Cheonggan Makguksu is a makguksu specialist that has just opened in Samsung Town by Gangnam Station. It’s called makguksu, but you could call it Pyeongyang naengmyeon and it wouldn’t be much different.

The menu board

Going digital seems to be the default for newly opened places.

Inside

I came early, so it’s nice and empty. The closer it gets to lunchtime, the more it seems to fill right up.

Side dishes

Simple.

First, a beer..

Drinks first, noodles after..

Bibim makguksu

The noodles themselves are really good, but the portion feels a touch small.

Dongchimi makguksu

It’s called makguksu, but at this level there’s not much difference from Pyeongyang naengmyeon.

Dongchimi (radish water kimchi)

They bring you the broth packed with ice. This is what you’d call the Eulmildae style, but serving it this cold does have the problem of killing the flavour and the aroma. So even though mine was the one with broth, I only poured in a little, let it melt, and then ate. In midsummer it would be fine just as it is, but if it comes out like this all year round I think opinions will be split.

Meat mandu and kimchi mandu

Unusually, what arrives isn’t steamed mandu but pan-fried mandu, and they taste decent. It felt like a deliberate “we’re going to do something different from your average naengmyeon place!” move.

The interior

It’s spacious. Being Samsung Town, I’d guess the people working around here are the main clientele, which is probably why they’re so well set up for drinking and why the prices run a little high. In any case, there’s no doubt this is a good makguksu place that mills its own flour and cares about its noodles, so for anyone who thinks trekking all the way out to Gangwon-do is too much bother, a decent alternative has appeared right in Seoul.

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