We were visiting the Made Lim Cafe in Incheon when we decided to walk around the neighbourhood looking for dinner options. About 5 minutes walk from the cafe, we chanced upon this huge restaurant serving noodles and pancakes that looked extremely popular with the non-stop stream of cars and customers
With a huge carpark, the restaurant is a standalone building with only a Korean signboard. Since it was our last day in Korea, we decided to just venture into the restaurant
The main restaurant is located on the 2nd floor of the building and I’m not sure what is the purpose of the first floor. The restaurant is quite big with different sections of sitting areas. To the right of the stairs, are private rooms with floor seating and on the left is the main dining hall where most of the customers are seated. The friendly Ahjummas do not speak English at all but can understand very simple English. We were brought to the floor seating until I signalled to her that I needed a table and chair instead
They had no hard cover menu or English menu, instead, all customers were passed this order chit with Korean words. We were in the process of translating the order chit with our app when the friendly Ahjumma came to try to take our orders. They realised we could not read Korean and went around the restaurant looking for the only person who could. The next moment, a kind-looking old gentleman came over and spoke to us in textbook English: ” What do you like to order?” Luckily by then, we had an idea of what the menu had and went ahead and ordered in simple Korean pronunciation. He was so happy we could order in Korean.
We were served some simple side dishes while we waited for our mains to arrive. There was white kimchi, spinach stems kimchi and pickled radish. They also provided garlic, bean sauce and lettuce for us to eat with our Suyuk
The first to arrive was the Suyuk which was prettily plated on this wooden board and served with generous Ssamjang sauce at the side for you to make your lettuce wraps. The meat was so tender and juicy that it was perfect even on its own. There was a light taste of the natural flavour of the meat without the boar taint ( porky taste) which most people dislike. The Ssamjang sauce has a nice balance of savoury flavours which help to add an additional layer to the meat
For our main carbs, we ordered the Bibim Guksu which is basically spicy mixed noodles. Served at room temperature, chilled wheat noodles are mixed with spicy gochujang, and sesame oil and topped with sliced cucumbers, kimchi, and a hard-boiled egg. The noodles are mixed up for the sauce to evenly coat each strand of noodles for the tangy and savoury flavour. The spiciness can be controlled with the amount of gochujang included. The noodles were chewy and very appetizing with the sauce and I can understand why these noodles are on every single diner’s table
Last but not least, another item which is ordered by every customer was the buckwheat pancake. Called Memil-buchimgae, these are made crepe-like out of thin buckwheat batter and napa cabbage. Very different from the usual kimchi jeon ( pancake ), these are gluten-free and taste a lot lighter. I remember eating these at the palace meal where they were made in different colours and used to wrap different ingredients. The ones served here were the most traditional ones with napa cabbage heated in the pan before the buckwheat batter was poured on giving it the nice fragrance of the kimchi. The texture is chewy and is very delicious when dipped with the dipping sauce provided. When eaten on its own, the flavours are a lot more bland which might be a turn-off to those used to the usual pancake packed with ingredients. Personally, I found this very refreshing and nice as a snack to chill over some Makgeolli ( rice wine)
Overall, I fully enjoyed the meal at Donghae Makguksu as the dishes were perfectly done and single and clean in taste without any additional seasoning. I was pleasantly pleased we found a gem as the taxi driver who drove us back to the airport asked how we found this restaurant as it is a very well-known restaurant amongst the locals and their food is always been very delicious. I would gladly re-visit them if I am around the area in Incheon but the distance from the usual places I visit is quite a deterrent
Address: 16 Yongyuseo-ro 479beon-gil, Jung-gu, Incheon, South Korea
Operating hours: 11 am to 4 pm and 5 pm to 9 pm
Bear Travels . Bear Eats . Bear Cooks 