Cold noodles and beef dumpling soup for a group in Suyu: Iseol Myeonok

When the weather heats up, it's funny how naengmyeon (cold buckwheat noodles) is the first thing that comes to mind for lunch. You want something cool, but not too heavy, and definitely not something that feels like a rushed meal. Iseol Myeonok Suyu Main Branch, a 419 Tower area restaurant, was exactly the right spot for a day like that.

Where is Iseol Myeonok Suyu Main Branch, and where do you park?

True to a 419 Tower area naengmyeon specialist, the restaurant takes up an entire building. Searching for Iseol Myeonok Suyu Main Branch gets you right there, and there's parking space directly in front of the store for about six cars, with a large lot behind the building too.

Since I drive most places, inconvenient parking makes me hesitant to go back no matter how good the food is — but here, parking is so easy that I immediately thought I'd want to come back.

How roomy is the dining room and seating?

Walking in, the space was much bigger than it looked from outside. There are wood-tone tables and chairs, and one side is a floor-to-ceiling window, which keeps the whole place bright and open rather than cramped.

The tables are spaced generously too, so it looked like a good place for a group. And with seating up to the second floor, there are plenty of seats overall. Even during a lunch rush, you'd probably worry less about seating here than at a typical small naengmyeon shop.

There's also something on the walls you can't just walk past — a huge number of awards and citations. Add in autographs from various celebrities filling up one whole wall, and it's fun to look them over while you wait. Coming in for a bowl of naengmyeon and seeing all those awards and signatures actually raised my expectations for the food a little, haha.

What's on the menu at Iseol Myeonok

Since we visited as a group, we ordered a range of dishes: the signature mul naengmyeon and hoe naengmyeon, the warm sagol tteok mandu-guk (bone-broth rice cake and dumpling soup), and dumplings to share. In summer naengmyeon naturally catches your eye first, but having a warm soup option too makes this a good pick for families with different seasons or tastes in mind.

Seoul Yetnal Bulgogi and galbitang are currently available as a takeout promotion, so keep that in mind if you're heading there.

How do the mul naengmyeon, hoe naengmyeon and sagol tteok mandu-guk taste?

The dishes came out surprisingly fast, along with the basic side dishes.

Mul naengmyeon (cold noodles in chilled broth)

As you can see in the photo, the noodles are extremely thin.

They're as thin as the hamheung-style naengmyeon you often get as a post-meal dish at Korean barbecue restaurants, so at first I thought it would taste familiar — but the broth made the difference. The broth wasn't watery at all; it had a deeply steeped flavor without being overly salty or sweet.

The thin noodles loosen up nicely in the cold, refreshing broth and slide down easily, and with cucumber, meat, and boiled egg on top, it's a pretty filling bowl. If you prefer clean, deeply flavored broth over an in-your-face style of naengmyeon, this one will suit you especially well.

Hoe naengmyeon (spicy cold noodles with raw fish)

Personally, I'd recommend the hoe naengmyeon (raw fish cold noodles) right alongside the mul naengmyeon. As soon as it arrived, the red sauce topped with a generous amount of raw fish looked appetizing right away.

Mixing the thin noodles evenly with the sauce coats every strand in a sweet-and-spicy sauce, and the raw fish you bite into along the way keeps the texture from getting monotonous. I especially liked that the fish wasn't just a token garnish — there was enough to keep picking up with the noodles the whole way through.

Sagol tteok mandu-guk (beef-bone soup with rice cakes and dumplings)

I expected a naengmyeon restaurant to focus only on naengmyeon, but the sagol tteok mandu-guk was quite well made too. With large dumplings, rice cake, meat, roasted seaweed flakes, scallions, and egg garnish all in the bowl, it looked like a hearty meal on its own.

Scooping up the dumplings one by one with a spoon warms you up from the inside, so this would be a good dish to bring along a companion who isn't a fan of naengmyeon. Since it comes with rice cake too, on a day when you want something more filling than naengmyeon, this might actually be the better choice.

Mandu (Korean dumplings)

We also ordered mandu (dumplings) on the side, and biting into one revealed meat filling inside a soft dumpling wrapper — a nice thing to alternate with bites of naengmyeon.

Looking around, more people than I expected were eating the Seoul Yetnal Bulgogi. Next time, alongside this 419 Tower area naengmyeon, I'm thinking I should go back for the bulgogi too.