Gwangju pho restaurant: couple's dinner for ₩38,000, Wolmidang

Where is Wolmidang Gwangju Chonnam National University Branch, and where do you park?

Wolmidang Gwangju Chonnam National University Branch (월미당) is at 62 Uchi-ro, Jungheung-dong, Buk-gu, Gwangju, on the first floor of the Megabox building at the back gate of Chonnam National University, next to a café. It is open 11:00–20:45 with a break from 15:00 to 17:00, and I hear the Megabox parking lot covers 1 hour.

My husband loves pho and we eat it fairly often, so we headed to Wolmidang, a Chonnam National University back gate favorite, for dinner. You can use the Megabox outdoor parking lot, but since it was evening we parked at the Hyojuk public parking lot by Buk-gu Office (super close). On weekends, and on weekdays after 7 pm, parking is free, so you can eat at a relaxed pace!!!

Wolmidang atmosphere and seating

The tables at Wolmidang are for 2, 4 or 6 people, so it works for eating alone or with friends. It opened a while ago and has plenty of regulars, so I snapped these photos in the gaps when the tables were empty.

For the restroom you use the building's shared one. The hall was busy, but there were so many delivery orders too 😆 Food comes out fast and the value is great! I think a lot of the customers are Chonnam National University students and people from the nearby apartments.

How to order at Wolmidang and the basic setup

You order on the tablet at your table, and each table has sauces ready. Bowls and pickled onions are brought out for the number of people. We didn't add cilantro, but the male students at the next table did 🤣

Dinner for two for ₩38,000: what did we order?

• Beef brisket and tendon pho ₩13,000
• Spicy teppan bulgogi set ₩15,500
• Cha gio couple set ₩7,500
• Cola ₩2,000
• Total ₩38,000

Wow! Doesn't it look so good? If you order like this at Wolmidang, it's a nice amount for two people to get comfortably full.

Beef brisket and tendon pho: how was the tendon?

Wolmidang's beef brisket and tendon pho (₩13,000) has plenty of meat and a rich, full-bodied broth, so I recommend it to meat lovers ❤️ I've had lots of brisket pho, but tendon… I ordered with half worry, half curiosity, and my husband actually said the tendon was delicious and ate happily.

I thought about adding bean sprouts, but the default portion was big, so I skipped it. There was a lot of meat and noodles, but the broth was so good that I slurped down the whole bowl in one go. The broth was brown but not salty. I hear that charring (?) the vegetables when making the stock gives a brown color, so Wolmidang probably makes it that way.

Spicy teppan bulgogi set: how is it different from the soy-sauce version?

With Wolmidang's teppan bulgogi set you can choose soy-sauce or spicy bulgogi, and the spicy one costs ₩500 more (₩15,500). The rice options are only a rice bowl or a triangle rice ball set. The spicy version was nicely spicy with fantastic savory depth. The sizzling cheese was the charm of this dish, and I doubt anyone dislikes cheese!

I loved the cheese and the rice was good, but it would be even better if soup came with it?! Maybe there isn't any because most people order pho anyway.

Next time I want to try the soy bulgogi. If you can't handle spicy food, go for the soy-sauce flavor!!!

Cha gio couple set: what's in it and the sauces

Wolmidang's cha gio couple set (₩7,500) (cha gio: Vietnamese fried spring rolls) comes with 2 each of menbosha (shrimp toast), sweet potato cha gio and shrimp cha gio. Just two mains felt a little short, so we ordered a side too, haha.

They were fried crispy and come with chili sauce and peanut sauce, so you can eat them to your taste. I thought they were tasty even without any sauce.

Was the return visit still satisfying?

Once again I ate happily at Wolmidang Gwangju Chonnam National University Branch, a Chonnam National University back gate favorite. When you're craving hot soup, go right now!