콩국수 (Kong Guksu) is a popular summer noodle dish in Korea. It is probably one of my favorite Korean noodle dishes of all-time! It dates back to the 19th century when it was just food for the common folk. It has tons of health benefits for both females and males. It helps lower your cholestrol, improves your blood pressure, and is good for your skin. It also has a lot of estrogen which is great for females and is great for the prostate for males. All of the health benefits that come from the common soybean. It is also a good way to recover from your hangover from drinking the day before.
Just look at how thick the broth and noodles are!
The broth is made by slightly boiling the soybeans and letting them soften up a little. Then they would normally grind it in a stone grinder. This is the beginning stages of making tofu. So when making tofu, there would be tons of “waste” or unused parts of the ground up soybeans, so they decided to start using this instead of just wasting it. So they cooked down the “waste” and added a little bit of salt to season and that is how they came up with this broth. When done right, it should be creamy and thick. There are places that do it watered down, which I just hate. It takes away from its characteristics of flavor and feel.
Every year, I wait for this season to come around. Most places will typically start serving it starting from March when the weather begins to warm up. And every year, I look for the best of the best. Every year, I have failed to find one better than here. There have been ones that have come close, but they always have something missing. Jinju Hoe Gwan does it perfectly. The broth is perfectly thick and perfectly seasoned (usually doesn’t come seasoned). The noodles have the perfect chew and bounce when you bite into them. A lot of places sadly use the thin rice noodles. This place comes in a lot more pricey than other shops as well. It costs 12,000 won a bowl which is quite a high price for a bowl of noodles in Korea. Most places cost around 8,000-10,000 won a bowl.
As you can see they have been around for 58 years serving the best bowl of soybean noodles that I have ever had. They have a few other menu items, but this place crowds with people wanting to eat their bowl of kong guksu. They have been on a ton of TV shows, newspapers, and other articles. This place is no joke! If you haven’t tried this glorious bowl of noodles, give it a try on a hot summer day!
This is what the store front looks like. The restaurant is a decent size so there are actually 2 different entrances. It is coming up on March next month, so I’m super excited! I’ll be the first one in line!
Hours of Operation: Monday – Friday 11 am – 9 pm, Saturday 11 am – 8 pm, closed Sundays
Phone Number: 02-753-5388
Google Address: 26 Sejong-daero 11-gil, Seosomun-dong, Jung-gu, Seoul
Naver Address: 서울 중구 세종대로11길 26
