Chinese restaurant in Daehangno for a 4-dish share: Cheonghwawon

When you go see a play or show in Daehangno, figuring out where to eat before or after can be a whole thing. This time I wanted something different near Hyehwa Station, so I went to Cheonghwawon Daehangno Branch.

Cheonghwawon 📍1F, 10 Myeongmul-gil, Seodaemun-gu, Seoul, South Korea, Cheonghwawon ⏰11:00–22:00

Location and menu lineup at Cheonghwawon Daehangno Branch

Cheonghwawon is close to Hyehwa Station Exit 4, so it was easy to find. They serve Taiwanese-style beef noodles, knife-cut noodles and dim sum, so the menu felt a bit different from a typical Chinese restaurant. I'd actually seen it recommended as a good spot to visit before or after a show in Daehangno.

1st-floor bar seats and 2nd-floor tables, solo diners to groups

Walking in, the place felt more exotic than I expected. The 1st floor has 2-person tables and bar-style seating, while the 2nd floor has tables for larger groups — it looked good for anything from solo dining to a date to a meal with friends.

There were bar tables too.

The dim sum you spot on your way up to the 2nd floor looks delicious too!

We took a table on the 2nd floor. This time we ordered a bunch of different dishes to share. We got beef knife-cut noodles, guobaorou, yuxiang pork rice bowl and xiaolongbao. Ordering across noodles, rice, a cooked dish and dim sum made for a really filling meal.

You can refill the banchan at the bar

This is the banchan (side dishes) that comes out by default! The one on the right is already a refill, haha.

You can refill it yourself at the bar!

You pour the sauce on the guobaorou yourself

The first dish to arrive was guobaorou. It'd feel like something was missing at a Chinese restaurant without it, so we ordered it. The crispy fried guobaorou came with a sweet-and-sour sauce that really woke up the appetite. The crunchy outside and chewy inside worked so well together that I kept reaching for more.

You pour this on yourself and eat it!

Pairing it with something brothy like the beef knife-cut noodles worked well. Picking up a piece of guobaorou between bites of noodles kept things interesting since the texture and flavor kept switching up.

Xiaolongbao and yuxiang pork rice bowl

Here's the xiaolongbao! I love dim sum so I had to order it, and I was glad it came out freshly steamed and hot. It was better to let it cool a bit rather than eat it in one bite — the broth inside together with the dumpling wrapper really gave that distinctive dim sum flavor.

We also ordered the yuxiang pork rice bowl. Yuxiang pork is pork and vegetables stir-fried in yuxiang sauce, and eating it over rice made it a filling meal. The sauce's savoriness and salty edge paired so well with the rice that I kept going back for another spoonful.

Cheonghwawon has such a wide range of Chinese dishes on the menu that it seemed like a great place to order several things and share when you're with a group. The menu itself even groups xiaolongbao, shumai and guobaorou together, so you can enjoy a variety of Chinese dishes in one visit.

A recommended combo: one noodle, one rice, one dish

Ordering only noodle dishes can feel a bit lacking, but adding the rice bowl made the meal so much more varied. If you're going with several people, I'd recommend this approach — pick one noodle dish, one rice dish and one cooked dish to share.

How was the signature beef knife-cut noodles?

The beef knife-cut noodles, arguably Cheonghwawon's signature dish, also arrived. Knife-cut noodles are broader and thicker than regular noodles, which gives them that chewy texture. Eating them with the broth really brought out that chewiness.

There was meat mixed in too, so it was fun eating the broth, noodles and meat together. The beef noodles had a distinctive aroma and broth flavor that felt quite different from noodles I usually eat. If you can only pick one signature dish at Cheonghwawon, I'd say try the beef knife-cut noodles first.

Overall thoughts on Daehangno restaurant Cheonghwawon

Daehangno restaurant Cheonghwawon had a nice range of menu options overall. Between the warm broth and noodles, filling up on the yuxiang pork rice bowl, and adding guobaorou and xiaolongbao on the side, we got to enjoy a bunch of different flavors in one sitting.

If you're in Daehangno and want something other than the usual pasta or meat dishes, Daehangno restaurant Cheonghwawon seems like a solid choice. Dishes like the beef knife-cut noodles or dim sum that you don't often eat made it a good fit for a date or a meal with friends in Daehangno.