House-made buckwheat noodles in Sinbuk-myeon, Pocheon: Myeongimong

What kind of restaurant is Myeongimong, near Pocheon Art Valley?

Traveling around Pocheon usually means heading toward Art Valley or the art garden, and while I was looking for good food nearby I ended up here. The signature dishes are charcoal-grilled tteokgalbi and hand-pulled buckwheat makguksu, so if you're looking for Korean food in Pocheon, give this place a try 🤍

Myeongimong parking, opening hours and closing day

There's a parking lot right in front of the restaurant, so parking was easy.

Myeongimong is closed every Tuesday and open from 11am to 8pm. Last order is 7:20pm, so keep that in mind if you're visiting later in the day!

Outdoor terrace and indoor seating at Myeongimong

There's an outdoor terrace space before you enter, but since it was hot that day I went straight inside without a second thought. On a nice day, though, eating outside would be really pleasant.

Inside, the place had a clean, comfortable atmosphere overall. Indoor seating was fairly spacious and the table layout was good too. Actually, Myeongimong seems to get a lot of reviews from families visiting — it seemed like a popular spot for meals with kids or family outings.

Myeongimong menu and prices

Ordering was easy through the tablet. The main items were:

• Charcoal Korean pork tteokgalbi ₩13,000
• Buckwheat makguksu (water-based) ₩10,000
• Buckwheat makguksu (spicy-mixed) ₩10,000
• Buckwheat dumplings ₩7,000
• Buckwheat pancake roll ₩7,000

That's what was on offer.

Ordering the set: mini bread instead of a bowl of rice

I went with the set order — it's put together nicely so you can order tteokgalbi and makguksu together.

At first you choose between rice or mini bread, and since I'd read reviews saying it was delicious to make a burger by putting the tteokgalbi into the bread, I picked the mini bread!!!

And then you choose one water-based and one spicy-mixed!

Self-serve bar, side dishes and the free buckwheat pancake

There was a separate self-serve bar, and I liked that you could easily grab extra side dishes or anything else you needed.

There was also soup set out at the self-serve bar. I'm not sure if it's always the same soup or if it changes.

After ordering, while I waited, a variety of side dishes were set out on the table.

Eee, it seems the buckwheat pancake comes free as a side dish when you order the set. I love buckwheat pancake so this made me really happy!

How big is the house-made buckwheat makguksu portion?

When the buckwheat noodles arrived, I thought I'd accidentally been given the extra-large size. The portion was big and it tasted great too.

Cool broth with buckwheat noodles and neatly placed toppings made the whole bowl look refreshing just to look at! Because the dough is made and pulled into noodles right at the time of order, you could really feel that distinct buckwheat texture when eating.

Charcoal-grilled pork tteokgalbi and the mini bread burger

And then the tteokgalbi I'd been waiting for arrived! It came out on a hot griddle plate. It had good thickness, and the standout point was the subtle charcoal-grilled aroma. It was moist and tender.

I tried making a burger with this tteokgalbi and the bread I'd ordered instead of rice — glad I got the bread! The sweet-and-savory flavor of the tteokgalbi went really well with the burger bread.

Buckwheat pancake rolls ordered as a side

I also ordered the buckwheat pancake roll on the side. Inside the thin, chewy buckwheat wrapper was a generous filling, so every bite blended the nutty buckwheat aroma with the flavor of the filling. It especially brought out that nutty buckwheat flavor while warm. A great side to add when you feel like tteokgalbi alone isn't quite enough!

If you're looking for a place to eat near Pocheon Art Valley, this seemed like a good spot to pair with a sightseeing itinerary. If you're traveling around Pocheon and want to try both tteokgalbi and makguksu, Myeongimong is worth a visit 🤍