Yongin kalguksu restaurant weekend opening run: Jangwongap Kalguksu

Let me introduce Jangwongap Kalguksu, one of the Yongin Giheung kalguksu spots I liked so much the first time that I went back for a second visit! The course — mushrooms and minari (water dropwort) first, then meat, noodles, fried rice, and dessert in order — was such a great setup, and I think pretty much anyone would enjoy it.

Weekend wait at Jangwongap Kalguksu: is an opening run the answer?

Jangwongap Kalguksu Yongin Giheung Branch opens at 10:30 AM, and when I arrived around 10:40 on a weekend, the parking lot already had more than half its spots filled. This time I basically did an opening run — woke up, washed up, and headed straight over on a weekend morning.

By around 11:30, while I was still eating, more people were waiting and the place had gotten really busy. If you're going on a weekend, I'd recommend an opening run and avoiding the lunch rush.

Location and parking: 5 minutes from Lotte Outlet, IKEA and Costco

Jangwongap Kalguksu Yongin Giheung Branch is at 90 Gomae-ro, Giheung-gu, Yongin, Gyeonggi, 1st floor. It's also about a 5-minute drive from Lotte Outlet Yongin Giheung, IKEA, and Costco, which makes it a good spot for a meal after shopping or grocery runs in the area. There's a parking lot in front with room for about 40 cars. Even though we arrived almost right at opening time, cars kept pulling in.

Once inside, the dining room is spacious too. There were a lot of families, and plenty of larger groups as well.

There were especially many families with kids. If you order one menu per person, you get free baby rice and kkakdugi (radish kimchi), and baby chairs are available too. Groups can range from a minimum of 6 to a maximum of 112 people. It could work well if you're looking for a Gomae-dong, Yongin restaurant for a family meal or a group gathering.

Five-course kalguksu for 12,000 won and the order you eat it in

The five-course kalguksu I had is ₩12,000 per person. There's a set order to eat it in, from start to finish.

• Mushrooms + minari
• Meat + minari
• Chewy noodles
• Soft noodles
• Perilla oil kkakdugi fried rice

We also ordered the whole shrimp seafood pancake (₩13,500). It's loaded with whole shrimp, squid, and octopus, with seafood packed all the way through. The pancake itself was thick too, so it was great to snack on while the kalguksu was simmering.

From mushrooms and minari to beef brisket and abalone

First, you cook mushrooms and minari in the broth.

After eating those with the hot broth, it's meat's turn. You take a piece of meat with some minari together — and you really have to try the sesame oil here. They serve a small dish of sesame oil pressed at an actual oil mill. Mix in a bit of salt and dip the meat and minari in — it was so nutty and delicious.

We also ordered abalone separately! You get two pieces, and they're very fresh. I want to come back again with my parents and order more.

House-made noodles kneaded a thousand times, plus cheese noodles with five textures

After finishing the meat, the noodles finally go in. Jangwongap Kalguksu says it uses house-made noodles kneaded a thousand times, based on a 60-year-old noodle-making tradition. When you stretch the raw noodles apart, they pull long like cheese — which is why they call them 'cheese noodles.' If you try stretching them yourself, they don't break easily and just keep stretching out.

Jangwongap Kalguksu describes the noodles as changing through five textures depending on how long they've been cooked. At 6 minutes they're chewy, at 7 minutes springy, at 8 minutes bouncy. Around 9 minutes they soak up the broth and turn soft and fluffy, and at 10 minutes they become tender.

We ate this together with the Uiseong garlic kimchi. They use native Uiseong garlic and make the kimchi fresh every day. Piling the kimchi on top of the kalguksu noodles was, unsurprisingly, a great match.

The finale: perilla oil kkakdugi fried rice

Once you finish the kalguksu, it's time for the perilla oil kkakdugi fried rice. They add plenty of finely chopped kkakdugi, top it with roasted seaweed flakes, and stir-fry it evenly in the pot.

They say the fried rice uses domestic new-harvest rice and 100% perilla oil. I was already full from the mushrooms, meat, and kalguksu, but I still enjoyed every bite of the fried rice.

Old-fashioned snacks and a misugaru shake in the waiting area

But that's not the end! The waiting area has old-fashioned snacks, popped corn puffs, and even misugaru (roasted grain powder) all set out. Among the old-fashioned snacks, the onion-flavored one was genuinely delicious.

And what I really loved was the misugaru shake. It was sweet and nutty and so good. Even after eating until I was completely full, I still drank a cup before leaving. Next time I come back, I'm having the misugaru again.

What the second visit to Jangwongap Kalguksu came to

I enjoyed my first visit to Jangwongap Kalguksu Yongin Giheung Branch so much that I came back, and this second visit left me full and happy again. I especially loved the soft noodles and the fried rice loaded with kkakdugi. The onion-flavored old-fashioned snack and the misugaru shake at the end were also great.

This time, since I timed my visit to the weekend opening, I really felt how popular this place is. It opens at 10:30, and by 10:40 cars were already lined up in the parking lot; past 11:30, there was a crowd waiting too. If you're planning a weekend visit, I'd recommend going right at opening time.

If you're near Lotte Outlet Yongin Giheung, IKEA, or Costco and looking for a Yongin Giheung kalguksu spot, try the whole course at Jangwongap Kalguksu — from mushrooms to fried rice to dessert. I've already gone back once myself, and I'm planning to go again.