Seongnam kalguksu restaurant for lunch with kids: Cheongdam Dak

A Seongnam lunch spot: Cheongdam Dak Kalguksu

⏰ Open daily 11am–9pm, break time 3–4:30pm 📌 High chair available

Why Cheongdam Dak Kalguksu again for lunch in Seongnam with two kids

Raising two kids, even cooking one meal at home is a whole ordeal and honestly kind of stressful, isn't it? With kids around it's hard to pick a menu — but you also get tired of meat or pork cutlets every single time. The place needs to be tasty, kid-friendly, and satisfying for the adults' palate too. This time I went back to exactly that place: Cheongdam Dak Kalguksu.

Actually this wasn't my first visit. I'd eaten here before, remembered it as good, and here I am back again — which tells you it really matched our family's taste! Cheongdam Dak Kalguksu has parking available right next to the building, so it was convenient to drive over too. When you're out with two kids, food quality matters, but honestly having parking sorted first is what really puts a mom's mind at ease... am I the only one who feels that? Haha.

What we ordered at Cheongdam Dak Kalguksu, and what's on the self-serve bar

This time the order was similar to last time! Dak gomtang with rice ₩11,500, spicy chicken kalguksu with pa gomyeong ₩11,900, plus we added a single-serving suyuk (boiled pork) on top. The restaurant overall felt clean and tidy.

There's also a self-serve bar with three side dishes: pickled radish, kimchi, and spicy kimchi! The spicy kimchi, by the way, was genuinely spicy — ㅠㅠ

Spicy chicken kalguksu, 11,900 won: worth reordering?

The spicy chicken kalguksu was exactly what I'd had last time too. Honestly, I'm the type who doesn't reorder a dish unless it left a real impression the first time — but I ordered this spicy chicken kalguksu again!

Cheongdam Dak Kalguksu's noodle soup apparently uses a rich chicken broth simmered over 12 hours daily, with house-made noodles aged at low temperature for 48 hours. Maybe it's because I knew that going in, but the difference in the broth and noodles was definitely noticeable!

First off, the broth is really delicious. It's not just spicy — it's got that sharp, punchy heat combined with the deep, rich flavor unique to chicken broth. I'm usually not someone who drinks a lot of soup with kalguksu, but here I kept going back for more! That spicy kick kept me coming back for it, and having reordered it last time too, I think it's genuinely a menu that suits my taste well.

How chewy are the house-made kalguksu noodles?

What I really liked here was the noodles. They're house-made, and when you actually eat them, they're quite chewy! Usually kalguksu noodles taste great at first but get soggy fast if left sitting in broth — but at Cheongdam Dak Kalguksu, the noodles barely went soft even down to the last spoonful, which I really liked.

The chewy texture held up from start to finish, so eating it together with the broth felt great texture-wise — I genuinely finished the whole bowl clean!

Dak gomtang, the mild bowl for the kids

This time we also ordered dak gomtang (chicken soup)! We had the adults eat the spicy kalguksu while the kids got the dak gomtang, and that combination worked out really well. Spicy food is always tricky to feed kids, so having dak gomtang made feeding them much easier.

The broth was really thick and deep in flavor. Rather than a light, clear dak gomtang, it had that heavier feel of chicken simmered for a long time, which made it delicious! The kids also had no trouble eating it with rice.

One drawback: where the chicken comes from

There was one thing that disappointed me a bit though — apparently the chicken used in the dak gomtang is from Brazil. That was personally a bit of a letdown ㅠㅠ The taste itself was good, but since this is food I'm feeding my kids, I do pay attention to origin, so keep that in mind. I think being honest about both what's good and what's lacking is what an actual visit review is for.

Adding a single-serving suyuk (boiled pork)

This time we also ordered the single-serving suyuk (boiled pork). I figured a single serving wouldn't be much, but the portion was actually pretty generous! Most of all, the suyuk wasn't dry — it was quite tender — and it came with dried radish strips, garlic, and chili peppers, which were great to pair it with.

Putting a piece of suyuk with some dried radish strips and adding garlic or chili made for a pretty good combination! The crunchy texture of the dried radish paired nicely with the soft suyuk, and while a single serving split between two isn't super generous, it was fine as a side dish.

Free galbi mandu for writing a receipt review

At Cheongdam Dak Kalguksu you get 6 pieces of galbi mandu (rib dumplings) for writing a Naver receipt review, so I wrote one and got my dumplings. Honestly, since it's a freebie, I didn't expect much... but the quality was better than expected.

The dumplings had that sweetish, savory galbi flavor that kids would enjoy too! With two kids, side dishes matter more than you'd think — while mom and dad eat kalguksu, the kids can just pick at dumplings, and it makes mealtime so much easier haha. And most importantly, it didn't feel thrown together just because it was a freebie — 6 pieces was also just the right amount to share.

Final verdict on Cheongdam Dak Kalguksu in Seongnam

On this visit I reordered the same dish from last time, and once again I was completely satisfied! I especially loved the spicy chicken kalguksu. Rich chicken broth, a sharp spicy kick, and house-made noodles — a spoonful of warm broth, a slurp of chewy noodles, and before you know it the bowl's basically empty. Filling for lunch too!

If you're looking for a Seongnam lunch spot to eat with kids, I'd recommend Cheongdam Dak Kalguksu for its dak gomtang and chicken kalguksu. Next time I go back, I bet I'll order the spicy chicken kalguksu again. 😋 The dish you already know is always the safest bet, after all haha.