Dongdaemun chicken hot pot with no wait and Sunhui makgeolli: Sunhuine

Which Dongdaemun dak hanmari alley restaurant has no wait?

One of the must-do food stops when you visit Seoul is dak hanmari (whole chicken hot pot) haha. I'd always gone to the famous JinOO next door, but wanting to try a new dak hanmari place, I visited Sunhuine Bindaetteok Dak Hanmari Dongdaemun, located right beside it!

The famous place has a standard 30-minute wait, but here there was no waiting at all, so I could sit down right away — loved that. A Korean restaurant worth knowing at Dongdaemun Market.

Inside Sunhuine Bindaetteok and what we ordered

Walking in, a clean, spacious room greeted us, and the wide spacing between tables was so nice. The moment we stepped in, staff greeted us with bright smiles and showed us to our seats. We ordered dak hanmari and added rice cake and potato!

The self-serve banchan bar at Sunhuine

Another perk of Sunhuine Bindaetteok Dongdaemun is the self-serve bar system. When you're eating dak hanmari, the kimchi, onion, cabbage, and chives you pair with it always run out. And calling over busy staff to ask for more feels a bit awkward. There's a tidy self-serve bar set up so you can help yourself to whatever banchan (side dish) you want without any hesitation.

There's also a guide on how to eat Sunhuine's dak hanmari the tasty way, which is worth checking.

Sunhui makgeolli, sold only at Sunhuine

Along with the basic banchan, we also ordered Sunhui makgeolli. Sunhui makgeolli is only available at Sunhuine, so of course we had to try it.

They cut the chicken hot pot right at our table as soon as it came out.

I add grated garlic, mustard, chili paste, and soy sauce by feel. And, of course,,,,, pure honey flavor.

I was half-skeptical ordering the Sunhui makgeolli, but wow, it's genuinely sweet and delicious. The makgeolli comes out kept really cold, so the moment you take that first sip, the carbonated refreshment and the sweetness of the rice slide coolly down your throat. It's not cheap makgeolli that's just overly sweet — it's got a thick body with a clean finish. A makgeolli I'll keep thinking about,,

How does the dak hanmari broth taste?

As time passed, the dak hanmari started bubbling away. It really needs to be cooked in one of those cozy, wash-basin-like big bowls for the broth to taste truly rich. Inside the deep bowl, chicken, potato, mushroom, rice cake, and green onion simmer together in a shallow broth, and the savory smell that rises while it cooks made the wait feel so long. Dongdaemun dak hanmari.

Taking a spoonful, the rich, deep savoriness drawn out from the chicken bones is just killer. It's not the artificial punch of MSG — it's the chicken's own savoriness mingling with the coolness of green onion, making a broth that really settles your stomach.

Rice cake and potato add-ons in the hot pot

I always eat the rice cake first. I don't usually eat the rice cake even when I have tteokbokki, but the rice cake in dak hanmari is genuinely, genuinely delicious. Rice cake tastes best once it's swollen up soft.

They put in the extra rice cake we ordered right away.

There was no gamey smell at all, and the chicken was so moist and tender. The well-cooked potato was soft and mealy — crushing it into the broth and eating it together is a real treat. Dipped in the house-made sauce, it's pure honey flavor,,

Finishing the pot with knife-cut noodles

After eating through the chicken, rice cake, and potato, the leftover broth has already reduced down beautifully with the savory fat from the chicken and the sweetness released from the potato, reaching peak richness. Adding knife-cut noodles (kalguksu) and cooking them in this broth is, in a word, an explosion of umami.

As the noodles cook, the starch released from the noodles themselves thickens up in the broth. Thanks to that, the once-thin broth turns slightly viscous, and the rich chicken stock clings to the surface of the noodles like a coating. Slurp up a mouthful and the chewy noodles carry the chicken's flavor across your whole mouth,,keu,,

Another dak hanmari and makgeolli I'll keep thinking about. If you really want to try great dak hanmari with no waiting, I highly recommend Sunhuine's dak hanmari.