Gangnam Station Vietnamese noodle spot for bun bo Hue: Anan

Where is Anan Gangnam Direct Store, and what does it look like?

I went to Anan Gangnam Direct Store for Vietnamese food near Gangnam Station. It's an easy walk from Exit 12, and the mint-colored exterior makes it pretty easy to spot once you're in the area.

I didn't actually go for a welcome dinner (cheongmo) that day — just went for a regular meal — but the place is clean and good for sharing food among several people, so it seemed like a solid candidate for a Gangnam Station welcome dinner spot too. These days, when picking a welcome dinner spot, the food matters but so does being able to actually talk. As a bit of a drinker myself, I'm always on the lookout for places good for drinking snacks, and this one is not only quiet but has wine, soju, beer, and corkage (₩10,000) all available.

Anan Gangnam Direct Store felt more like a clean Vietnamese restaurant than the small, bustling pho joints people usually picture. The tables looked good for group seating, so anyone looking for a welcome dinner Vietnamese restaurant near Gangnam Station might want to add this to the list.

What we ordered at Anan and what it cost

The menu isn't just pho — there's bún chả, bánh xèo, fried rice, and more, so you can order according to your group size and share. We ordered bún bò Huế, bánh xèo, and two glasses of Kelly draft beer at 200cc. The bún bò Huế was 18,000 won and the bánh xèo was 28,000 won. Prices run a bit higher than a typical pho shop, but the portions overall were sizable and generously filled.

The 200cc Kelly comes in a small, cute size. Somehow drinking two small beers feels like you've had more than one big one. And getting to drink two cold glasses instead of one earns bonus points from me.

How were the bun bo Hue noodles and broth?

First, the bún bò Huế. It's a rice noodle soup from Vietnam's Hue region, and unlike the flat rice noodles you usually get, these noodles are round and quite thick.

These noodles are extremely chewy. At first they looked a bit like udon or jjolmyeon (chewy cold noodles), but once you eat them, the texture is clearly different. Instead of slurping down thin rice noodles quickly, it felt more like properly chewing your noodles. The broth had a pleasantly sour flavor. It wasn't watered down into something too mild and Korean-style — it tasted like the food I remembered eating in Vietnam, which I loved. It was sour but not just sharply tangy — the kind of broth you keep spooning up. And it was absolutely packed with ingredients. This wasn't a noodle soup where you just fish out the noodles and you're done — something kept coming with every bite. The staffing inside that bowl was seriously solid.

Banh xeo at Anan: wrapping it in rice paper yourself

And then the bánh xèo I was even more excited about. Bánh xèo is like a Vietnamese savory pancake, and surprisingly, a lot of regular pho places don't even carry it. I was glad Anan had it. It wasn't just a side-dish-sized portion either — it took up a good chunk of the table when it arrived. If you're going for a welcome dinner with several people, having a dish like this is great.

Back when I was completely obsessed with Vietnam and traveling there often, I went through a phase of being obsessed with bánh xèo. So obsessed that I bought bánh xèo flour mix to bring home. I tried making it myself, but a dish that looked easy on the ground in Vietnam suddenly got difficult the moment it hit my pan at home.

Anan's bánh xèo was good enough to bring back memories of those days. The outside was crispy and the inside was generously packed with bean sprouts and other ingredients, so you tear off a piece and wrap it with vegetables. The bánh xèo itself is delicious, but honestly I really enjoy the act of wrapping food. It's just fun, isn't it? Instead of soaking the rice paper heavily in water, this was the thin, dry style of rice paper where you place the bánh xèo and vegetables on top and wrap it as is. My personal aesthetic ideal is also thin and dry, so I'm a bit envious. At first you wonder how you're supposed to wrap anything with something this stiff, but once the moisture from the ingredients touches it, it softens up bit by bit. Put on the bánh xèo, add vegetables, dip in sauce, and eat. Some dishes are more delicious precisely because of all the steps involved. Bánh xèo is one of those. You have to re-wrap with every single bite, so your hands stay busy in between conversation. But that's actually useful — if an awkward silence hits during a Gangnam Station get-together, you can just wrap some bánh xèo. Everyone gets assigned a proper task. It'd also work well for a gathering of people who don't know each other that well yet.

Is Anan a good meeting spot near Gangnam Station?

The bún bò Huế was sour and chewy, and the bánh xèo had a crispy texture and the fun of wrapping it yourself, so the combination of the two dishes worked well together. It felt less like a place where you quickly eat a bowl of pho and leave, and more like a place suited for spreading out several Vietnamese dishes across the table and eating slowly together. I didn't go for a welcome dinner this time, but given the clean atmosphere and the shareable menu lineup, it seems like it would work well as a Vietnamese restaurant for a welcome dinner near Gangnam Station too. Above all, the bánh xèo brought back the days when I used to buy the flour mix in Vietnam. The powder crossed the border just fine, but my cooking skills back then didn't come along with it. From now on, I'll just come buy it at Anan instead.