Aewol noodle restaurant with a 1,000-won extra-large upgrade: Handam

Handam Guksu Gwakji Aewol Branch

Today I'm introducing an Aewol pork noodle soup spot in Jeju: Handam Guksu Gwakji Aewol Branch 🩵 Here's my review after trying the bone-broth pork noodle soup, dongchimi bibim noodles, and dombe naengsuyuk!!

Where is Handam Guksu Gwakji Aewol Branch, and where do you park?

Handam Guksu Gwakji Aewol Branch is a pork noodle soup restaurant located at 1F, 33 Aewol-ro, Aewol-eup, Jeju-si, Jeju-do. Parking in front of the store is available but pretty limited, so using Aewol Handam Parking Lot (next to Randy's Donuts) or Handam Trail Parking Lot (next to Olive Young) gets you 1 hour of free parking.

I visited Handam Guksu while looking for a lunch spot in Aewol during my Jeju trip! When you come to Jeju you have to eat pork noodle soup, and since I'd had quite a bit to drink the night before haha, I was really craving something warm and soupy to cure the hangover!!

The exterior was clean overall, and best of all, the Handam Beach view behind the restaurant was seriously gorgeous 🩵 It's also known as a favorite among Aewol locals, so I walked in with high expectations!!

Inside Handam Guksu: Handam Beach through the floor-to-ceiling window at 11am

Inside Handam Guksu Gwakji Aewol Branch, Handam Beach is visible right through the floor-to-ceiling windows. Going in around 11am on a weekday, it was fairly relaxed, but by the time we finished eating, more customers were arriving.

The moment I walked in, I genuinely gasped,,, 🫧✨ The Handam Beach view through the windows was seriously a work of art,,,!

Maybe because the view was so pretty, I felt calm and relaxed the whole meal haha. Eating delicious pork noodle soup while looking out at the sea, it really felt like a proper Jeju trip ♡‧₊˚ The tables were spacious too, so it looked great for families, and there was a mix of friends and couples as well

We visited around 11am on a weekday, and by the time we finished eating, more and more customers were filling in. Definitely lives up to its reputation as an Aewol lunch spot — as lunchtime got closer, it got busier! ミ✩

If there's a wait, just use CatchTable — good to know!

Side dishes and small plates are self-serve, and there's currently a Naver receipt event too, worth checking out ෆ⸒⸒ 💚 Write a Naver photo review 💚 and get a Jeju specialty crunch snack (choice of citrus, prickly pear, or green tea)

Handam Guksu menu and the 1,000-won extra-large upgrade

Handam Guksu's main menu has four items: bone-broth pork noodle soup, dongchimi bibim noodles, mala pork noodle soup, and lean pork rice soup. Noodle dishes can be upgraded to extra-large for just ₩1,000 more, and the sides consist of three items: dombe naengsuyuk, house-made pork tteokgalbi, and pork mandu.

With the menu kept this clean and simple, it really felt like a dedicated pork noodle soup restaurant ⋆⭒˚｡⋆ Honestly, for someone like me who has a hard time choosing when there are too many options, having the choices neatly narrowed down was actually great haha

We ordered bone-broth pork noodle soup + dongchimi bibim noodles + dombe naengsuyuk!

The three dishes ordered at Handam Guksu, starting with the kimchi

💛 Bone-broth pork noodle soup / 🧡 Dongchimi bibim noodles / 🩵 Dombe naengsuyuk

The Handam Beach view is so pretty,,,🩵✨

Before digging into the mains, I tried a piece of kimchi first,,, okay, passed haha. If the kimchi is good, the food's flavor is basically guaranteed!!!

Bone-broth pork noodle soup: the rich broth that cures a hangover

The bone-broth pork noodle soup features a clean, rich broth simmered for a long time, loaded with Jeju pork. It's already seasoned, so there's no need to add salt or sauce separately.

I started with the bone-broth pork noodle soup! With generous meat piled over the milky-white broth, it passed the visual test right away haha ✨ I took a spoonful of the broth first,,, and it had a proper savory, rich flavor ♡‧₊˚ Great even on its own! 👍🏻 One sip of the hot broth and my body warmed right up haha. It really cleared out the alcohol from the night before — full hangover cure!! ✨

I loaded up a big chopstick-full of meat + noodles + bean sprouts and dug in,,, the meat was tender, the noodles were chewy, and the crunchy texture of the bean sprouts on top made it such a happy bite,,,💛 Genuinely delicious!!! ㅠㅠㅠ Now I get why it's famous as an Aewol local favorite,,,♡ᵎᵎᵎ

Dongchimi bibim noodles: clean, sweet-and-sour cold noodles

Handam Guksu's dongchimi bibim noodles come with cool dongchimi (radish water kimchi) broth and a special sauce, plus a generous amount of Jeju pork. You mix in the dongchimi broth that comes alongside, to taste.

I poured in the dongchimi broth that came with the bibim noodles to my liking and mixed it up thoroughly ﾟ.*･｡ﾟ

The dongchimi bibim noodles had finely shredded lean meat mixed in, which made it easy to eat with the noodles, and the meat was well-seasoned — really tasty!! 🧡

If the bone-broth pork noodle soup was warm and rich, the dongchimi bibim noodles were tangy, sweet, and clean — the two were perfect to alternate between haha

There were bean sprouts and cucumber in there too, adding a crunchy bite — great, great 👍🏻 The tangy-sweet dongchimi bibim noodles were so good ㅠㅠ

Dombe naengsuyuk: cold sliced pork that still tastes tender

Last up, dombe naengsuyuk! For reference, dombe is Jeju dialect for cutting board haha.

Eating the meat plain first, it had a clean, savory taste, and adding a bit of the seasoned sauce and wasabi really woke up my appetite!! Also, the meat was much more tender than I expected,,,! I thought a cold boiled pork dish might be dry, but it wasn't at all — really tender ₊˚⊹♡ Cold pork + warm bone-broth pork noodle soup together is such a perfect combo haha. The portion was bigger than expected, so the two of us left completely full!! Officially recognized as an Aewol pork noodle soup restaurant for cold sliced pork 💚

Verdict: is Handam Guksu the pork noodle restaurant to pick in Aewol?

A great place to visit when you're craving good pork noodle soup in Aewol: Handam Guksu Gwakji Aewol Branch ﾟ𖤐.⋆ Eating the bone-broth pork noodle soup, dongchimi bibim noodles, and cold sliced pork together makes for a completely satisfying Handam Beach meal 👍🏻

Delicious food plus the wide-open view of Handam Beach made for such a healing time — one I think I'll remember for a long while from this Jeju trip 💙 If you're visiting Jeju and looking for an Aewol pork noodle soup spot, an Aewol lunch spot, or an Aewol local favorite, I recommend giving it a try!! ⋆°｡𖦹 ⋆｡˚