Sinbong-dong noodle spot for jjolmyeon and soba sets: Chilseong Suji

If you find picking a menu annoying, Chilseong Jemyeonso Suji Main Branch has you covered — great noodle dishes, great soup dishes.

I'd been craving sweet-and-sour jjolmyeon (chewy cold noodles) for a while — I'm the type who has to eat it at least once every summer, but I hadn't found a solid spot for it. This is a Seongbok Station restaurant in the Sinbong-dong restaurant district, and the menu has stuff everyone from kids to grandparents loves, so it's great for families or groups of friends.

Chilseong Jemyeonso Suji hours and free parking

Chilseong Jemyeonso Suji Main Branch is open 11:00–21:00, with last order at 20:30. Parking is available both underground and above ground.

This Seongbok Station restaurant is on the 1st floor of Seohee Star Hills. Take the elevator from the parking lot and walk a little way and you'll find it easily. Parking at Chilseong Jemyeonso Suji is usually in the underground lot, free for customers. There's also a parking area outside, and if you park there you're a bit closer to the entrance.

Is there a wait at 1:30pm on a weekend?

When we went at 1:30pm on a weekend, there was no wait at Chilseong Jemyeonso Suji. But by around 2:30 it got crowded again.

The Catch Table line-up screen gives a sense of how busy it usually gets. We were there on a weekend around 1:30, so luckily there was no wait. But by around 2:30 it filled up with people again.

Menu and what the dining room looks like

Here's the Chilseong Jemyeonso menu. There's a good variety of à la carte dishes, and the set menus are well put together so you can eat a bit of everything. The kicker was the side dishes that everyone loves — even nappajun (flat dumplings) and tteokkkochi (rice cake skewers) are on offer.

The interior has wood finishes and floor-to-ceiling windows, which made it feel cozy. And there's a tree right out front, so you can feel every season from your table.

You can order easily via the tablet. They're also selling summer-only chogye guksu (chilled chicken noodles). There's an Instagram event and a Naver review event running too, and it's not just a drink as a giveaway — they give something special, so definitely claim it.

First things first — a cold Coke to start.

Our order was seriously generous, right??? Haha. I honestly worried whether the two of us could finish it all, but in the end, we did. We were so stuffed we skipped dinner that night.

Perilla oil buckwheat soba set, 15,500 won

The perilla oil buckwheat soba set at Chilseong Jemyeonso Suji is ₩15,500. It comes with seaweed flakes, perilla oil, and perilla leaves.

You already know the combo of buckwheat and perilla oil, right??? That nutty aroma filling your mouth makes you slurp it up endlessly. Haha. The buckwheat noodles have that signature smooth texture, plus a generous amount of seaweed flakes on top.

The perilla leaves on top give a refreshing hit every so often, like an endless cycle — nutty bite, refreshing reset, repeat forever.

You can also choose pork cutlet with the set. Chilseong Jemyeonso Suji is famous in the Sinbong-dong restaurant district not just for jjolmyeon but for its pork cutlet too. So honestly, since we couldn't give up on either, we went with the set.

Chilseong bibim jjolmyeon set, 15,500 won

The Chilseong bibim jjolmyeon set is also ₩15,500. It's bibim jjolmyeon (spicy mixed chewy noodles) piled with vegetables, served with pork cutlet.

These days it's hard to find a place that's this generous with vegetables — maybe because produce prices are so high. But here, I finally met a jjolmyeon loaded with veggies again after a long time.

The second it arrived I knew — this has to be mixed right away. While mixing, that spicy-tangy smell wafted up, and by the time I finished mixing, I was drooling and my stomach was growling like crazy.

My friend kept congratulating herself for ordering the jjolmyeon — haha — saying it was so good. For jjolmyeon, the chewy noodle texture matters, but I think the sauce is what really counts, and this wasn't just spicy — it was spicy, tangy, and sweet, with a clean finish and crunchy vegetables mixed in that made for a really great combination.

What kind of pork cutlet comes with each set?

The pork cutlet came out crispy on the outside and juicy inside. It's not the thick Japanese-style cutlet. That actually makes it easier to eat without feeling heavy, and it's great dipped in the sauce. At this Seongbok Station restaurant, it'd be good ordered on its own too, but it also works well as a side alongside the other dishes in the sets.

Tteokkkochi (rice cake skewers): ordered even when full

Even knowing we'd be too full, instinct took over and we ordered the tteokkkochi (rice cake skewers) anyway. I mean, how could you not eat this when it looks like that?! These days it's actually hard to come across tteokkkochi like this, so it was nice to have it again after a long time. The seasoning had exactly the spiciness I wanted, with a deep sweetness hiding underneath that was really appealing.

Verdict on Chilseong Jemyeonso Suji in the Sinbong-dong restaurant district

Lots of people come to the Sinbong-dong restaurant district near Seongbok Station for a meal, and Chilseong Jemyeonso Suji Main Branch has jjolmyeon, tteokbokki, pork cutlet, buckwheat noodles, and various other noodle and soup dishes on offer. It didn't taste like something thrown together — it felt like it was made with real care, so it was nice to comfortably enjoy dishes I like after a long time.

The jjolmyeon sauce is still on my mind — the generous vegetables and chewy noodles were excellent, and the soba was a wonderful combination of seaweed flakes, nutty perilla oil, and refreshing perilla leaves. Parking is free too, so there's no burden there, and the store is clean, making it a good spot for a family meal. 100% would return!!!