Seongsa-dong sundae soup restaurant with self-serve noodles: Gohyangok

Looking for a solid meal around Wondang, I stopped by Gohyangok Eolkeun Sundaeguk Wondang Branch, a well-known spot in Seongsa-dong.

When you hear "sundae soup place," it's easy to picture something cramped and a bit rough around the edges, but here that preconception disappeared pretty neatly the moment I walked in.

The space was wide with high ceilings, so I never felt boxed in while eating, and everything was well organized, making for a comfortable meal.

Best of all, there was a spacious dedicated parking lot right in front of the building, so coming by car felt easy.

Not having to circle the neighborhood looking for parking already feels like a solid reason to come back.

Where is Gohyangok Eolkeun Sundaeguk Wondang Branch, and when is it open?

• Address: 경기 고양시 덕양구 고양대로 1578 1층 (1578 Goyang-daero, Deogyang-gu, Goyang-si, Gyeonggi-do, South Korea)
• Hours: Mon–Sat 10:00–22:00 / Sun 05:30–22:00
• Parking: Dedicated lot available in front of the restaurant

Along with sundae soup, there's spicy offal soup, boiled pork soup, dried pollack hangover soup, soybean-curd sundae soup, dried radish green sundae soup, and more, so you can pick according to your taste.

Inside Gohyangok: is it comfortable for solo diners?

The interior at Gohyangok Eolkeun Sundaeguk Wondang Branch calls to mind a hanok (traditional Korean house), with high ceilings and plenty of space. There are also good seats by the window for eating alone, so solo dining wouldn't feel awkward at all.

Stepping inside, the hanok-inspired interior caught my eye right away. With high ceilings and a genuinely spacious layout, it lacked the cramped feeling you usually get at a gukbap (soup with rice) restaurant.

There was a good variety of seating too — the window seats in particular looked perfect for solo dining, so coming here alone wouldn't feel out of place.

There were also plenty of 2- and 4-person tables, so it felt just as comfortable for visiting with a friend or eating as a family.

I also got the impression that the place was kept clean throughout. It didn't have that heavy, food-saturated smell that gukbap places often have, so the whole meal felt pleasant.

What we ordered at Gohyangok and what the self-serve bar offers

We ordered one sunsundaeguk (sundae bossam set), one nostalgic hamburg steak, and one hinoki steamed platter.

Ordering was simple through the tablet at the table, and we could grab any extra side dishes we needed from the self-serve bar.

Kimchi and diced radish kimchi came standard, and there were also thin wheat noodles ready to add into the soup.

On the table were salted shrimp, perilla powder, and chili paste, so I could adjust the seasoning and flavor of the broth to my taste, which I appreciated.

Sunsundaeguk: milky pork bone broth with self-serve noodles stirred in

Unlike the spicy, red-seasoned eolkeun sundaeguk, the sunsundaeguk at Gohyangok Eolkeun Sundaeguk Wondang Branch stands out for its milky broth. Rather than anything punchy, what came through first was the heavy, savory flavor typical of bone broth.

After a short wait, the sunsundaeguk arrived piping hot. Right from the first look, it seemed rich and savory.

I took a first spoonful of just the broth, and rather than anything sharp or spicy, the heavy, savory flavor typical of bone broth came through first.

That said, it wasn't overly greasy either, so it went well with rice.

The gamey edge that sundae soup can sometimes have wasn't noticeable at all, and eating the broth together with the solid ingredients made for a properly filling meal.

There was a generous amount of sundae (Korean blood sausage) and meat inside, so every spoonful came with plenty of ingredients.

Partway through, I added a bit of the noodles, and the noodles soaked in warm bone broth worked better than I expected.

After eating the noodles first and then mixing in rice, it felt like I'd properly enjoyed a full bowl of gukbap.

Adding a little salted shrimp or perilla powder here and there changed the flavor of the same broth bit by bit, so I never got tired of it, even by the last spoonful.

Hinoki steamed platter and sundae bossam at Gohyangok

We also tried the hinoki set, and I liked the clean, light flavor that's distinctive of hinoki-steamed dishes.

It's meant to be eaten together with meat, and it had a different appeal from the spicy sundae soup.

Ordering both meant we got to enjoy a spicy broth, a light steamed dish, and bossam (boiled pork wraps) all at once, which seems like a good setup for picking dishes when visiting with a group.

The nostalgic hamburg steak: a surprise menu at a sundae soup restaurant

One of the more entertaining things we ordered that day was the nostalgic hamburg steak.

It seemed a little odd at first that a sundae soup restaurant would also serve hamburg steak, but once the dish arrived, I understood why it's on the menu.

The soft patty topped with sweet sauce tasted just like the name suggests — the old-school Western-style hamburg steak I remembered from years back.

It went in a completely different direction from the rich, savory sunsundaeguk, so I was glad we'd ordered it alongside.

Taking a bite of gukbap, then a bite of the hamburg steak, then back to the warm broth — alternating between such different flavors turned out to be a nice combination. If you're visiting with kids or with someone who might find sundae soup a bit much, ordering something like this alongside could work well.

Kimchi and diced radish kimchi quietly matter a lot at a gukbap place, and the side dishes here paired well with the soup too. Mixing rice into the warm broth with a piece of diced radish kimchi on the side confirmed that this combination is simply essential for gukbap.

Any side dishes we ran low on could be topped up from the self-serve bar, which was convenient. And being able to add noodles to enjoy with the soup was something I personally really liked.

Is Gohyangok worth it if you don't like spicy gukbap?

Gohyangok Eolkeun Sundaeguk Wondang Branch has "eolkeun sundaeguk" (spicy sundae soup) in its name, but the sunsundaeguk we tried that day was mild and savory, far from spicy.

That means people who don't prefer spicy gukbap could still eat comfortably here.

From the spacious parking to the pleasant interior, varied seating, and a cleanly managed self-serve bar, the whole experience felt easy, not just the food itself.

If you're looking for somewhere to eat around Wondang or Wonheung, or a hearty meal near Seooreung, this is worth adding to the list.

If, like us, you order the sunsundaeguk together with the nostalgic hamburg steak, you get to enjoy a mild soup and a sweet hamburg steak together, which makes choosing the menu kind of fun too.

And there's even vending-machine coffee, perfect for older visitors to finish off the meal.

On a day when you're craving a hot bowl of soup and want a filling but easy-going meal, this Wondang sundae soup restaurant is worth a visit.