Best restaurants in Korea for every situation
40 restaurants in the Korea on a Plate guide for noodles and dumplings, ranked Monthly 30 first and then by Google rating. Each has hours, a price per person and what to order.
In this guide: Myeongdong Kyoja, Woo Lae Oak, Eulmildae, Haeundae Gaya Milmyeon, Seogyo Nanmyeonbang.
At a glance: Price per person ₩7,000–₩25,000 (middle ₩13,000). Average Google rating ★4.1. 2 of 40 are open late or 24 hours.
Updated 2026-10-05
| Restaurant | Area | Order | Per person | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Myeongdong Kyoja | Myeongdong | Kalguksu · handmade noodle soup | ₩12,000 | ★4.2 |
| Woo Lae Oak | Myeongdong | Pyeongyang naengmyeon | ₩25,000 | ★4.2 |
| Eulmildae | Hongdae | Mul-naengmyeon · Pyongyang-style cold buckwheat noodles | ₩16,000 | ★4.2 |
| Haeundae Gaya Milmyeon | Busan | Milmyeon · chilled wheat noodles | ₩10,000 | ★4.1 |
| Seogyo Nanmyeonbang | Hongdae | Seogyo nanmyeon · the house noodle bowl | ₩13,000 | ★4.9 |
| Bongmilga | Gangnam | Pyeongyang mul-guksu · buckwheat noodles in chilled beef broth | ₩15,500 | ★4.5 |
| Jeongyukmyeonche | Hongdae | Hongtan beef noodle soup | ₩12,500 | ★4.3 |
| Hwangsan Naengmyeon | Jamsil | Milmyeon & eobokjaengban · wheat cold noodles and boiled-beef hot pot | ₩15,000 | ★4.3 |
| Oiji (Pickled Cucumber) | Jongno | Chadol deulgireum guksu · perilla oil noodles with beef brisket | ₩14,000 | ★4.4 |
| Kongcheongdae | Hongdae | Kongguksu · noodles in cold soybean broth | ₩13,000 | ★4.5 |
명동교자
₩12,000 per person
Hours 10:30–21:00
A comforting first stop in the heart of Myeongdong. Come for handmade noodles in a rich broth, with mandu dumplings to share.
우래옥
₩25,000 per person
Hours 11:30–21:00
Explore the lighter side of Korean noodles. Woo Lae Oak serves Pyeongyang-style naengmyeon in a clean, restrained cold broth.
Main branch
을밀대 본점
₩16,000 per person
Hours 11:00–22:00
Eulmildae is one of Seoul's most-cited destinations for Pyongyang-style naengmyeon, a subtle buckwheat noodle in cold beef broth that Korean food lovers argue over endlessly. It's an acquired taste for first-timers, and a window into a dish with roots north of the border.
해운대 가야밀면
₩10,000 per person
Hours 09:00–20:40
Get to know Busan through its signature cold wheat noodles. The icy broth, chewy noodles and bright garnishes make a refreshing change from the grill.
서교난면방
₩13,000 per person
Hours Wed–Mon 11:00–21:00
A small noodle restaurant holding a Michelin Bib Gourmand in the Seoul selection. The kitchen builds Korean noodle bowls with some Italian technique, and the menu changes with the season, turning cold in summer and to an ox-head broth in winter. There are only a few tables.
봉밀가
₩15,500 per person
Hours Mon–Sat 11:00–21:00
Opened in 2014 by an owner who mills and cuts his own buckwheat, so the strands are slightly thicker and rougher than at the older Pyongyang houses. The broth is simmered about five hours from Korean beef with medicinal roots, and the house also makes its own pear vinegar, mustard sauce and daily radish kimchi. It appears in the Michelin Guide Seoul selection.
정육면체
₩12,500 per person
Hours Sun–Fri 11:00–21:00
A small Chinese noodle bar on the Yonsei University street behind Sinchon Station, listed as a Michelin Bib Gourmand address. The menu is short: beef noodle soups in a red-braised or clear broth, plus a few side plates. Most seating is at a bar facing the open kitchen, which suits eating alone.
황산냉면
₩15,000 per person
Hours 11:00–21:30
Opened by the son of a well-known Busan milmyeon shop, this modest Bangi-dong storefront brings a beef-bone-broth take on the noodle dish to Seoul, alongside the less common eobokjaengban beef platter. It's a good, wallet-friendly stop near Olympic Park and the Bangi-dong dining alley, an easy add-on to a day around Jamsil.
오이지
₩14,000 per person
Hours 11:30–22:00
Oiji, next to Hyehwa Station in Daehangno, is listed on DiningCode as a fusion Korean restaurant. The menu runs from perilla oil noodles with brisket and pollock roe cheese soft tofu to black sesame cream sujebi, sukiyaki and chashu kimchi rice bowls, and a crispy cheese potato pancake. Reviewers most often call it casual, clean, pretty and lively.
콩청대
₩13,000 per person
Hours 11:00–21:30
Kongcheongdae is a Hapjeong restaurant listed on DiningCode for kongguksu and cheonggukjang sundubu. The menu centres on soybean dishes: kongguksu (₩13,000), soft tofu stews and kongbiji-jjigae at ₩10,000–11,000, and a boiled-pork set (₩15,000); DiningCode reviewers most often call it popular with locals, down-to-earth and clean.
면서울
₩14,000 per person
Hours Mon–Sat 11:00–22:00
The second restaurant from chef Kim Do-yun of Yun Seoul, opened because guests asked to buy the house-made noodles on their own. The noodles are milled from a blend of wholewheat with mung bean and soybean and use no chemical additives. It holds a Bib Gourmand in the Michelin Guide.
여의도 진주집
₩14,000 per person
Hours Mon–Fri 10:00–20:00; Sat 10:00–19:00
A basement lunch counter tracing its roots to a 1962 restaurant in Jinju, this Yeouido institution has been feeding the neighborhood's office workers for decades with a single excellent dish. It's an easy, air-conditioned break from Yeouido's finance-district towers and the nearby Han River park.
진미평양냉면
₩18,000 per person
Hours 11:00–21:30
One of Gangnam's most consistently recommended Pyongyang naengmyeon houses, regularly named alongside the city's best in Korean food media. The broth is subtle and savory rather than sweet, meant to be tasted plain before any condiments go in.
황생가칼국수
₩13,000 per person
Hours 11:00–21:30
A warming noodle stop near Gyeongbokgung and Bukchon. Pair the beef-bone broth noodles with jumbo dumplings for a fuller table.
필동면옥
₩20,000 per person
Hours Mon–Sat 11:00–20:20
Try refreshing Pyeongyang-style noodles in Chungmuro. The light broth and chewy noodles offer a quieter flavor profile than spicy noodle dishes.
홍명
₩12,000 per person
Hours Mon–Sun 11:30–21:30
An old-school Korean-Chinese restaurant off Nonhyeon-ro that has been running for over twenty years and became much busier after appearing on Korean food television. It covers the familiar repertoire of black bean noodles, spicy seafood noodle soup and fried sweet-and-sour pork. Hand-made fried dumplings are only available in the evening.
사발
₩16,000 per person
Hours 11:30–20:50
Sabal is in Naesu-dong near Gwanghwamun and is listed on DiningCode for Korean food and noodles. The menu has chicken noodles, a perilla soup noodle with oysters and mushrooms, rice bowls and a pork jowl grill at dinner, and reviewers most often call it clean, upscale and quiet.
연남 칼국수
₩11,000 per person
Hours Daily 11:30–21:30
A kalguksu shop on the main Yeonnam-dong road that makes several broths from the same hand-cut noodle: clam, chicken, and a beef and fernbrake version. The room is clean and modern rather than old-fashioned, and eating alone is normal. Last orders are at 20:30.
남북통일
₩12,000 per person
Hours Mon–Sat 11:00–21:30
A dumpling and noodle house working in the northern Korean style, where the filling is crushed tofu, pork, mung bean sprouts and courgette rather than glass noodles. The wrappers are folded by hand each morning, and the same kitchen makes beef bone noodle soup and mung bean pancakes. The seasoning is deliberately restrained.
데이릿
₩14,800 per person
Hours 11:30–21:30
Deirit is a fusion Korean restaurant a short walk from Ttukseom Station, listed on DiningCode for flame-grilled jokbal. The menu mixes aged-kimchi beef tartare and hanu rolls, jokbal noodles, jambon cream noodles, a pepperoni-cheese potato pancake and mango-mustard chicken nanban. Reviewers most often describe it as casual, pretty and clean.
금금 송리단길점
₩13,500 per person
Hours 11:00–21:20
This Songridan-gil branch is listed on DiningCode as a fusion Korean restaurant known for barley doenjang. The signature is a mazesoba-style meat noodle dish, alongside octopus soy bibimbap, perilla oil whole-wheat noodles, beef short rib rice bowl and boiled pork with aged kimchi. Reviewers most often call it clean, casual, a lesser-known local pick and upscale.
올래국수
₩11,000 per person
Hours 08:30–15:00
Discover Jeju’s pork-noodle tradition. Ollae serves noodles with tender pork slices in a savory pork-bone broth.
만두집
Hours Mon–Sat 12:00–20:00
A small family house that has been folding large Pyongan-style dumplings on the same block for over thirty years, now run by the second generation. The signature is mandu-guk, dumplings served in a clear broth simmered from beef brisket. It holds a Bib Gourmand in the Michelin Guide.
임병주 산동칼국수
₩12,000 per person
Hours Tue–Sun 11:00–21:00
Open since 1988, this is a plain, high-turnover kalguksu house where the noodles are rolled and cut fresh each day and the broth is drawn from clams. Alongside the noodles it sells Pyongyang-style large dumplings, chilled soybean noodles in summer, and a fresh kimchi made with ground green chilli. It holds a Bib Gourmand in the Michelin Guide.
In this guide: Myeongdong Kyoja, Woo Lae Oak, Eulmildae, Haeundae Gaya Milmyeon, Seogyo Nanmyeonbang.
Phaedra, about ₩7,000 per person.
Seogyo Nanmyeonbang: ★4.9 from 493 reviews.
Phaedra, Donggyo Guksu Pocha.
Every place is in the Korea on a Plate guide, written by an editor who runs four restaurants in Seoul. The list is filtered from published hours, prices and tags; nobody pays to be listed.
More situations: Korean BBQ · Korean soups: gukbap, seolleongtang, samgyetang · Korean dishes to share: jokbal, jjim, pancakes · Korean rice dishes and bibimbap
What a Seoul restaurant owner ordered, paid and noticed.