Chungmuro soba spot for family meal with parents: Nagwon-ui Soba

I was in Chungmuro trying to figure out where to have dinner, and I ended up finding this place! It's called Nagwon-ui Soba.

I usually love buckwheat noodles, cold memil, and soba, so the name caught my eye right away 👀! Once I actually ate there, the menu had way more variety than I expected, and every dish was satisfying — my parents and my husband all enjoyed it too.

The lemon soba in particular is still on my mind as I write this. It's close to Chungmuro Station so it's easy to get to, and since it's near Dongguk University, there were a lot of young customers around too.

Nagwon-ui Soba's location and hours

• 🏠 Address: 2F, 2 Seoae-ro, Jung-gu, Seoul, South Korea
• ⏰ Hours: 10:30-22:00
• Break time: 15:00-16:30
• Last order: 21:00

Nagwon-ui Soba is in a spot that's easy to reach from Chungmuro Station. It wasn't hard to get to from Myeongdong either, so if you're looking for a place to eat around Chungmuro, this one's worth keeping in mind.

It's fairly close to Dongguk University too, so I saw college students there, as well as family groups like us who'd come with their parents.

So it seemed like a good fit for eating alone or catching up with a friend, but also for a family meal out or an evening work dinner. The restaurant is on the 2nd floor.

A 2nd-floor spot with tree views through floor-to-ceiling windows

The tree scenery through the floor-to-ceiling windows was really striking! When I opened the door and walked in, the atmosphere was better than I expected, and that's what caught my eye first. One wall is entirely glass, so you can see the green trees outside, and it went really well with the wooden tables.

Instead of the usual busy restaurant vibe, it felt a bit more relaxed, which made it a nice place to eat with my parents. We ordered via kiosk at the table, and there was also a detailed paper menu on hand, which made it easy to browse everything slowly.

From soba to bossam to kalguksu, the menu has a lot of range

With a name like Nagwon-ui Soba, I assumed it would just be buckwheat soba or memil, but the menu turned out to be a lot more varied than I thought! Alongside soba made with hand-cut noodles, there were also boiled pork, bossam (boiled pork wraps), kalguksu (knife-cut noodle soup), stir-fried pollock roe, savory pancakes, and other mains and sides.

If you're visiting as a group, picking single dishes each is one option, but there are also set menus, which seemed great for anyone who wants to share a variety. We didn't want to settle for just one dish either, so we ordered a bit of everything.

• Bossam (small, 2-person, 350g): ₩36,000
• Lemon soba: ₩13,000
• Sagol perilla-seed sujebi: ₩11,000
• Crispy-chewy potato pancake: ₩9,000

This is what we ordered.

The spicy radish soup 💛 that came as a side was so good and tangy — I felt like I could finish a whole bowl of rice with just that soup alone!

The lemon soba exceeded my expectations

The dish that most exceeded my expectations was definitely the lemon soba. Honestly, before ordering, I wasn't sure lemon and soba would even go well together. But the clean, plain flavor of buckwheat combined with the freshness of lemon and made my mouth feel refreshingly clean.

If I had to pick one dish from that day to eat again, it would be the lemon soba. It felt like it wasn't for nothing that the restaurant is named Nagwon-ui Soba ('soba paradise') — it was totally my type of dish. If you usually like cold memil or buckwheat soba, it's worth ordering at least once.

The sagol perilla-seed sujebi had proper nutty depth

My mom really loves sujebi (hand-torn dough soup), so we ordered the sagol perilla-seed sujebi. This dish hit her taste exactly right.

The nutty flavor of perilla seeds came through strong, and the broth was on the smooth side, almost creamy!

If you're a fan of sujebi, I think you'd be really satisfied with this one.

Bossam boiled fresh daily, paired with pollock skate-style salad

We started with the bossam, and the meat was pretty tender. They say it's boiled fresh every day, and it had no gamey smell, tasting clean and light without feeling heavy. The wraps and kimchi that came with it paired well too.

But what I liked especially here was pairing it with the myeongtaehoe (seasoned raw pollock). It tasted different from eating the bossam alone, and I kept reaching for more!

Crispy and chewy potato pancake

Honestly, the potato pancake wasn't something I originally planned on ordering.

But once we ordered it and tried it, I realized it would've been a shame not to. The outside was crispy while the inside stayed soft and chewy, and it was great to snack on between other dishes.

It went well with the brothy dishes like the soba and sujebi, and it seemed like a good side to order when dining with a group.

Final thoughts — a great spot for a family meal or evening get-together

With four of us — parents, husband, and me — it was great to order and share a variety of dishes. My most memorable dish was the lemon soba, and my mom especially enjoyed the nutty, smooth sagol perilla sujebi!

Between the bossam and the potato pancake, the whole meal was satisfying overall, so this is somewhere I'd want to revisit next time I'm in Chungmuro.

I found this place while searching for restaurants near Chungmuro Station and Dongguk University, and it made me even happier that my parents enjoyed it too! Next time I'm in Chungmuro, I'll come back and share another review 💛