I heard there was a good Chinese restaurant in one of the alleys on the way from Yeongdeungpo over to Yeouido, so I went and had a look. I found out about it because the owner of Miro posted about it on Instagram.

The place

Maybe because I turned up a bit late, there was no queue forming.

The menu

Nice and simple.

Jjamppong

A thick broth full of that smoky wok flavor, ingredients properly prepped, and noodles that clung to it all rather than drifting around on their own.. Even at places that claim to know their jjamppong, they tend to just use unusual ingredients or crank up the heat, and hardly any of them get the balance right like this. To think a place like this was sitting in Yeongdeungpo all along..

The noodles

Excellent.

Inside

This place does not let you bring your own alcohol. And the atmosphere is a bit awkward for a group get-together as well. It feels like the kind of place that needs to keep the tables turning.

That said, after eating well here and heading out, I searched for the place’s reputation, and there were an awful lot of reviews saying it was nothing special.. I wondered why, and it seems to come down to gochu jjamppong. For the young crowd these days, used to the ferociously spicy gochu jjamppong that YouTubers keep promoting, jjamppong at this level just does not have enough of a kick.. If anything, they could add one moderately spicy gochu jjamppong to the menu, invite a few YouTubers over to promote it, and the queue would be out the door in no time.. it did feel like a bit of a shame..

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