Jung-gu Chinese restaurant for a pre-Namsan hike dinner: Huhugwan

Trained hard, came back down the mountain of flavor — failure is not an option. Coming down off the flavor mountain! Best pick for dinner before climbing Namsan ⛰️ I went to Huhugwan!

Where is Huhugwan, and what is the mood inside?

Huhugwan is on the 2nd floor of 2 Seosomun-ro 11-gil, Jung-gu, Seoul, South Korea — just around the corner from City Hall Station, so it's easy to get to.

I walked in thinking, 'is the outside a bit flashy?'

Red walls, green tables, yellow blinds, red lighting — it had a bit of a Chinese movie set vibe. The window seats were booths too, so it was nice that they were slightly set apart from the next table.

They gave us peanuts and pickled radish as basic side dishes, good for picking at one by one while waiting for the food.

Fried eggplant at Huhugwan: crisp outside, soft inside

The dish that surprised me first that day was the fried eggplant. Even just from the photo you can tell how plump the eggplant is.

One bite in, the outside is lightly crisp while the inside is hot and soft, with almost none of that mushy eggplant texture. There's a sweet-salty sauce coated on top with peppers thrown in, so I kept picking up piece after piece. I already like eggplant, but this is the kind of dish that could win over people who don't!

Majangmyeon: peanut sauce noodles with a hint of mala

Next up was — wait, majang?? Haha, majangmyeon. When it first arrives, you notice the toppings before the noodles.

Look at the color on that meat~ Cucumber, wood ear mushroom, and quail eggs practically cover the noodles.

Mixing the noodles underneath with the sauce, that distinctive savory peanut sauce smell hits you right away. On top of that, a subtle mala spice kicks in — it was so delicious I was genuinely moved eating it, haha, sniff.

It's rich, but with so much cucumber mixed in it wasn't as heavy as I expected. The wood ear mushroom's chew is nice too, and a bite of meat with noodles together is delicious. If you like the savory peanut flavor of tantanmen, this would suit you too. I already love this kind of peanut-sauce noodle so I basically kept eating nonstop, haha.

Dumplings at Huhugwan and the final verdict

We also ordered dumplings, and they came piled generously with green onion, which made for a great look. Crispy outside, juicy inside — so good.

I used to think of Huhugwan as just a Chinese restaurant good for photos, but the food ended up being more memorable. Especially the fried eggplant + majangmyeon combo. Best fried eggplant and majangmyeon I've ever had! On any day I'm craving Chinese food, I'm running straight to Huhugwan!

Refueled with Chinese food that day and completed the Namsan climb too! So it's basically 0 calories, haha.