I do have a particular tteokguk restaurant in mind to introduce here. The Jaha Son-Mandoo tucked away in Buamdong is where I always head to for a bowl of hearty, comforting Korean rice cake and dumpling soup, aka the Tteok Mandoo-guk 떡만두국. Not only the restaurant serves this “New-Year-Must-Have”, it is also famed for its delicious dumplings as well!

The restaurant is located in Buam-Dong 부암동, a mountainside neighbourhood located just a short bus ride away from Gyeongbok Palace station. Buam-Dong has developed into a popular neighbourhood for culture living in recent years.

Visitors can find indie Cafes, traditional tea houses, galleries, local boutiques and mat-jibs (Restaurant made famous by word of mouth or online reviews by serving delicious food, Mat (맛) meaning taste; whereas jib (집) means house, Mat-jib = Restaurant that is famous of their delicious offerings) here at Buam-dong. I have covered some of the eateries and cafes in Buam-Dong in my earlier entries, feel free to check them out here.

Korean dumplings are called Mandoo. The dumpling skin for Korean mandoo is thinner, smoother and chewier in texture, compared to its cousins from China and Taiwan. It is really difficult to tell which one is better, but I would say Korean makes their mandoo with light seasoning and less fatty meat. Hence, it is a healthier choice.

We ordered Pyunsoo (Beef Mandoo), Steamed Mandoo, Vegetarian Mandoo and a Mandoo Riceball Soup on our recent visit.

Kimchi is served right after we placed our order. One thing I always look forward to at every Korean Mat-jibs is their house kimchi. And Jaha Son- Mandoo’s Kimchi certainly did not disappoint. Their version of house kimchi is in a beautiful fiery red. It is crunchy but not too spicy, sweetened perfectly making it the best condiment for the dumplings and soup.

The steamed dumplings 찐만두 (KRW 5,500) are the basics in a dumpling restaurant. It is filled with cabbage, pork and some glass noodles. The cabbage brought out the sweetness in the lightly seasoned pork, make it a delightful dish. As big as lady’s fist, these steamed dumplings are quite filling for a small eater.

Not a fan of meat? The restaurant got you covered with their delicious vegetarian dumplings 엄나무순 만두 (KRW 6,500). These beautiful veggie parcels are filled up with tofu, mushrooms, cucumbers and other vegetables. I love the crisp of the cucumber in this vegan dumplings, making the dish light and delicate.

Here comes my favourite dish, the Pyunsoo Dumplings 편수 (KRW 5,500). These beef square packets are wrapped in paper-thin dumpling skin, with mushroom and cucumber as side ingredients.

For those who aren’t familiar with Korean dumplings, you might find cucumber a weird ingredient. However, the refreshing smell of the cucumber helps in eliminating greasiness, make it an excellent combination for any meat-based mandoo in Korea. In this particular dish, the cucumber brought out the sweetness of the beef while lightens the beefy smell. A must-eat in the restaurant.

Lastly, is the hallmark dish for the new year: Tteok Mandoo Guk 떡 만두국  – Dumpling rice ball soup (KRW 12,000). Instead of using the usual Garaetteok in their soup, the restaurant uses Joraengi Tteok. Having Joraengi Tteok soup on the first day of the year symbolises good luck all year round because the 3-cm-long white rice cake, which is in the shape of a silkworm, is a symbol of good fortune in Korea.

Jaha Son-Mandoo makes fancy rice cake soup by adding coloured dumplings to the dish – literally a feast for the eyes! It is also a very filling dish, also a great dish to warm up your body in the winter.

So have you taken your rice cake soup today? Congratulations if you had your tteok-guk, because you’re a year wiser! Now you can go around asking your Korean friends if they had their rice cake soup by asking:

Tteok-guk mogo-sso yo? 떡국 먹었어요?
Have you taken your rice cake soup today?

Writer’s Note: Jaha Son-Mandoo is a great place for a hearty and delicious bowl of rice cake dumpling soup and fresh handmade dumplings. Each and every piece of dumpling is painstakingly folded and wrapped daily. If you are looking for a vegan-friendly restaurant in Seoul, this is a great place. For an elaborate meal, order dumplings Jeongol (casseroles). Remember to explore the area after the meal and have a good cup of coffee before leaving Buamdong.

Contact Details:

Jaha Son-Mandoo 자하손만두
245-2 Buam-dong, Jongno-gu, Seoul, South Korea
서울 종로구 부암동 245-2
Tel :+82 2-379-2648
Operating Hours: 11 am-930 pm

Directions:

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If you’re planning your Seoul trip itinerary and want something original and typical but less touristy, this restaurant is an excellent option. It is located near the Gongdeok AREX Station 공항철도 공덕역, which is a great location for you to get your very first meal upon arrival, or a wonderful last meal in Korea. Trust me, you probably won’t stop yearning for the soup until your next trip here.

A set of kimchi jjigae cost KRW 7,000 and comes with rice and assorted side dishes. Now, ATTENTION, my fellow BIG eaters! Here at Guldari Sikdang, you can ask for both the rice AND the kimchi jjigae refill if you order the amount of food according to the number of the headcounts you have. There is no limit on free refills. It is really eat-all-you-can at KRW 7,000. Deal?

Fly here already.

Pardon me, I only managed to take a few general shots of the food as I was too hungry that day. Moreover, I was with two other friends who were as hungry as I was. When you have (h)angry friends it wouldn’t be nice to make them wait. LOLx. However, I managed to find some very nice photos taken by a Korean blogger the Nomad21, you can check out other pictures of the restaurant here.

So here’s our Kimchi Jjigae from Guldari Sikdang. The soup hits a beautiful sweet and sour balance. I would say it is a clever 6:4 sweet and sour ratio, with a little spicy kick at the end — a result achieved by cooking a huge amount of old, over-fermented kimchi over a long time. The soup gets thicker and tastier as more time is invested to simmer the soup. The outcome is a mouth-watering broth in a tempting shade of orange-red, with deep flavours and taste.

Each and every leaf of the kimchi is cooked to a soft, semi-translucent state, fully sucking up the appetising broth. Mix your rice with some kimchi soup and dried seaweed — this might not be an elegant sight, but you’ll find yourself with an empty rice bowl in no time. Korean call dishes like this the “rice thief” (Bap-doduk 밥도둑).

As you gobble up this messy little bowl, the show has just begun. No more rice in your bowl? Time to shout: “Yi-mo~ bap hana chu-se-yo” and get your silver rice bowl refilled before we move on to the next dish.

The other menu in the restaurant is Jaeyuk Bokgeum (Spicy Stir Fried Pork 제육볶음). Going at KRW10,000 per serving, these thick chunks of pork are soft, spicy and very well marinated. It is not exactly cheap but I find them filling enough. I liked it because there wasn’t a single trace of the funky pork-y smell in the dish. Contrasting with the others who serve their Jaeyuk Bokgeum using thinly sliced pork, Guldari’s juicy and tender meat is boldly and generously cut into huge chunks. Koreans would tell you the Jaeyuk Bokgeum chunks reminds them of their grandma’s cooking. It is a dish that evokes a sense of nostalgia to many Koreans.

The garlic-y spicy gravy is the highlight of the meal. I have no idea what exactly they do to the red Yangnyeom gravy but it was downright delicious. Please be sure to scoop a generous portion of the gravy onto the rice, and have some seaweed ready for wrapping.

Another star side dish is this thick Gyeran Mari (계란말이). This Korean rolled omelette is a popular Korean side dish, usually appear in lunch boxes. It is so humble yet satisfying; I couldn’t imagine having Guldari’s kimchi soup and Jaeyuk Bokggeum without having their rolled omelette. A meal at Guldari is incomplete without the Gyeran Mari. Do you get me? LOLx. You don’t need to order this as they serve it as sides throughout the year. It is refillable too!

Looking at these Guldari foodporn by Korean Instagrammers make me droll. I would brave the snow and get my kimchi jjigae crave satisfied now!

#공덕#굴다리식당#김치찌개 신김치에 지우개만힌 고기랑 밥한공기 뚝딱ㅎ 이틀남았다. 함께해줘서 너무 고마워?

A photo posted by 으르룡대 (@yongdae.kkim) on Sep 2, 2015 at 7:44am PDT

#먹스타그램 #공덕역 #공덕맛집 #굴다리식당 #굴다리김치찌개 #김치찌개 #김치찌개맛집 A photo posted by Lee Bora (@lee.bora.5817) on Oct 12, 2015 at 12:22am PDT

#마포 #굴다리식당 오늘도 스트레스로 하얗게 불태운 #불금 #야근 하고 저녁먹으면서 #반주한잔 #제육볶음 #김치찌개맛집 #먹스타그램 #instafood #instagood #instapic #daily

A photo posted by YK Choi (@yk.choi) on Nov 20, 2015 at 6:58am PST

Writer’s Note: The restaurant only serves Kimchi soup and the spicy stir-fry pork for almost 40 years. This shows their speciality in serving Kimchi Jjigae and Jaeyuk Bokgeum. It is my go-to when I crave a bowl of kimchi soup in Seoul. Soup is served in a huge naengmyeon bowl, but the first sip of the soup tells you the restaurant goes for both quality and quantity. It is the local restaurant I would recommend it to any first timers in Seoul. As for the big eaters, what are you waiting for?

Contact Details:

Guldari Sikdang 굴다리 식당
Address: 181-45 Dohwa-dong, Mapo-gu, Seoul, South Korea
Korean address: 서울특별시 마포구 도화동 181-45
Operating Hours: 11am-10pm.

Directions:

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To many Asians residing in Seoul, what we like about the city is that we can easily find a Korean dish resembles a home dish we grow up eating. (We’re all Asian anyway!) I get to eat Su-jae-bee here, which is exactly the Korean form of Mee-Hoon-Kueh or Ban-Mian at home. (And Chinese call them mian-geda 面疙瘩 too). Our culinary culture is, in fact, similar. Another fun fact I learn here is: the hot pepper flakes, an essential ingredient in making Kimchi and all the Korean spicy dishes only came to Korea in the 17th century. That means, long time ago, Korean lived without spicy hot pepper, even when they were making Kimchi. What I want to say here is, there are a lot more options.

UPDATE 2020: Duroomi is now permanently closed. 

The lotus leaf meal at Duroomi 두루미 키친 is one. It is a go-to place when you are sick of your typical Kimchi-land food. If you’re traveling with your folks, I am sure they’ll like it. (Tested and proven when my family came to visit.) Hidden in Samcheongdong, the restaurant serves contemporary Korean food using lotus leaves as the main ingredient. Their hot pot set lunch is perfect on a windy or snowy winter day, especially when you’ve exhausted your feet from exploring the neighborhood.

This bungalow-turn-restaurant is an establishment perfect for a family gathering and/or couple dining. It is truly inviting with its cosy, home-like atmosphere as if we were invited over to a friend’s house for a meal.

Meals here comes in a set. Each hot pots has a minimum order for two person but all sets come with refillable side dishes. You can choose to top up another KRW 5,000 for a lotus leaf steamed rice or porridge, or plain noodles to complete the meal. We selected the Chadulbaegi bosot jeongol 차돌박이 버섯전골 (beef brisket and mushroom hotpot) and a lotus leaf steamed rice each.

What I like about dining at Duroomi is: all of their side dishes taste like home cooking to me and I haven’t had a dish that wasn’t good. I especially love their Japchae (Korean Glass Noodles stir-fried with meat and vegetables) and  Bokkeum Kimchi (Stir fry Kimchi), two very common home dishes I used to eat at my Korean foster parents’ place during my language training days – comforting, soothing and filling.

Now here comes the lotus leaf glutinous rice, Yeonyip-bap 연잎밥 — another Korean version of the classic Chinese dim sum, the Loh-Mai-Gai. While the Chinese lotus leaf glutinous rice is rich in flavour and tends to be more greasy, the Yeonyip-bap has a muted earthy aroma of ginkgo nuts, chestnuts and red dates, with minimal seasoning.

A chorus of aroma hits my nose as I unwrap the lotus packet. The rice and fillings are cooked evenly, with a slight burnt at the sides. I love the chewy texture of the lotus aroma infused rice. The leafy nuance and fragrance not only pairs well with all the other banchan (side dishes), but also the Chadulbaegi hot pot.

Here come our Chadulbaegi, the beef brisket and mushroom hot pot. It was served together with a small jar of homemade lotus leaf powder to add to the soup for a stronger lotus leaf aroma. The mushrooms, veggies and beef were cooked to tender perfection while the soup is infused with the teasing aroma of the leaf – a perfect melding of flavours! A hot, comforting soup-y lunch in winter, you couldn’t have asked for more.

The meal comes with a cup of tea. While the folks were taking their rest, I went up to the 2nd floor of the restaurant and took some pictures of their tastefully decorated interior.

Writer’s Note: If you are travelling to Seoul in winter, be sure to bookmark the blog down as this could be your saviour when you’re sick of your typical Kimchi-land food (aye, I can feel you.) This is one of my go-to places in Samcheongdong during the colder season. If you have developed a hal-mae ipmat (할매 입맛, a taste for anything traditional, like a grandma’s taste), this is where you and your like-minded friends should totally visit.

Contact Details:

At Duroomi 두루미 키친
27-6 Samcheong-Dong, Jongno-gu, Seoul.
서울시 종로구 삼청동 27-6
Tel: +82-70-4063-2787

Directions:

1. Take any subway line to Anguk Station 안국역, take exit no.2
2. Once you come up from exit no. 2, walk straight for about 12M and locate a bus stop for maeul bus Jongno 02 (종로02 )

3. Take bus Jongno 02 (종로02) and alight 6 stops later at Gamsa-won (감사원 The Board of Audit and Inspection of Korea).

4. Cross the zebra crossing, and you’ll find yourself in front of Samcheongdong Post Office (삼청동 우체국). Follow my direction in the above picture, walk down to the direction where the blue arrow is pointing.

4. Continue to walk down the slope and you’ll find yourself passing Vietnam Embassy of Korea, then the University of North Korean Studies, at your left-hand side. Keep going down the road until you reach another junction. Then turn left.

5. Continue walking down and take note of an alley at your left-hand side. Turn into the small alley &  you’ll see the restaurant.

It looks quite complicated but if you follow my guide closely, you’ll be able to locate the Duroomi restaurant in about 5-10 minutes after alighting the bus.

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It is such a common food that every household would serve on their dining table every now and then. And I happened to find one just nearby the Seoul National University station. This one here nearby the station by a Kimchi Jjigae specialist is however slightly different from what we consume at our Korean friend’s house, or at any bunsik-jib (convenient food store). This particular place that I am writing today serves hot and filling spicy soup, with big chunks of pork, and, of course in a gigantic big pot. If you are a committed carnivore, this place is exactly where you should check out.

And so here am I at this little Kimchi Stew Specialist located at the corner of the street near my house. K and I were there at 1230 noon sharp and got a shock. We didn’t expect a full house. So we joined the queue and waited outside for about 20 minutes before getting in.

The menu was written onto silver trays that hung against the wall. Beside it was a note by the restaurant chain owner that says:

Our kimchi broth is freshly prepared every morning. We would rather start our business later than re-using the leftovers from yesterday.

This explains why I always see kimchi broth packed in garbage bags for disposal outside the restaurant every morning. They really throw the leftovers away and prepare fresh ones every day!

Cute paper towel roll holder that looks like an oversized film box. According to some Korean bloggers, the young owner of the restaurant loves photography. Hence, the restaurant is decorated as a mini-gallery showcasing the owner’s work.

The restaurant is in a cosy size that fits six to seven tables for 4. So if you’re unlucky, you may need to wait outside for your turn. Mind you, they are good at their jjigae so, be prepared to queue for at least 20 to 30 minutes!

The menu is simple. You can choose between a basic pot (fit for 2-3 pax.) or upsize pot (fit 4-6 pax.). After making your choice of the size, you can then select add-ons like egg rolls (KRW6,500), Instant noodles (KRW 1,000), dumplings (KRW1,500) or seaweed (KRW 1,000 for two packs). Do take note that with every order of one kimchi stew comes one pack of free seaweed. : D

Since the two of us are not big eaters, we decided not to have any other add ons in the soup.  We ordered a basic pot, egg rolls, two white rice and additional seaweed packs. The piping hot pot was served a short while later. Okay, the stew doesn’t look photogenic but trust me, the look doesn’t do any justice to the taste. It is slightly pulpy and VERY rich in flavour.

Eggroll was huge. It is not like those finely made tamago egg rolls you probably will get at some fancy Japanese restaurant. Rather, it feels more like home here.

The selling point of this place, I would say it is their enormously huge pot, with 3 big, fat, juicy chunks of pork belly (for two-person).  No kidding. Look at my pictures below.

Each piece of the belly was at least 1.5 to 2 cm thick. Customers got to help themselves with the cutting before eating. It was quite fun though K was the one who did most of the cutting.

I wasn’t prepared to be on the blog that day so here are some edited pictures of mine with the funny cat head app. Well, you can have a clearer picture of how big the pot is.

The sizzling porky kimchi stew is ready to eat. Look at the vibrant orange colour broth! Isn’t it lovely? I must say nothing beats a bubbling hot Kimchi stew on a chilly winter-like autumn night in Seoul. Fiery hot, hearty and full of flavour, this is certainly my type of comfort food — in a  luxurious way. Look at the amount of meat we consume for this one single meal. It was good nonetheless, one of the best kimchi jjigae places in Seoul I’d say.

Tips for ordering: 
Look at the leftovers we had should give you a brief idea of how to order your kimchi stew with them. Everything was nice, but the portion is a tad too big for regular eaters like us. However, I think it will make it just right for 3 people to order a regular pot. A gigantic pot of kimchi stew with huge chunks of pork belly at KRW13,000, I think is very reasonable.

Contact Information:

Nang Pung Kimchi JJigae (Seoul Nat’l University Station)
883-11, level 1, cheongryung-dong, Gwanak-gu, Seoul.
서울시 관악구 청룡동 883-11, 1층.

Nang Pung Kimchi JJigae (Hongik Univ. Station/Sangsu Station) 
409-10 Seogyo-dong, Mapo-gu, Seoul.
서울시 마포구 와우산로 15길-28. / 서울시 마포구 서교동 409-10

UPDATE 2015 :

I noticed Nangpung has ceased its franchise business at the Seoul Nat’l University outlet. However, you can still get kimchi jiggle at the same location. The restaurant is no longer called “Nang Pung” but it sells the same dishes.

How To Get There: 

1. Coming out from Line No. 2 (Green Line) Seoul Nat’l University Station (서울대입구역) Exit No.4, walk straight.
2. Walk down 3 blocks. You’ll pass by Woori Bank, Mr. Pizza, Tous Les Jous, Cafe Bene, IBK bank and Hi Mart (all at your left-hand side) before reaching the correct junction.
3. Turn left right after Hi Mart, you’ll see a cosy little shop house with navy blue colour banners. That’s Nang Pung, the Kimchi Stew Specialist.

Yurim-Myeon, a noodle house that is located near City Hall Station, serves one of the best cold buckwheat noodles in Seoul. Serving their noodles from a recipe passed down through 3 generations, this place has gathered “Noodles Know-How” for more than 50 years. I was told they serve 6 menus (menus may differ slightly due to season changes) with pride because they only use ingredients that are grown in Korea.

Here are the dishes they serve during my visit a week ago:

메밀 국수 Memil Guksu (buckwheat noodles) KRW 7,000
비빔 메밀 Bibim Memil (buckwheat noodles with red hot pepper paste) KRW 8,000
비빔 국수 Bibim Guksu (noodles with vegetables and red hot pepper paste) KRW 7,000
냄비 우동 Naembi Udong (udon noodles in a hot pot) KRW7,000

As their Naembi Udong is the most popular dish, we settled down with one of it and a “Memil Guksu” buckwheat noodles.

The tsuyu soup stock and shallots arrived first before the noodles. Judging at the tsuyu itself you know it is going to be very different from ordinary Japanese soba as Japanese soba is usually served with a clearer sauce. Yulim-Myeon’s version of tsuyu, however, is mixed up with chopped radish.

The cold buckwheat noodles arrived a few minutes later. It was rather plain in appearance with dried seaweed on top of the noodles through the translucent gloss shining from the noodles itself is clearly a good sign of a well-prepared dish.

From what I understand, good soba is rinsed rather vigorously in cold running water. The most common misconception about making soba is the idea that you plunged the noodles in the cold water to cool them off, which is, in fact, wrong. Good soba is rinsed (or washed to be exact) under cold running water repeatedly. This procedure is said to effectively get rid of excess starch which will adversely affect the flavour of the noodles.

It was a total surprise that a serving of buckwheat noodles actually comes in two separated bamboo mat boxes that come in a stack. I didn’t know about it until I tried to remove the noodle boxes. ^^;;

This is basically how you eat their noodles: pour the shallots in the soup stock, add some mustard and mix them well. To eat it, simply take a portion of the noodle, one mouthful each time, dip it briefly in the sauce, and there you go SLURPing~

The tsuyu soup stock was well-done, I must say. Sweet and saltish, the fragrance of the soup stock imbues the radish with well-rounded flavours. Noodles come in smooth, chewy al-dente texture on the tongue. Together with the crisp of the shallots and radish, it is a refreshing pleasure to slurp it down your throat.

If you paid close attention to Korean pop culture recently, I am sure you’ll find this picture above very familiar — it was the filming location of the popular drama <My love from the Star> starred by Kim Suhyun and Jeon Jihyun. In fact, the place where I took the picture was exactly where Do Minjoon (Kim Suhyun) was seated in the drama.

Remember the scene Cheon Songyi said that she hated eating alone? Do Minjoon was actually having udon with Lawyer Jang while receiving Songyi’s call that she was hungry. When he decided to get her a meal, he remembered Songyi’s preference for having someone dining together with her, so he actually got home with two udons just to eat dinner again with her!

So how does this Naembi Udon actually taste like?

It is a rather simple dish with mushrooms, fish cakes and an egg. The soy sauce-based broth is light and clean, with light saltiness, leaving a bit of sweetness on your tastebuds. A comforting dish I would say, but nothing more than that. To be honest, the texture of the noodle does not leave me much impression. It pales in comparison with Tamoya Udon we have in Liang Court back in Singapore. If you really crave good udon in Seoul, I would recommend the Udon chain from Shinjuku —Marukame that landed in Gangnam last winter.

My Verdict: Their cold buckwheat noodle (maemil guksu) is currently top of my list. I am certainly going back for it. I heard their Bibim maemil is great too. If you like spicy cold noodles, you should go for it. However, I don’t think I am going for their Naembi Udon. It is nice, but a tad too simple. Not unless I am not feeling well during colder days and needed something comforting and not too heavy. This place certainly gains a little more publication after the <My love from the star> drama craze. That said, serving up noodles for more than 50 years, they certainly know their ground and was already well-loved by the people, even before the drama. The Ideal place to visit this summer if you need to cool down the heat a bit.

Contact Details:
Yurim Myeon 유림면
139-1, Seosomun-ro, Jung-gu, Seoul
서울 중구 서소문로 139-1 (서소문동)
Tel: +82-2-755-0659 (Reservation available during lunch time only)
Operation hours: 11am- 830pm.

How to get there: As there are no big carparks nearby, it is recommended to take public transport to the restaurant.

1. Get off at City Hall Station (Seoul Subway Line 1 or 2), Exit 12, or 11. I recommend taking Exit 11. 2. Upon exiting the station, walk towards the direction to Deoksugung Doldam-gil. 3. Pass one building, and immediately turn left into an alley. You’ll be able to see their front gate, which look like this:

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