Dongtan kalguksu restaurant with octopus chive pancake: Yubok Haemul

Hi everyone, it's Honey Missus! The stifling heat has broken and a proper cold wind has started blowing in — the season where you crave a hot soup that clears out your insides. Sunday lunch dates are a little routine for my husband and me, so we went to Yubok Haemul Kalguksu Dongtan Direct Branch at Central Park, a 1-Dongtan lunch spot famous for its waits.

This place is even more popular because of its next-level pufferfish broth, deep and refreshing in a way that's just different. After Sunday morning service we did an open-run for our 1-Dongtan lunch, and we came away thoroughly satisfied — here's the story.

Where is Yubok Haemul Kalguksu Dongtan Direct Branch, and where do you park?

Yubok Haemul Kalguksu Dongtan Direct Branch is located at 51-6 Bansong-dong, Hwaseong-si, Gyeonggi-do, over toward the Dongtan Central Park café street. Business hours are 11:00–21:00, and parking is available in front of the store or at a nearby public parking lot (free for 1 hour 30 minutes), according to the signage.

Being on the Central Park café street, it's easy to get to and perfect for a date course. Weekends get busy with waits, so I did an open-run.

Inside Yubok Haemul Kalguksu: dining room and self-serve bar

The interior at Yubok Haemul Kalguksu Dongtan Direct Branch was clean, with a cozy mix of wood tones and greenery. The bright, clean, café-like atmosphere made it more than fitting for a family meal out or a date.

There was a self-serve bar set up too.

Seafood kalguksu for two at 22,000 won and octopus chive pancake at 17,000 won

We ordered the 2-person seafood kalguksu set and the octopus chive pancake. Barley rice was served before the meal, which whetted the appetite and made for a hearty spread.

These are the seafood ingredients that go into the kalguksu. Clams and short-neck clams (omandungi) sourced that day, mushrooms, and the puffer broth even had oysters in it.

Seafood kalguksu 2-person set, 22,000 won. Octopus chive pancake, 17,000 won. There's also shabu kalguksu, stir-fried octopus, and more, so you can order to your taste.

How to eat the pufferfish seafood kalguksu: the 3-minute hourglass

There were instructions on how to eat the kalguksu. Once you put the noodles and vegetables into the broth, you flip over the hourglass, and in about 3 minutes it's bubbling away. At that point the noodles float up pale and plump. That's when it's ready to enjoy.

The broth's color looks pale and refreshing with no heaviness, right? Even with the noodles in, it doesn't reduce down or feel skimpy — there's plenty of broth, and since it's brewed from wild milbok (a species of pufferfish), the flavor is deep and clean, on a whole different level from the kalguksu I usually eat.

This is the second direct branch of Yugane Kalguksu from Gongju, South Chungcheong, and the house-made noodles were chewy, clean, and pleasantly thick — I really liked them. The portion was generous too.

There were pale oysters in there too, which made the savory depth even richer. After all that heat, the cold wind blew in overnight, and honestly, hot-and-refreshing puffer broth with chewy noodles is hard to beat for a Sunday lunch date.

Webfoot octopus chive pancake: half eaten, half packed to go

Kalguksu alone can feel like it's missing something, right? The recommended pairing, the octopus chive pancake, impressed from its size alone — crispy on the outside, moist on the inside, the ultimate golden-brown, cracker-crisp pancake, generous with ingredients. The two of us ate half and packed the rest to take home.

As a side dish to fill in what the noodle dish leaves out, I highly recommend the octopus chive pancake, bursting with rich savory flavor.

Is Yubok Haemul Kalguksu worth it for lunch in Dongtan 1?

A broth made with wild milbok that covers both taste and nutrition, plus delicious noodles made fresh in-store — this was one of the best kalguksu meals I've had in a while. With a refreshing broth that doesn't have that typical kalguksu heaviness, it's earned its reputation as a 1-Dongtan lunch spot, and I think it's well worth a visit.