Potato-starch guobaorou and xiaolongbao in Daehangno: Cheonghwawon
In short
Cheonghwawon Daehangno Branch is a Taiwanese-style Chinese restaurant a 3-minute walk from Hyehwa Station Exit 4 in Jongno, Seoul, best known for beef knife-cut noodles and guobaorou (sweet-and-sour fried pork). Visiting with a friend and finding the first floor full, we took a table on the second floor and ordered beef knife-cut noodles for 10,500 won, guobaorou for 17,000 won and xiaolongbao for 9,500 won. The guobaorou fried in potato starch was crisp outside and tender inside, and the thin, chewy knife-cut noodles were just as satisfying.
Good to know
- Location
- 1st–2nd floor, 36 Daemyeong-gil, Jongno-gu, Seoul — 3-minute walk from Hyehwa Station Exit 4
- Hours
- Daily 11:00–22:20 (last order 21:50)
- Parking
- Not available
- Beef knife-cut noodles
- 10,500 won
- Guobaorou
- 17,000 won
- Xiaolongbao
- 9,500 won (6 pieces per basket)
- Seating
- First and second floors; the second floor has more tables and feels roomier
as written by the visitor on Aug 11, 2026
I had plans with a friend near Daehangno so we stopped by Cheonghwawon Daehangno Branch!
Cheonghwawon Daehangno Branch
Where is Cheonghwawon Daehangno Branch, and when is it open?
📍 Location 1st-2nd floor, 36 Daemyeong-gil, Jongno-gu A 3-minute walk from Hyehwa Station Exit 4 ☺️ Right near Hyehwa CGV!!
🕖 Hours Daily 11:00 - 22:20 (last order 21:50) 🅿️ Parking Not available
It's been a while since I've been to a place with such an authentic feel! There were a lot of menu items I'd never even heard of :) Cheonghwawon Daehangno Branch's signature dishes are beef knife-cut noodles and guobaorou, made to recreate real Taiwanese flavors.
First floor full: the second-floor seats and the room at Cheonghwawon
Cheonghwawon Daehangno Branch is split into two floors — the first floor was already full so we went upstairs to eat :) The interior really felt like being on location!
The second floor had a lot of tables and felt more spacious than I expected, so it was really comfortable. Maybe because it feels so authentic, there were actually a lot of foreign guests too!! Interesting. The person cooking inside was actually from Taiwan haha. It really felt like I was traveling abroad.
There was also a space on the first floor for steaming dim sum, and I thought — I absolutely have to get some dim sum too hahaha.
The basic side dishes came out like this!! The peanuts were really tasty hahaha.
What two people ordered at Cheonghwawon, and what it cost
- Beef knife-cut noodles ₩10,500
- Guobaorou ₩17,000
- Xiaolongbao ₩9,500
Since we wanted to try a bunch of things between the two of us, we ordered one of each type~~ Basically ordering everything labeled a signature dish!! Hahaha.
Xiaolongbao, 9,500 won: dim sum worth saving every drop of soup
First up, dim sum!! We ordered xiaolongbao 😋
You all know how to eat xiaolongbao properly, right!! The soup inside is the whole point, so you have to eat carefully so you don't spill a single drop!! Hahaha.
I put it on a spoon and drank the broth first before eating the rest of the dumpling — the broth was really delicious, and the meat inside was tasty too.
There are 6 pieces per plate and I wanted to order another round, but I held back since we already had a table full of other dishes coming... Hahaha. Definitely get the dim sum! Get it twice!!
Beef knife-cut noodles, 10,500 won: thin and chewy
Next up, beef knife-cut noodles~ This is Cheonghwawon Daehangno Branch's signature dish. Look how rich that broth looks!
The moment I took a sip of the broth, I could immediately taste how deep and rich it was — my friend and I both enjoyed this one a lot!! The noodles were also super chewy! I personally don't love thick noodles, but these knife-cut noodles were thin and chewy, so they were exactly my style.
Guobaorou, 17,000 won: potato starch, crisp outside and tender inside
The last dish, guobaorou 👍🏻 At first I was torn because I'd read reviews saying the cumin beef was good too, but ordering that with a friend who's never tried cumin felt like too much of a gamble, so we went with the guobaorou — the flavor we already knew we'd like haha. In the end, ordering the guobaorou was the right call.
Crisp outside, juicy inside, exactly ;; Looking at the portion when it first arrived, my friend and I both thought there's no way we're finishing this,,? but we ended up finishing it completely hahaha. Being fried in potato starch made it even crispier, the sauce was generous, and the meat was delicious too.
Who should eat at Cheonghwawon Daehangno Branch?
I hadn't eaten much Taiwanese food before so I was a little worried, but it was way more delicious than I expected — a really satisfying visit to Cheonghwawon! It's great to visit with a friend, and it also seemed like a really good date spot. The prices are affordable enough that nearby university students could enjoy it without much burden too.
A Daehangno Chinese restaurant, a Daehangno lunch favorite. If you want to eat something different from your usual go-to, I recommend Cheonghwawon Daehangno Branch :) Go try the beef noodles and the dim sum!!
Where it is
36 Daemyeong-gil, Jongno-gu, Seoul, South Korea서울특별시 종로구 대명길 36 1층, 2층 청화원 대학로점
