Mandu jeongol on a rainy day in Uijeongbu: Daedae Myeonok

Daedae Myeonok in Uijeongbu is where I had great naengmyeon (cold noodles) this summer. When I heard the restaurant had launched a new mandu jeongol (dumpling hot pot) menu, I went back on a rainy day.

Daedae Myeonok is a well-known restaurant in a standalone building in Gosan-dong, Uijeongbu — famous enough to be called a local go-to. The parking lot is spacious too, so it's easy even if you drive.

The vibe inside and why it's easy with kids

The interior is clean and bright, lit up nicely, and the friendly welcome right from the entrance puts you in a good mood before you've even eaten. There's a restroom inside too, so no need to step outside — which made visiting with a kid much more convenient.

I ate naengmyeon here nonstop all summer. But as mornings and evenings turned cold, I started craving a warm mandu jeongol instead. Even so, plenty of customers were still coming in for naengmyeon in the middle of the day.

The new winter menu: aromsatae mandu jeongol

We came specifically for the new winter menu, aromsatae mandu jeongol. The broth is made from hwangtae (dried pollack), so it's clear and the soup itself is amazing.

How to eat mandu jeongol the right way

While waiting for our order, I read up on how to eat mandu jeongol properly. Take the dumplings out once they're cooked; once the pot's at a rolling boil, briefly blanch the meat and dip it in the soy sauce with the vegetables; once you've finished all that, add the noodles and boil for 3 minutes, eat with the geotjeori (fresh seasoned kimchi), and you can even add egg porridge at the end — that's what the instructions said.

The pot arrives with skewered fish cakes, mushrooms, bok choy, aromsatae (beef shin) and dumplings, and you keep it simmering on the tabletop burner as you eat. Everyone gets their own small plate and their own dish of soy sauce, which was a nice, hygienic touch.

Everything's already cooked except the vegetables, but there's still something special about simmering it on the burner as you eat.

As the old saying goes, food that looks good tastes good too — the colors were lovely and everything was packed in evenly. We got to chatting about how you could just come here for mandu jeongol during a holiday instead of cooking at home.

Spicy geotjeori and the self-serve side dish corner

One bite of the geotjeori (fresh seasoned kimchi) — it's always spicy and appetite-whetting, Daedae Myeonok's signature kimchi. The charm of un-fermented fresh kimchi is really something else. It's great eaten with the noodles at the end too, and even better piled on top of egg porridge — wow.

Kimchi and other side dishes are self-serve, and the corner is kept neat and well organized.

The side dishes are kept fresh in the fridge at just the right temperature. Please take only what you'll eat, out of respect for the effort that goes into it.

Dip the aromsatae lightly in soy sauce

Meanwhile, the aromsatae had warmed up nicely!

Following the instructions, I dipped it into the soy sauce, just enough to coat it, and took a bite. If there's ever a moment for the phrase 'melts in your mouth,' this is it — it just dissolved.

Fish out the big dumplings first

Quickly fishing out the dumplings before I forgot. If you leave them in too long, the skin goes mushy and tears, so you take them out early. There were 2 meat and 2 kimchi dumplings, and they were nice and big — good for splitting in half to share.

If the surface dries out, just dip it back in the broth for a second. And that skewered fish cake in the photo — I've thought this before, but it's really delicious. With the pollack broth, there's both savoriness and refreshing lightness, and more than once I thought I'd love to have rice with this.

Finishing with fresh noodles

The noodles are fresh, so we added them to the mandu jeongol broth and boiled them hard. We ended up boiling ours for over 3 minutes.

Since I like my noodles thoroughly cooked, boiling them longer gave me soft, tender noodles. Topped with geotjeori, the noodles disappeared fast. I thought a hundred times about stir-frying in egg porridge but was too full — stopped right there.

On the way out, I browsed the little goods for sale.

For dessert, we made ourselves strawberry ice cream cones. That's usually something you pay for, but here it's just set out for you to enjoy free — so appreciated. This Uijeongbu Korean restaurant's aromsatae mandu jeongol is already word-of-mouth famous even though it's a new item — plenty of other tables were ordering it too. We liked it so much we went back the following weekend — but that's a secret.