The reason why I absolutely love staying in Dongdaemun is the lack of food even during the oddest hours of the night. Since it is near the wholesale markets, many restaurants are available 24 hours to cater to shoppers and buyers coming to the area at midnight and early hours of the morning
After a long day of shopping, our meal times were all messed up, so when we finally had time to sit down for dinner, it was pretty late, and we wanted to settle for something near our hotel and light on our stomachs. Located just a stone’s throw from my hotel, the restaurant is open 24 hours and specialises in noodles
The restaurant set up is simple and almost like a fast food restaurant, where tables were close to each other with matching stools and a brightly lit environment. Each table came with a tablet order system in different languages, so you do not need to interact with the staff. You can collect your food once your number is called, and most of the staff are actually foreign staff and not local Koreans
There is a self-service counter set up at the corner where customers can get their sanitised utensils, plates for side dishes like kimchi and pickled radish, as well as cups for ice water from the water dispenser
Since I did not have time to visit my favourite Kong guksu place during this trip, I settled for the bean noodles offered in the restaurant. The noodles used here are not the usual ones used for Kong guksu, so the texture was quite weird. The broth here is lighter and more watery, with a lot of sesame seeds and limited cucumber strips. The flavour is not bad, but lacklustre if compared to my favourite shop. The bean broth is too liquid for me, and the yellow noodles just did not do it for me
My friend had the mandu soup and egg gimbap set, which was quite bland in flavour. The gimbap is made of egg strips instead of rice, so it was a very light roll with nice savoury ingredients like ham and vegetables. My friend did not like it, but I found the gimbap ok but the mandu soup quite mediocre
Overall, the restaurant is a 24-hour stop to fill your stomachs, but it is not a place where you expect high-quality food. The restaurant was left to non-Koreans to manage, and probably followed a certain handbook to make the food, so do not expect a homely meal, but just a very functional one
Address: 13 Jangchungdan-ro 13-gil, Jung District, Seoul, South Korea
Opening hours: 24 hours
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