Museum-day lunch at Cheonje Guksu, a Paju Tanhyeon noodle restaurant

My sister called me on Friday.

👩‍🦰 What are you doing?

👱‍♀️ Me...? Probably just at home..?

👩‍🦰 Want to come out?

👱‍♀️ Sure, let's go out

What's the point of staying home with little kids anyway, haha, gotta get out!

Our course for the day: Heyri Village modern history museum → lunch: Cheonje Guksu → café: On the Rail → sightseeing at the Unification Observatory → dinner: Simhaksan Deul Kkot Ssambap

Starting at the Heyri Village modern history museum

First stop was the modern history museum in Heyri Village, Paju. I'd been before, but I wanted to bring my niece this time, haha.

Old objects and quirky buildings — lots to see. Yuni and my niece were busy looking around with puzzled little faces, haha. When I show them the photos later, it'll be a nice memory, right?

The two of them stuck together like glue the whole time — pure healing, haha. So cute and so pretty 🥰

After all that playing, time for lunch! We headed to Cheonje Guksu, a place where both kids and adults can eat together. It's only 5 minutes by car from Heyri Village and parking is easy too.

Where is Cheonje Guksu and when is it open?

Cheonje Guksu's Tanhyeon main branch is at 542 Saeori-ro, Tanhyeon-myeon, Paju-si, Gyeonggi-do, closed every Tuesday, open 11:30–20:00 and until 19:30 on weekends. It's only 5 minutes from Heyri Village, so it's perfect to stop by after playing there!

In Heyri Village, people go to cafés a lot but rarely to restaurants for meals — this is the place to pick! A genuinely great restaurant!

I heard Cheonje Guksu just launched kongguksu (cold soybean noodle soup), and having tasted their food, I bet that's amazing too. Everything here is made with care. Now, on to the review!

Cheonje Guksu's menu and what our table ordered

As you'd expect from a noodle house, the menu has various noodle dishes, suyuk (boiled pork), golbaengi (whelk) and sora (top shell) muchim, plus liquor and makgeolli — perfect for coming back at night for drinks and snacks too. We ordered 1 janchi guksu, 1 bibim guksu, 1 urengi gangdoenjang bap, and suyuk for 2.

Alongside kimchi and cucumber peppers with ssamjang, the side dishes included tofu drizzled with soy sauce — my niece ate that up, haha. It's not spicy, so it's a great side dish for kids!

The suyuk was good enough for a second plate

The suyuk arrived, and the color and texture of the boiled pork looked amazing 💚👍 The chive salad on the side was tasty too.

Served in a bowl like this, it looks even more delicious. The meat was chewy yet tender, so I cut it up for the kids, and it was so good that my sister and I ordered a second plate!

Janchi guksu: too big a bowl for two kids to finish

The janchi guksu (noodle soup) that came out for the kids. On the menu you can choose less/regular/more, and the portion was huge. This was meant for 2 kids and they couldn't even finish it!

Topped with fried tofu and chives, the noodles were chewy, the broth warm, and the anchovy aroma really came through. One sip of the broth and — oh, this janchi guksu is good! 💚💚 I usually prefer udon over janchi guksu, since some places make it too bland. But here the seasoning was just right and blended perfectly with the noodles — just genuinely delicious, hahahaha.

My favorite: urong gangdoenjang bap (mudsnail soybean paste rice)

Next came the urengi gangdoenjang (mudsnail soybean paste stew) — tofu, onion, zucchini and big mudsnails mixed with soybean paste. One taste of the doenjang and I thought, I should've ordered the doenjang noodles too, ugh.

You mix it into your rice

And mix it all up with the rice — ah. This kind of gangdoenjang bap is just so good, seriously! 💖So delicious💖 A restaurant just needs to taste good, haha. I love dishes with mudsnails, and these were big too — man, they really know how to make doenjang dishes here!

Three side dishes that go well with the gangdoenjang bap: tangy doraji (bellflower root) with pollock muchim, extremely spicy pepper muchim (but tasty, haha), and savory mu saengchae (radish salad).

I think I ate all of the gangdoenjang rice myself, ugh. So freaking good!

Bibim guksu in the Manghyang style

Then came the bibim guksu (spicy cold mixed noodles). It's in the manghyang bibim guksu style.

Can you feel the tangy-sweet-spicy flavors from here? The portion was massive too, haha.

How to eat Cheonje Guksu's noodles and pork together

Topping my favorite urengi gangdoenjang with some doraji muchim, yum. That combo was insane!

Piling chive salad onto the boiled pork for one big bite — gone in a swallow 💚👍

Topping the side-dish tofu with gangdoenjang also went really well together 😻😻

And back again to gangdoenjang bap with mu saengchae, hahaha. It was genuinely so good. Even while looking after the kids, I finished my whole meal. My sister couldn't eat as much, unfortunately.

I poured some janchi guksu broth in to cool it down for Yuni, and she ate it up so well, haha 🧡

Is Cheonje Guksu a good lunch spot with kids?

Noodles are perfect for the little ones, and adults should try the bibim guksu, doenjang noodles, and urengi gangdoenjang bap. Prices are easy on the wallet too, from ₩7,000 to the low ₩10,000s.

And the owners — the wife who served us and her husband — were so kind and attentive in every way! I really hope this place does well. The food was so good too! I'll definitely stop by again when I'm in Heyri 🥰🥰

If you're ever in Heyri Village or the Tanhyeon area, definitely stop by Cheonje Guksu — the emperor of noodles :)

Bring their business card and you get a discount coupon too!

Had a great lunch with the kids at Cheonje Guksu. Wishing the owners great success! Thank you! 👍👍💚

The mudsnails are big too — man, they really know how to make doenjang dishes here!