Jinju noodle restaurant pairing doraji-ju with yukjeon: Songgiwon

If you go to Jinju, naengmyeon (cold noodles) is a must!!! What makes Jinju naengmyeon special is the finely sliced yukjeon (pan-fried beef) topping on the noodles.

Among the countless Jinju naengmyeon restaurants, this time I went to the very first "hundred-year store" for Jinju naengmyeon, home to the oldest living first-generation successor keeping the tradition alive. The combination of naengmyeon and yukjeon was so good — Songgiwon Jinju Naengmyeon Direct Store.

Songgiwon Jinju Naengmyeon Direct Store: location, hours and parking

Songgiwon Jinju Naengmyeon Direct Store is at 49 Cheonsu-ro, 1st floor, Jinju-si, Gyeongsangnam-do. Hours are 11:00–21:00, break time 16:00–17:00, last order 20:40. Closed every Tuesday, but open during the Chuseok holiday.

There's a parking lot attached to the restaurant, and it's very spacious!!! It's nice not having to worry about parking. Group seating, takeout, and baby chairs are also available.

Was there a wait at Songgiwon?

Songgiwon Jinju Naengmyeon Direct Store offers on-site Tabling reservations. I went around 12:30pm on a Saturday, and luckily there was no wait, so we got seated right away.

You can also line up remotely through the Tabling app.

Inside the restaurant and the self-serve corner

Is it okay for a naengmyeon restaurant's vibe to be this good?

Once we sat down, the sunlight coming through the window and all the greenery outside were just so nice.

There are also so many tables, so it works for group gatherings and company dinners too. We saw families, couples, and groups of friends all there together.

There's a self-serve corner with warm broth, kimchi, and pickled radish. The bathroom is clean too.

Menu and prices: what the two of us ordered

How to enjoy Jinju naengmyeon properly.

There are three types of naengmyeon: the mul-naengmyeon (water-broth cold noodles) Sunjo1800, the bibim-naengmyeon (spicy mixed cold noodles) Nongae1593, and the Jinju mixed cold noodles Songgiwon1997, which comes with two sauces and a seafood broth. They also serve yukjeon, galbitang (short rib soup), doraji-ju, and drinks.

• Sunjo1800 ₩13,000
• Songgiwon1997 ₩14,000
• Yukjeon ₩25,000
• Jinju Jangsaeng Doraji-ju ₩13,000

Side dishes and Jinju Jangsaeng doraji-ju

The kimchi and pickled radish that come as side dishes.

The kimchi alone was delicious.. if the side dishes are good, it's a proven good restaurant.

The doraji-ju comes with a fancy bottle and a pretty glass. Maybe it was the green scenery through the window, but I felt like I was living like a mountain hermit, haha haha.

I don't usually like alcohol, but this doraji-ju is genuinely delicious. It's about 13% ABV, but the aroma is really nice and it goes down smoothly. I thought it would pair amazingly with yukjeon.

Ujeon beef platter, 25,000 won: plenty for two

Both the naengmyeon and the yukjeon have arrived.

The naengmyeon looked really high-quality, and the yukjeon was super high-quality too,,, what is up with the size of this yukjeon,,,,? They said it's usually a side dish portion for 2-3 people, but the amount was massive.....

The taste of the yukjeon was,,,,,,,seriously, seriously good.. I thought I'd want to come back just for the yukjeon alone.

The portion is really huge, so it seems great for a family to order one and share. It was a bit much for two people to finish, but it was so good that not ordering it would've been a real regret. It was so moist, not tough at all, and coated in a savory egg batter that wasn't greasy at all, so it went perfectly with the naengmyeon. You have to order the yukjeon!!

The combination of doraji-ju and yukjeon was seriously so good!!!! The fragrant doraji-ju seemed to wash away the richness of the meat completely, so I never got tired of it even while eating all that yukjeon. Please try this combo,,,, you won't regret it.

Mul-naengmyeon Sunjo 1800: how baekgeumcho herb changed it

And then the mul-naengmyeon,,, Jinju naengmyeon topped with egg and yukjeon. Mul-naengmyeon is a plain noodle dish flavored only by the broth, without any seasoning. I'm usually team bibim-naengmyeon and go for bold flavors, so at first I thought it tasted a bit bland for my palate.

But I tried adding a little of the white chives on every table, and I felt like I finally understood why people eat mul-naengmyeon. The broth was so good that even the plain flavor started tasting delicious. Especially after eating the mixed noodles and then drinking the mul-naengmyeon broth,,, incredible.

Drinking it after the yukjeon was incredible too.. sipping the broth while drinking the doraji-ju felt like an instant hangover cure.

The signature mixed naengmyeon, Songgiwon 1997

And then Songgiwon Jinju Naengmyeon's signature dish, the mixed noodle Songgiwon1997. As a mixed noodle, it comes with two sauces personally developed by head chef Songgiwon, plus a seafood broth, blending both bibim (mixed) and mul (water broth) styles.

The noodles had a chewy, springy texture — different from the noodles you'd get at a Korean BBQ restaurant.

The seasoning is amazing to begin with. It's appropriately sweet and spicy, so there was no need to add vinegar. Since it's spicy, wrapping the meat topping that comes with it made it taste like honey,,,,, spicy but with a cool broth alongside, so if you're torn between mul-naengmyeon and bibim-naengmyeon, ordering Songgiwon1997 would be perfect. No wonder it's the signature dish,,

When it gets spicy, sipping the warm broth to soothe your stomach is perfect. Even the warm broth at this famous Jinju restaurant is incredibly delicious. The warm broth was so good that even while full, I refilled it and kept drinking. That peppery savoriness is the best..

Wrapping the yukjeon we ordered together with the noodles is absolutely perfect. You must order the naengmyeon and yukjeon together. I thought the meat topping on the noodles might taste similar to the yukjeon, but yukjeon >>>>>>> meat topping, no comparison,, the meat topping is good too,, but the yukjeon is on another level.

What to order at Songgiwon on a Jinju trip

If you travel to Jinju, you have to try naengmyeon — and maybe because Songgiwon is a Jinju naengmyeon restaurant with such a long tradition, it wasn't just ordinary naengmyeon, it had real character. The noodles are made in-house so they're springy and chewy, and the broth is simmered from seafood for 24 hours, so it has deep flavor even without seasoning.

• If you like plain flavors, the mul-naengmyeon Sunjo1800
• If you're torn between bibim and mul naengmyeon, the Songgiwon1997
• The yukjeon and doraji-ju might seem like sides, but they're must-orders

If you're craving naengmyeon in Jinju, I recommend Songgiwon Jinju Naengmyeon.