Gwanghwamun gomtang lunch: clear hanwoo beef shank broth at Wongiok

It had been ages since I met up with my grad school friend — now that her daughter's older, she can make it all the way out to Gwanghwamun, haha. So the two of us finally had lunch together in Gwanghwamun.

The place we went to that day is a Korean restaurant in Gwanghwamun that I love. I'd fallen for their boyang jeongol (nourishing hot pot) with a close friend before, so this time we decided to try Wongiok's popular gomtang instead. This photo shows the D-Palace Building where Wongiok Gwanghwamun is located — the restaurant is on basement level 1.

Where is Wongiok Gwanghwamun, and what are the hours?

Wongiok Gwanghwamun is on B1 of the D-Palace Building. If you're coming by subway, Seodaemun Station on Line 5 is the closest. Gwanghwamun Station isn't far off either — it's about the same distance.

There's an Our Bakery on the first floor of the building

To get down to the D-Palace basement where Wongiok is, you can take the escalator inside the building or these stairs on the outside~

Wongiok is on B1, where a little restaurant row has formed underground.

Wongiok Gwanghwamun specializes in hanwoo boyang jeongol and gomtang, and at lunchtime it's packed with office workers.

Wongiok Gwanghwamun's hours are lunch 11:30 am–3:00 pm, dinner 5:00 pm–10:00 pm, with a break time of 3:00–5:00 pm. It's listed as open year-round, but when I checked, they're closed this Chuseok on the 24th, 25th, and 26th.

I noticed a new course set menu that wasn't there last time. The course-style set is nice because you get to try a variety of Wongiok's dishes all at once.

This time I'd reserved for lunch and went with the à la carte gomtang. Since this is a place known especially for its hanwoo gomtang, I was even more excited.

And here's the thing — Wongiok is a corkage-free restaurant!!

Inside Wongiok Gwanghwamun: solo seats and a private room

The interior of Wongiok Gwanghwamun is calm overall in gray tones, with both solo seating and a private room. There's a waiting area near the entrance where you can also hang up your coat.

Wongiok's interior is defined by that calm gray tone overall. There's also seating that's good for eating alone at lunchtime.

I liked how airy and spacious the tables were.

There's also a private room, so Wongiok works for more private gatherings too.

Gomtang prices, the kids menu and the side dishes

At Wongiok Gwanghwamun, the regular gomtang is ₩15,000 and the special gomtang is ₩18,000. With the weather cooling down, it's finally the season for warm broth, so of course we started with gomtang.

While looking over the menu, I noticed a kids menu — kids would love this! It comes with bulgogi and fried shrimp, priced at ₩8,000.

When I ordered the gomtang, they brought out baechu kimchi (napa cabbage kimchi) and mu kimchi (radish kimchi) — freshly made and not yet fermented, which made me happy since I love fresh, unripe kimchi haha.

How was the hanwoo gomtang broth and beef at Wongiok?

Wongiok's gomtang comes in a steel ttukbaegi with clear broth, and even the regular gomtang has plenty of meat. It's already seasoned with salt, so all you need to do is add pepper.

This is Wongiok's gomtang. It comes in a steel ttukbaegi, and the broth's clarity really stood out. Just looking at it, I couldn't tell how much meat was actually in there, but even the regular gomtang has plenty~

They add the scallions they give you. I love scallions so much I even asked for a refill lol

Add pepper here to taste!

The gomtang meat is really tender, and as you eat you'll come across aron-sadae (beef shank) too.

There's tripe in there too — if you don't like tripe, you can ask to leave it out when ordering. It's already seasoned with salt, so all you need is pepper. The broth is clear and clean with a deeply savory finish — Wongiok's gomtang really didn't disappoint.

Stir-fried octopus and minari octopus pancake with the gomtang

Wongiok's stir-fried octopus has a real smoky wok-hei flavor and comes in a generous portion, so it's good to order as an extra dish when you're three or more people. The minari (water dropwort) octopus pancake has whole octopus in it, literally.

I'd been craving octopus lately, so I ordered the stir-fried octopus — it really has that smoky char flavor, the sauce was nicely spicy, and I liked that it wasn't sweet. I was surprised when what I thought was scallion turned out to be a pretty spicy pepper halfway through haha.

Putting the octopus on top of the plain rice that came with the gomtang was absolute honey T.T

And the minari octopus pancake, which I also loved last time I came. Look how the octopus goes in literally whole~~~

Dip it in the vinegar soy sauce. If just gomtang feels like it's not quite enough, adding the stir-fried octopus or the pancake makes for an even better meal. The stir-fried octopus comes in a generous portion, so it's a good extra order for groups of three or more. Fancy a delicious bowl of hanwoo gomtang near Gwanghwamun? This is the spot.