Seohyeon Korean restaurant, Sunday dakgaejang lunch: Gangnam Gyoja

Where is Gangnam Gyoja Bundang Seohyeon Branch for a Seohyeon Station lunch?

Gangnam Gyoja Bundang Seohyeon Branch (강남교자 분당서현점) is a Korean restaurant on the 2nd floor of a building you'll spot after a short walk from Seohyeon Station. It's open daily from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m., with a break from 3:30 to 5 p.m. and last order 30 minutes before closing. Parking is available. Here's my review of a Seohyeon lunch spot.

My partner and I were wondering what to eat for lunch near Seohyeon Station, and ended up somewhere!!

Yes, Gangnam Gyoja!! Walk a little from the station exit and you'll see it. It's on the 2nd floor and there's no elevator, so we climbed one flight of stairs!

Late weekend lunch: the wait and the atmosphere

We went at a late weekend lunch hour and could sit right away with no wait. Inside, the interior is clean, and the tables are spaced widely, so walking back and forth to the self-bar was easy!

There were people eating solo, and lots of families too! (Is it a good place to bring kids? Most of the customers were kids!)

Kiosk ordering: what two of us ordered and the prices

Every table has a kiosk, so just order there and pay upfront. We got:

• Ox bone rice cake dumpling soup (사골떡만둣국) _ ₩10,000
• Spicy chicken soup (닭개장, dakgaejang) _ ₩12,000
• Tteokgalbi (grilled short rib patty), 2 pieces _ ₩4,000
• Coke Zero _ ₩2,000

That's what we ordered!!

I think the kalguksu (knife-cut noodle soup) is what they're originally famous for,, but honestly I was craving tteok-mandu-guk (rice cake and dumpling soup) that day and had decided before we even got there, while my partner said they were sick of tteok-mandu-guk and wanted something else, so they ended up picking the dakgaejang^^

Also, rice is free to refill here, so guys will love it! And if you're wearing light clothes like we were and ordering a red broth, definitely put on an apron^^

Another good thing about Gangnam Gyoja is that all the food comes out at once!! Not one dish at a time, everything together, which I liked~

Ox bone tteok-mandu-guk, ₩10,000: four big dumplings and loads of rice cakes

The ox bone rice cake dumpling soup at Gangnam Gyoja Bundang Seohyeon Branch is ₩10,000, and it came with four king-size dumplings, plenty of rice cakes and a fair amount of meat too!

I'd planned to eat rice with it too, but there were so many rice cakes that I couldn't eat any rice at all..!

The broth is on the mild side, so if you like your food a bit saltier,

I'd recommend adding some pepper or soy sauce~ Since it isn't salty, I saw lots of parents bringing kids, and I think it would work as a kids' meal too.

With kimchi it went down really easily! So I ate slowly and a lot!! There's no kimchi at the self-bar, so I asked for more, and I finished every bit of the extra they gave me~

Dakgaejang, ₩12,000: how much filling, and how spicy?

The dakgaejang my partner chose is ₩12,000 and piled high with fernbrake, glass noodles, egg, chicken and more. And my partner's bowl!!

Yep, heaped with ingredients inside. (Fernbrake, glass noodles, egg, chicken and more.) (Looks like the portions are huge no matter what you order here!)

And don't worry, there's plenty of chicken in there!!

I tasted the broth and it was a little spicy? (The kick comes at the end!) But not so spicy that an adult can't eat it, and even I, a spice wimp, managed fine. (Kids would probably find it a bit hot, though!)

Scooped out like this and cleaned out^^ My partner didn't leave a single drop of broth and even mixed in rice to finish it all!

Extra tteokgalbi, 2 pieces for ₩4,000: the verdict

The tteokgalbi at Gangnam Gyoja Bundang Seohyeon Branch is ₩4,000 for 2 pieces, and I added the thick patties, which went nicely with the rice and rice cakes~ (A subtly sweet style of tteokgalbi, I'd say~!)

If you're wondering what to eat for lunch near Seohyeon Station, Gangnam Gyoja Bundang Seohyeon Branch serves clean, good-value food and is worth a look~ Anyway, it was a late Sunday lunch where I got up from the table completely stuffed!!

Conclusion

1. Portions are big whatever you order, so women may not finish everything. 2. The mandu soup is lightly seasoned and the dakgaejang is a bit stronger, so we ordered a balanced pair^^ 3. Worth a visit when you can't decide on lunch near Seohyeon Station.