Aewol noodle restaurant: dombe cold pork with red sauce, Handam Guksu

Our first bowl of pork noodle soup in Aewol, at Handam Guksu

We went on a Jeju trip this time and stayed on the west side, in Aewol~! We'd heard this was a top pork noodle soup spot in Aewol, so we headed straight there~!! It was our first time ever trying gogi guksu (pork noodle soup), so we were super excited as we looked for Handam Guksu.

You can spot Handam Guksu from far away~~!!! When you think Jeju, you think pork noodle soup, so I was really curious how it would taste. The sign itself says "noodles" right on it, which gave me confidence. There are so many places selling pork noodle soup around Aewol that we agonized over where to go.

Parking in Aewol: how easy is it at Handam Guksu?

Handam Guksu has parking available and is known as a local favorite, so we felt confident going in. There's room for about 4 cars right in front, plus another lot, which was great. The public parking lot gives you 1 hour free. Parking is a real battle around Aewol, so finding a place with parking made us very happy.

Just seeing it on CatchTable tells you it's a popular spot, right? We had such high hopes for Handam Guksu, famous for Aewol pork noodle soup. Normally there's a wait here, but since we went for a late lunch, we didn't have to wait at all.

Sea-view seats, a self-serve side bar and a baby chair

Even though we went a bit late, we were surprised to see there were still people around~! The tables were spotless and there were more staff than I expected. Clean interior, and the ocean right there in view. Being able to eat noodles while looking out at Aewol's sea — I really love Jeju haha.

For side dishes, you use the self-serve bar — kimchi, dried radish, peppers, and more, take as much as you like, super satisfying. We tend to eat a lot of side dishes, so the self-serve bar was really convenient for us.

Just a heads up, they have baby chairs available~ Since we were traveling with our baby, whether or not there's a baby chair really matters to us. Surprisingly many places don't have them, so it's great when a place does.

Handam Guksu menu and what we ordered

The menu had bone-broth pork noodle soup / mala pork noodle soup / dombe naengsuyuk (cold sliced pork), lean pork rice soup / tteokgalbi / mandu~! We ordered two bone-broth pork noodle soups and the dombe naengsuyuk~!! All the noodle dishes can be upsized to large. There were so many options we agonized over what to choose. Since it's known as a local favorite in Aewol, we were even more excited.

How the bone-broth pork noodle soup tastes, and how big it is

Such a clean-looking bowl. Since it was our first time trying pork noodle soup, I was so curious what it would taste like. Where I live it's hard to find pork noodle soup anywhere, so I wondered how it'd be — but the visual made my mouth water so much it was hard to even take photos haha.

Thin slices of pork, bean sprouts, and clean-tasting side dishes~ You can't really tell from the photos, but the bowl was huge and the portion was surprisingly generous. The dried radish and kimchi side dishes seemed homemade — clean flavors, exactly to our taste.

My husband and I usually order the large size when we eat noodles, but the portion was so big that even the regular size surprised us. There's zero gamey smell from the meat, and it's tender. I'd never seen pork sliced this thin before, but the texture was better than expected!!!

Could our baby eat it too?

Our baby ate it with us too, and since it's not too strongly flavored and the pork is soft, the baby just dove right in face-first haha!! The broth is truly deep. I'd say the color comes from being simmered down for a really long time.

Wrapping the noodles and pork together like this, you can just keep eating endlessly. And with the crunch of the bean sprouts too, it's such a treat for the mouth. Aewol pork noodle soup~~ I'll definitely go back to Handam Guksu.

Dombe naengsuyuk: the red dipping sauce is the highlight

The dombe naengsuyuk (cold sliced pork) we also ordered!!! It's completely different from the thick boiled pork you usually get. Cold sliced pork — first time trying that, and wow, it's genuinely delicious.

This red dipping sauce is really the kicker~!! The combo of chewy fat and tender lean meat is top-tier. No wonder it's known as a local favorite in Aewol. We'll be back again and again on our next trip.