Sokcho makguksu restaurant for a group lunch with pork platter: Topgol

Sokcho Topgol Makguksu — a Sokcho makguksu spot worth knowing for a Sokcho lunch.

Visiting Sokcho, I was torn over lunch — seafood sounded good, but I wanted something light for daytime, so I decided on buckwheat makguksu and suyuk (boiled pork). This time I went to Sokcho Topgol Makguksu for lunch.

Location & parking info

Free parking / free corkage. Use the Sokcho Beach public parking lot, and grab the 2-hour discount parking voucher after your meal.

Sokcho Topgol Makguksu sits near Sokcho Beach, close to Sokcho Market and the Sokchoi Ferris wheel — right in the middle of the main sightseeing area, making it an easy pick for Sokcho lunch.

Any wait for weekday lunch?

I visited on a weekday for lunch and got seated right away, no wait. You can also reserve ahead through Naver Reservation to skip waiting, so I'd recommend booking on weekends! Still, the restaurant is quite spacious with plenty of tables, and turnover seems fast, so waits shouldn't be too long even then.

Menu

The restaurant's signature perilla oil buckwheat makguksu caught my eye first. The menu is varied with something for everyone, and there were plenty of families dining too.

Our order

• Perilla oil buckwheat makguksu — ₩13,000
• Pollack sashimi makguksu — ₩13,000
• Suyuk (large) — ₩30,000

The basic side dishes were radish salad, young radish kimchi, garlic, chili peppers, ssamjang (seasoned soybean paste), and salted shrimp.

Extra side dishes, small plates, and utensils are all freely available at the self-serve bar.

Suyuk (boiled pork)

Suyuk (large). We ordered the large size to share among four people, and it came out sliced thin — about 27 pieces. In the middle sat dried radish strips and seasoned pollack sashimi.

Even the cartilage was tender enough to chew without any hassle, and the lean meat and fat were well balanced.

Wrapped in makguksu, the umami doubled — this suyuk was the perfect way to fill the emptiness you'd feel eating makguksu alone!

Well-seasoned and melt-in-your-mouth tender, this suyuk wasn't a side to the makguksu — it was the main event.

Makguksu

Perilla oil buckwheat makguksu & pollack sashimi makguksu. Ever since the perilla-oil-makguksu recipe went viral, I'd only ever made it at home — this was my first time trying it at an actual makguksu restaurant, so I was really looking forward to it.

Order makguksu and suyuk together and there's no more satisfying Sokcho lunch. Plus, with the buckwheat noodles alongside the pork, it's a Korean lunch that's both filling and easy on the stomach!

The pollack sashimi makguksu had an appealing sweet-and-sour flavor that wasn't too spicy.

The perilla oil buckwheat makguksu had a subtle nutty aroma from the perilla oil, with a clean, understated flavor. The noodles, made fresh in-house, had a soft texture — eaten with the suyuk, the two flavors came together in harmony without overpowering the meat's flavor.

Partway through the makguksu, pouring in the dongchimi broth added a nice change of pace, letting me enjoy it deliciously right to the end.

If you're looking for a makguksu restaurant while traveling in Sokcho, and want a Sokcho lunch that's light on the stomach but still filling and not too heavy, I'd recommend the makguksu-and-suyuk combo.