Seoul April 2017: Myeongdong and Gangnam Kyoja
Myeongdong Kyoja is one of the must-eats in Seoul recommended by Singaporean bloggers. Naturally, I had to try it out.
Myeongdong Kyoja, as the name suggests, is in the middle of Myeongdong, a shopping / tourist district in Seoul. It's quite easy to locate. The menu has 4 items, the dumplings (kyoja), spicy cold noodles, soymilk cold noodles and dumpling noodle soup, which is hot.
The soymilk cold noodles are really, really cold. It creates a very stark contrast between the heat from the dumplings and the noodles. The soymilk is quite concentrated and has a savoury fragrance from toasted sesame seeds. The soup has an almost congee-like consistency. Mixed together with the sliced cucumber and wheat noodles, it tastes quite refreshing.
We chanced upon Gangnam Gyoja during the later part of the week of our stay. It is actually a branch of the same restaurant, but located in the Gangnam area. Gangnam Gyoja has a slightly more extensive menu, including items like mushroom hotpot and beef dishes. The main items like the dumplings, cold noodles and dumpling noodles are available as well.
This time round, we ordered the dumplings and the dumpling soup noodles. Ditto spicy kimchi.
The soup noodles were served in a large metal bowl, with dumplings, sliced cucumber, chives and minced chicken. The dumplings, unlike the steamed ones, were flat in shape and reminded me of the normal shui-jiao we have in Singapore. The filling is the same as the steamed dumplings, minced pork and chives. The chicken broth is quite thick and in my opinion, it made the noodles more slippery than usual. Most of the savoury flavour came from the minced chicken, which is the brown stuff on top. The broth tastes mainly of chicken and wheat.
We spent about 18000 to 20000 won for each meal. I would recommend trying the soymilk noodles and the dumplings from the Myeongdong Kyoja chain of restaurants. In my opinion, the soymilk noodles are quite unique and I did not notice other places selling something similar.
On a side note, we did try dumplings at other random eateries. For example, I remember going to Mapo Mandu (near Sinchon metro station), which is cheaper and has more or less the same ingredients. Texture-wise just a little difference. My take is that there are different choices to suit different budgets.
Myeongdong Kyoja
http://www.mdkj.co.kr/en/index.php
25-2 Myeongdong 2(i)-ga, Jung-gu, Seoul, South Korea
Open 10.30am to 9.30pm daily
Gangnam Gyoja
1308-1 Seocho-dong, Seocho-gu, Seoul, South Korea
(To find it on Google Maps, just type "Gangnam Gyoja" and the Korean characters will indicate the destination.)
Open 10.30 am to 10pm daily
Myeongdong Kyoja, as the name suggests, is in the middle of Myeongdong, a shopping / tourist district in Seoul. It's quite easy to locate. The menu has 4 items, the dumplings (kyoja), spicy cold noodles, soymilk cold noodles and dumpling noodle soup, which is hot.
We ordered the dumplings (10 per serving) and the soymilk cold noodles as the latter sounds quite interesting. The dumplings are round, like an inverted xiao long bao. As I bit into one, I found that the pork and the chives are minced finely and evenly distributed. There is just a bit of fat / oil to give a mochi-like feel to the dumplings. Unlike xiao long bao, it doesn't really have any hot liquid / soup coming out to take you by surprise or scald your tongue.
The side dish of kimchi comes free of charge, which is common in most eateries in Seoul. The kimchi is cold and crunchy, but very spicy. For those who are not a fan of spicy food, do remove the chilli paste from the kimchi before eating. It will still sting quite a bit, but at least you won't have smoke pouring out from your nose and ears.
We chanced upon Gangnam Gyoja during the later part of the week of our stay. It is actually a branch of the same restaurant, but located in the Gangnam area. Gangnam Gyoja has a slightly more extensive menu, including items like mushroom hotpot and beef dishes. The main items like the dumplings, cold noodles and dumpling noodles are available as well.
This time round, we ordered the dumplings and the dumpling soup noodles. Ditto spicy kimchi.
The soup noodles were served in a large metal bowl, with dumplings, sliced cucumber, chives and minced chicken. The dumplings, unlike the steamed ones, were flat in shape and reminded me of the normal shui-jiao we have in Singapore. The filling is the same as the steamed dumplings, minced pork and chives. The chicken broth is quite thick and in my opinion, it made the noodles more slippery than usual. Most of the savoury flavour came from the minced chicken, which is the brown stuff on top. The broth tastes mainly of chicken and wheat.
We spent about 18000 to 20000 won for each meal. I would recommend trying the soymilk noodles and the dumplings from the Myeongdong Kyoja chain of restaurants. In my opinion, the soymilk noodles are quite unique and I did not notice other places selling something similar.
On a side note, we did try dumplings at other random eateries. For example, I remember going to Mapo Mandu (near Sinchon metro station), which is cheaper and has more or less the same ingredients. Texture-wise just a little difference. My take is that there are different choices to suit different budgets.
Myeongdong Kyoja
http://www.mdkj.co.kr/en/index.php
25-2 Myeongdong 2(i)-ga, Jung-gu, Seoul, South Korea
Open 10.30am to 9.30pm daily
Gangnam Gyoja
1308-1 Seocho-dong, Seocho-gu, Seoul, South Korea
(To find it on Google Maps, just type "Gangnam Gyoja" and the Korean characters will indicate the destination.)
Open 10.30 am to 10pm daily
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