Around the gas station near Sinsa Station, there’s a whole cluster of 24-hour haejangguk places. It’s a unique local feature of Sinsa-dong that you won’t find anywhere else in Seoul, and maybe because so many of them are long-established spots, the food is consistently decent even though they’re open around the clock. Whenever I finish work late or end up eating alone, I tend to head over there, but I hadn’t been in quite a while, and when I finally went back to Yangpyeong Haejangguk, it felt like the food had gotten even better.
Side dishes
Nothing special, just ordinary side dishes.
Haejangguk
I’ve never seen a haejangguk this loaded for 7,000 won. It has to be the best value in the whole Gangnam area. On top of that, the broth is spicy and refreshing and the bits in it are tasty, so I found myself craving soju. I don’t remember it being this good before; I have no idea what happened.
Naejangtang (offal soup), large, 10,000 won
They use nice fresh offal. The broth was packed with garlic, which really perked me up. Since it’s hard to fill a whole bowl with offal alone, it isn’t the extreme value that the haejangguk is, but there’s enough in it to fill you up. Partway through I added some kkakdugi juice, and it got even better.
Haenaetang
This one is the haejangguk broth with the naejangtang’s offal in it. If you want a cleaner, spicier broth than the haejangguk, this is the one to pick, but I was so happy with the haejangguk broth that I don’t think I need to order the haenaetang.
It’s a great place for a second or third round, but sadly I’ve only ever ordered a meal here and never had soju with it. I should set up an impromptu get-together in Gangnam soon and drop by for round two.
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