Freshly grilled buckwheat pancake with makguksu in Gangneung: Samgyori

Have you all heard of Samgyori Dongchimi Makguksu?! I hear the main branch has quite a wait, so I still haven't made it there! On this Gangneung trip I spotted this branch right in front of Namhangjin Beach, so I went to check out this Gangneung makguksu (buckwheat noodle) spot!

Where is Samgyori Dongchimi Makguksu Namhangjin, and where do you park?

• 🥐 Signature menu: Dongchimi Makguksu
• 🥐 Location: Across from Namhangjin Beach
• 🥐 Parking: ⭕
• 🥐 Mobile payment: ⭕
• 🥐 Baby chair: ⭕
• 🥐 Remote waiting: Catch Table

Samgyori Dongchimi Makguksu Namhangjin branch is located right in front of Namhangjin Beach! Parking is in the free beach lot in front of the restaurant, and there's plenty of space, so it was easy to visit 🅿️

The inside is spacious with lots of seating and even a baby chair, so it's great for visiting with family!

We sat by the window and got a view of the beach across the way — so nice!

One makguksu only: seasoning it yourself with dongchimi broth

There's no separate water-style or spicy-mixed style makguksu here — just one version! You adjust it to taste with the dongchimi (watery radish kimchi) broth they give you.

We were so hungry we each ordered our own makguksu, plus buckwheat pancake and buckwheat dumplings!

Before the main food arrives, pickled radish and yeolmu kimchi (young radish kimchi) are served together!

There's also makguksu sauce, vinegar, perilla oil, mustard, and sugar, so you can make the makguksu to your own taste!

While waiting for the food, let's read through their guide on how to eat the makguksu deliciously.

Buckwheat pancake, 8,000 won — grilled to order and crisp

Do you like buckwheat pancake?! I really love it! Whenever I go to a market, I'm always the one drawn to buckwheat pancake haha 😆

But because they grill this buckwheat pancake fresh to order, it was genuinely the best buckwheat pancake I've ever had!!!!

The filling wasn't too spicy, the kimchi gave it a refreshing tang, and the crispy buckwheat wrapper was so good 😋 We'd basically finished it before the makguksu even arrived — seriously recommend!!

Buckwheat dumplings, 8,000 won

The buckwheat dumplings had a chewy wrapper and the filling inside was moist and packed full!

It tasted like it had chives...? in it, along with plenty of meat, and being such a moist dumpling, it went really well with the makguksu too 👍

Makguksu, 11,000 won — not salty even with plenty of chili sauce

The makguksu finally arrived! The sides were so good it made me even more excited for the noodles!

They also give you dongchimi to use as broth for the makguksu! The dongchimi radish is a nice bonus at the end, like dessert 😋

The makguksu comes with no sauce mixed in! You add the dongchimi broth according to your own taste 😋

You add sauce according to your own taste too! I'd recommend tasting as you go and adding it gradually. I found that even with a lot of it, it wasn't salty, so I added quite a bit.

I tend to prefer the mixed (bibim) style makguksu, so I only added one ladle of broth and put in a lot of the mixed sauce instead!

A lot of makguksu places have such a mild flavor that you can barely taste anything, but here the mixed sauce isn't salty while still delivering plenty of flavor — truly living up to its reputation as a great Gangneung makguksu spot! Even a friend whose family is from Chuncheon, the hometown of makguksu, approved of the taste.

Prize draw, Gangneung postcards and the self-serve snack corner

Once I'd eaten so happily, I finally started noticing my surroundings haha

Samgyori Dongchimi Makguksu is also running a prize-draw event, so I'd recommend joining in on that too ❗️

And there are these really pretty illustrated Gangneung postcards you can get if you sign up for notifications!!

Next to that they also sell various snacks like nurungji (scorched rice), ppeong-gwaja (puffed rice snack), gunbbang (hardtack biscuits), yakgwa (honey cookie), and jjondeugi (Korean taffy), so take a look at those too!

Samgyori Dongchimi Makguksu, the Gangneung makguksu spot I visited today, was so delicious and I liked it so much that I'd want to come back the next time I'm in Gangneung! The buckwheat pancake especially is so good, so I really recommend ordering it alongside your noodles!