Goyang noodle restaurant with crispy chive pancake: Daejong Kalguksu

I made my Nth return visit to Daejong Kalguksu, a WesternDom favorite in Ilsan where every noodle dish has its own character and even the crispy chive pancake is delicious.

Daejong Kalguksu: location, hours, and parking

It is 300 m from Exit 1 of Jeongbalsan Station, right beside the parking-lot entrance on the first floor of the large Yangwoo Eastern City building. There is spacious ground-level parking in the building, and they provide generous parking validation when you pay.

Hours are 11:00 AM to 9:15 PM. It is a hardworking restaurant with neither a break time nor days off.

A WesternDom meal before Chuseok

Before Chuseok, I met Chibal and Suyeon before we set off early to visit my grandmother in hospital. We decided to eat near my workplace before leaving, which brought us to Daejong Kalguksu near WesternDom in Ilsan.

When I asked what they wanted to eat, Chibal and Suyeon asked what was good near my office. The first place that came to mind was Daejong Kalguksu. We came on this nice occasion today, but I often come here for lunch when I have no appetite at work.

It may look like a franchise from the outside, but this is the only location: a three-generation, 36-hour low-temperature-aged house-made noodle specialist.

A spacious interior with floor seating

We visited on a weekend, so it looked a little quiet, but on weekday lunches it is hard to find an empty seat. For nearby office workers, it is practically a pilgrimage spot.

The interior is as spacious as the exterior. In the center is a booth where guests can watch handmade dumplings being shaped and steamed.

There is also a floor-seating area where you take off your shoes. A group with a child came in behind us that day, and for families with kids, taking off their shoes and sitting up there really does seem more comfortable for everyone.

Menu combination and self-service bar

Here are the menu and prices. There are not an enormous number of choices, but it is a perfect lineup for a meal, drinks, or a work dinner. I debated ordering every kind of noodle and tried to find the right combination, then ordered beef-bone broth kalguksu (with extra noodles), mixed kalguksu (with extra noodles), and my absolute favorite chive pancake.

They bring napa cabbage kimchi with water, while green-onion kimchi is self-service.

So Manager Kim and I, two green-onion-kimchi fiends, headed straight over.

The deeply seasoned green-onion kimchi was great, but wow... the napa cabbage was seriously substantial. It was amazingly sweet and crunchy, with sweetness rising bite after bite, yet somehow the finish was savory enough that I could not stop eating it. There were also huge cucumber peppers at the self-service bar—make sure you grab them. So crisp, and it had been ages since I had found such truly delicious cucumber peppers. I think we ate more than ten that day.

Beef-bone and mixed kalguksu, plus chive pancake

While we were soothing our hungry stomachs with side dishes, everything we ordered arrived in a row.

White and red—the color combination pleased the eyes before we even ate. A quick GIF I took after calming down two hungry children.

Mild beef-bone broth kalguksu

We started with this house's signature beef-bone broth kalguksu (knife-cut noodles). It was already plentiful, and extra noodles made it look even more abundant. Extra noodles can only be added when you first order, so choose carefully. If you are torn, just order everything like I did.

I normally prefer the refreshing kind with clams, but here, beef-bone broth is a must-order. I started by showering it with pepper for an extra kick.

A beef-bone base can be cloudy, heavy, and greasy when done wrong, but there is none of that here. It feels like having a gentle, soft restorative meal—like the clear yet rich broth is coating your stomach all the way down?

The low-temperature-aged house-made noodles were so soft that I could barely pick them up with chopsticks; I had to scoop them with tongs. They have some thickness but are wonderfully tender, so I thought they would be ideal for anyone who has trouble digesting noodles or finds them burdensome, as well as for children.

Tangy, spicy beef brisket mixed kalguksu

Then there was the beef brisket mixed kalguksu again. This mixed noodle dish was exactly why I first fell for this place. But it was gone when I came last time! I was so, so disappointed that I even wrote in my post asking why it had disappeared—did they hear my wish?

I was beyond happy to see this mixed kalguksu return. Whether or not he knew how happy I was, Manager Kim took chopsticks in both hands and mixed it up properly, chop chop.

I piled on plenty of beef brisket and served myself a bowl, and yep, still my love. The rich, fatty brisket had not a trace of gamey smell, and it clung so well with the chewy noodles and spicy-tangy sauce.

The sauce is neither overly salty nor too spicy, yet it is tangy and clean—good with the meat, good with the pancake, good with everything.

A beef brisket mixed kalguksu with a wonderfully easygoing personality that pairs with anything.

A large, crispy chive pancake

And this is the chive pancake I order every single time I come.

You cannot tell its scale from the photo, but the plate it came on is a big earthenware-jar lid! It is large enough to cover the whole thing.

Its size is one thing, but its real charm is its crispness. I do not like pancakes such as pajeon when they are soggy and limp, but this one ranks among the crispiest pancakes I have ever had.

It is this crispy, yet somehow it does not drip with oil.

It was unbelievably crisp, light, and not oily—so much so that Chibal, who does not drink makgeolli (Korean rice wine), praised it as the kind of taste that makes you want makgeolli.

After trying all three and being so satisfied, Chibal's group ended up taking dumplings to go. Because the dumplings are steamed as soon as you order, they take about 10 minutes, so it is best to order ahead if you want them. This is Daejong Kalguksu in Ilsan, a place I confidently brought them because I go often.

From the noodles we ordered to the chive pancake, everything was satisfying, making my third visit to this WesternDom favorite a happy one too.

Some items were provided, but the amount I paid myself was greater. It really is such a delicious restaurant that I feel compelled to say this, in case anyone misunderstands the praise.