Cheongju noodle restaurant with no weekday lunch wait: Myeonsikdang

📍Open 10:30, close 21:30 📍Parking available (2 hours free) Today I'm introducing a Cheongju Jiwel City favorite, 'Myeonsikdang.'

This place is famous enough that it even showed up on the YouTube channel Jeongwaja — a genuinely popular spot. I've actually been here a few times myself haha.

There's a menu board right outside the store, so you can check the menu and prices before you even go in.

Seating at Myeonsikdang Jiwel City: is solo dining comfortable?

The restaurant mostly has 4-person and 2-person tables, but there's also a separate bar table by the door for solo dining. I've actually eaten here alone before, haha.

The prices are reasonable for the quality and portions, and it's not noisy, so it's perfect for eating alone! Plus the menu is so varied that whatever you're craving, they've got it, honestly. Let's take a look at the menu first~?!

New menu prices at Myeonsikdang: chogye soba series and spicy galbi rice bowl

This menu wasn't around when I last came — looks like it's a new launch this time!

• Spicy galbi rice bowl ₩10,500
• Chogye cold soba ₩10,500
• Chogye bibim soba ₩10,500
• Chogye water bibim soba ₩10,900
• Chogye cold soba + hire katsu ₩15,400

Just the name of the spicy galbi rice bowl sounds delicious, and I really need to try the chogye series before summer's over, haha.

Right after the new menu, they've set aside a separate recommended-menu section — such a nice touch! Haha, whenever there's a recommended section like this, I usually end up ordering everything from it...

What's on the menu: ramen, soba, pho, katsu and rice bowls

Myeonsikdang's menu is broadly divided into ramen, soba, pho, katsu, and rice bowls. Next up is the ramen section, which comes in tonkotsu, curry, and shoyu varieties.

The soba options are surprisingly varied too, and there's even a spicy pho for hangover relief, haha.

The katsu menu includes pork loin, half-and-half, mozzarella cheese, double cheddar, spicy scallion pork katsu, and spicy curry katsu.

There are so many rice bowl options too! While I was there, I quickly scanned what people around me ordered, and a lot of them went for rice bowls.

There are also side dishes on their own, so if you feel like the portion might be a bit small, it's a good idea to add one on, haha.

It's a rice place, but they also have ades, sodas, and iced Americanos, so you can wrap up your meal with coffee too! If I hadn't been driving, I would've wanted a beer as well — they had Cass sitting right there...

The best-selling menu items have huge photos attached, so it's easy to order based on the visuals, haha. I was already sold on the visuals and ordered the shabu kalguksu (should be pho) and mozzarella cheese katsu, haha.

Small plates, sauce dishes, and pickled radish were all neatly set out at each table.

Shabu pho, 8,900 won for close to 1.5 servings of noodles

Shabu pho (₩8,900)

Myeonsikdang's shabu pho is ₩8,900, and it really comes out looking exactly like the poster photo! I used to eat pho a lot as a hangover cure, but lately I haven't had many hangovers, so it's been a while — I was so happy to meet it again, haha.

As soon as it arrived, I wilted the bean sprouts down first — and honestly, the meat was plentiful and the noodle portion was way more than I expected!!! I'm not a light eater, but it looked like a solid 1.3 to 1.5 servings ;;;

The meat was tender and the broth was rich — if I'd been drinking the night before, I would've gone straight for the spicy pho instead, haha.

With a bit of meat fat floating on top, the broth definitely had a deep meaty flavor. The noodles weren't overcooked either, and eating them together with the bean sprouts and meat was heavenly, haha.

Yeah, exactly, this is how you're supposed to eat pho — wrapped up with the meat, that's the real deal bb

Mozzarella cheese katsu with mini cold soba, 14,900 won with salt and wasabi

Mozzarella cheese katsu + mini cold soba (₩14,900)

Myeonsikdang's mozzarella cheese katsu with mini cold soba is ₩14,900, and this one also came out looking exactly like the photo, haha. It was absolutely packed with cheese, and it was such a nice touch that it came with shichimi, salt, and wasabi alongside the tonkatsu sauce — clearly meant to be dipped in more than one way!

The moment I tasted it, I understood why it's a best-menu item. The meat was just the right thickness, and the cheese — ugh, it was insane. Not the greasy kind of cheese, you know that nutty, savory kind? That's exactly it!!

It was savory and clean enough that it was delicious even dipped in just salt.

Adding wasabi on top was also great — I was a bit shy and only added a little, but my colleague piled on a huge amount, bold as ever, haha.

The vegetables here were fresh too, so I cleaned out the cabbage salad completely, haha.

And for the last of summer — cold soba!!!!

Ah, need I say more, it's still delicious. With a bit of slushy ice and grated radish mixed in, it's exactly the delicious cold soba flavor you're imagining, haha. I slurped down even the broth on this one, haha, honestly even the side dish here is delicious.

What time to arrive at Myeonsikdang Jiwel City to avoid a wait

Myeonsikdang Jiwel City gets so busy at lunchtime that the place fills right up, so I visited on a weekday at 11am to avoid the wait. Even so, true to its reputation as a Jiwel City favorite, about half the seats were already filled ;;haha.

Given how prices are these days, this is genuinely a great deal for the portion size and quality! And the menu is great for solo dining too. If you're shopping at Hyundai Department Store or Jiwel City Mall like I was, I definitely recommend Myeonsikdang, a Jiwel City favorite.

You get a free drink for writing a Naver receipt review or an Instagram review, and there's also a weekly raffle for meal vouchers, so it's worth taking part, haha. I ate really, really well again today~