae grew from Aunae Market stalls into a concentrated row of specialist gukbap restaurants
Sundae gukbap, assorted Byeongcheon sundae, comparing restaurant broths and combining a meal with Aunae Market
A low-rise specialist restaurant strip around Aunaesundae-gil beside Byeongcheon Market, with the oldest shops and newer sundae restaurants distributed along the road rather than inside one hall
Byeongcheon is unusually legible as a working food economy: the same local industry first supplied the sausage’s raw material and later supplied the customers who expanded the street
The factory scraps went to the market
In the 1960s, a pork-processing plant near Byeongcheon used the lean meat for ham and sold the remaining offal into Aunae Market. Vendors already made sundae for market days; the steady supply of fresh intestines gave that cheap meal a stronger local base
Cheonghwajip marks the change from temporary stall to permanent restaurant. Its founding family had sold sundae at the five-day market, then put up a sign at its present location in 1968. Chungnamjip and Dwaejine followed, and sundae gukbap began to move from something tied to market day into an everyday business
Small intestine carries the filling
Byeongcheon sundae uses pig small intestine as its casing. The filling is built around blood, vegetables such as cabbage and onion, and glutinous rice, with much less glass noodle than the inexpensive commercial sundae common elsewhere. Some versions leave the noodles out entirely
The soup is not standardized across the street. Restaurants build their broths differently, from bone stock with ginger and scallion to versions scented with medicinal herbs. Cheonghwajip, the oldest permanent shop on the street, keeps its current menu almost austere: sundae gukbap and an assorted sundae plate
Factories came back as customers
A second industrial change enlarged the street in the early 1990s. Small and medium-sized companies moved into the area around Byeongcheon, bringing a regular lunch and dinner trade. More sundae restaurants opened along Aunaesundae-gil, turning several old market businesses into a specialist district
Cheonan’s current commercial registry lists 18 businesses on Byeongcheon Sundae Street separately from the much larger Byeongcheon Market nearby. In 2025, the city added a dedicated illuminated street marker at the entrance roundabout, reinforcing the street as a named food destination in its own right and marking its present commercial identity
Before you go
An assorted sundae plate shows the local construction most clearly: the small-intestine casing and vegetable-heavy filling can be seen without the broth around them. Sundae gukbap gives the other half of the Byeongcheon format, putting the sausage and pork into the milky soup that turned a market snack into a full meal
- Hours
- Hours and regular closing days vary by restaurant
- Admission
- The street is a public commercial district with no admission system; diners pay individual restaurants
- Access
- Parking is available in the street area; individual restaurants also have their own access and parking arrangements