Sokcho makguksu with 2 free dumplings for a receipt review: Topgol

Sokcho makguksu, Sokcho perilla oil makguksu @ Sokcho Topgol Makguksu Main Branch

I just got back from a 2-night-3-day trip to Sokcho. If you go to Gangwon-do's Sokcho, you have to eat makguksu (chilled buckwheat noodles) ❤️ It really is a different league from the makguksu you get in Seoul..?

Plus the location is right next to Sokcho Beach, so it's great for beach-watching after the meal. And it's the makguksu restaurant behind the first-ever patent office trademark registration in Korea for perilla oil buckwheat makguksu. This makguksu can only be eaten at Sokcho Topgol Makguksu Main Branch, so I dove right in. >______<

Where is Sokcho Topgol Makguksu Main Branch, and where do you park?

📍Location: 12 Haeoreum-ro 188beon-gil, 1st floor, Sokcho-si, Gangwon-do, South Korea

⏰Hours: Daily 09:30 - 21:00 (last order 20:30)

🚗Parking: Nearby public parking lot available (2 hours free)

Reservations, group seating, parking, waiting area, takeout, baby chairs, takeout discount

Sokcho Topgol Makguksu Main Branch is near Sokcho Beach, a one-minute walk from the Sokcho-I Ferris wheel ticket booth, on the road to the left toward the sea. There's no parking right in front of the restaurant, so you have to use the nearby public parking lot, but thankfully the restaurant covers 2 hours of parking.

Since it was lunchtime, there was definitely a wait.

Inside Sokcho Topgol Makguksu: the self-serve bar and yagwanmun tea

After waiting a while, we finally got in, and inside it was packed with customers.

At the self-serve bar there was yagwanmun tea (a root tea) — and this yagwanmun isn't only good for men, it's also good for women, helping with fatigue recovery, hangover relief and liver health.

The menu at Sokcho Topgol Makguksu and what we ordered

You can order and pay right from the tablet menu on the table. We ordered the most famous combination, the one we most wanted to try.

• ✔️ Suyuk (boiled pork slices)
• ✔️ Perilla oil buckwheat makguksu
• ✔️ Seafood perilla kalguksu

The side dishes were mu-saengchae (seasoned radish salad) and yeolmu kimchi (young radish kimchi).

Suyuk 30,000 won, served with pollack hoe (seasoned raw pollack)

First out was the suyuk ❤️ The portion is big enough that two people could get by ordering just makguksu and one suyuk.

Suyuk comes with two things to pair it with: dried radish strips and pollack hoe (raw pollack salad).

The combination of well-cooked lean meat and fat, and a texture that's tender and soft. Personally, it was best eaten together with the pollack hoe, and I kept reaching for more. It wasn't greasy at all, so I enjoyed it a lot.

Perilla oil buckwheat makguksu 13,000 won: how to eat deulmemak

Next up is the pride of Sokcho Topgol Makguksu Main Branch, the perilla oil buckwheat makguksu ❤️ This is the so-called "deulmemak," which even has a trademark registration with the patent office.

The way to enjoy the deulmemak at Sokcho Topgol Makguksu Main Branch is: first, try it mixed as is. As you eat the makguksu, the perilla oil flavor isn't sharp, so it can feel a bit plain at first, but it's a clean flavor that leaves a deep lingering taste. Also, unlike other places, the noodles here are made in-house from 100% Bongpyeong buckwheat flour mixed with squid ink and reishi mushroom, using their own sea-based noodle-making process.

After eating about half the deulmemak, pouring in a little of the dongchimi (watery radish kimchi)-based makguksu broth and mixing it gives a whole different flavor. I poured in too much broth and it didn't quite work out taste-wise, but personally, I think deulmemak is tastiest just mixed plain.

What does the seafood perilla buckwheat kalguksu (12,000 won) taste like?

Seafood perilla kalguksu (knife-cut noodle soup) loaded with domestic perilla seed powder. With so much perilla powder added, the nuttiness is tripled. The thick, chewy kalguksu noodles, full of buckwheat aroma, pair really well with the perilla. It's the kind of flavor where you keep thinking "what is this taste?" while continuing to eat..

2 buckwheat dumplings free from the receipt-review event

2 mandu (dumplings) received through the receipt-review event 🥟🥟

Fist-sized buckwheat mandu with juices bursting out, chewy buckwheat wrapper, and filling packed with meat — clean and slightly sweet, really tasty.

Overall, the food wasn't salty and was lightly seasoned, so I could eat comfortably without feeling bloated. Recommended as a Sokcho makguksu spot‼️