Korean restaurant in Pyeongtaek for beef kalguksu: Songdam Kalguksu

After watching a musical with the kids at Seobu Culture and Arts Center and spending time at Hakhyeon Net Adventure, we were starving and completely wiped out, so we headed to Songdam Kalguksu (송담칼국수), a Korean restaurant in Anjung, Pyeongtaek. My in-laws live nearby, so I have been here a few times. The beef shabu-shabu is fresh and the side dishes are lovely, which is why we come often.

Songdam Kalguksu location and hours

Songdam Kalguksu 129 Gangbyeon-ro, Anjung-eup, Pyeongtaek-si, Gyeonggi-do, South Korea Daily 09:00–21:00 / Closed Monday

We arrived a little after lunch, and there were so many tables left in the wake of the lunch crowd. It was an awkward time, so I worried they might have a break time, but thankfully they do not, and we could eat without a care.

There are quite a lot of tables, extending well into the back.

Beef jeongol kalguksu and our extras

Here is the menu at Songdam Kalguksu, an Anjung shabu-shabu spot. Their signature is jeongol kalguksu (hot-pot knife-cut noodles), while the weekday shabu-shabu menu is popular for a similarly composed but better-value meal.

We ordered beef jeongol kalguksu with extra mixed vegetables, and Yuha said she wanted meat dumplings, so we made it a generous spread.

We were served corn bread as a little starter.

I loved the deep, savory broth, fresh vegetables, beef, the generous portion of kalguksu noodles, and the spicy fresh kimchi.

There is a spicy option too, but we chose the mild one.

We ordered the mixed vegetables separately, but they are included with the weekday shabu-shabu menu, so that seems like good value.

Mixing a dumpling into barley rice

Each person gets a bowl of boribap (barley rice). It is tasty with just yeolmu kimchi (young-radish kimchi) and chojang (sweet-tangy chili sauce), but the kids loved it when we added one of the meat dumplings we had ordered and mixed it all together. Add the nutty sesame oil too—so, so delicious! 😆😆

In went the beef, too! Maybe because we added so many bean sprouts, the already rich broth became even deeper. They did tell us what kind of broth it was... I cannot remember, but anyway, it was not an ordinary broth. That must be why it was much richer than it looked, and I loved that. There was quite a good amount of beef. You can add not only beef but also various main ingredients, including clams and octopus.

Even just a light dip in wasabi soy sauce brought loads of umami!!! We eagerly spooned up the beef, vegetables, and broth too. It did not feel heavy for a diet, and it was easy to eat even when my stomach was not feeling great, so the kids ate really well too.

Chive kalguksu and porridge from the remaining broth

There was a lot of extra kalguksu noodles, so we got another refill of broth. You might want to control how many noodles you put in at once. They say the noodles are freshly made and contain chives; their chewiness really sets Songdam Kalguksu apart.

We were already full by the time we ate the kalguksu, but it felt a little sad not to make porridge, so we decided to have just one. We ordered one, but there were two eggs? I could not resist that, haha.

We scooped out some of the remaining kalguksu noodles and broth, leaving enough liquid to make juk (rice porridge). Yui said she disliked porridge and would not eat it, but she said she would try only a bite from the part with gim (roasted seaweed)—then ended up eating a whole bowl. I already love porridge, so I scraped up every last bit. My mouth was so salty all the way home, haha, I cannot tell you how many Americanos I drank! Hahaha.