Sizzling-plate mapo tofu and shumai: Jongno Chinese dinner, Cheonghwa

Where is Cheonghwa Uyuk Dosakmyeon, and when is it open?

🏠 Location 19 Jongno, Jongno-gu, Seoul, Cheonghwa Uyuk Dosakmyeon 235m from Jonggak Station Exit 1 ⏰ Hours Daily 10:30 - 22:00 Last order 21:40

Today I visited Cheonghwa Uyuk Dosakmyeon (청화 우육도삭면), a great spot in Jongno when you're craving a proper bowl of Chinese food 🥢🔥

Just the name — uyuk dosakmyeon, beef knife-cut noodles — is hard to walk past if you love noodles 😋 The moment I saw the sign, I knew this was where today's carbs were happening, and I just naturally walked in 😂

Out front there are photos of all the signature dishes lined up 😋 From beef knife-cut noodles to mapo tofu to dim sum, you can preview the menu in photos, which made choosing easier 👍 The problem is everything looks delicious 😂 Decision paralysis starts before you even see the actual menu I only have one stomach but somehow want to eat so many things 🤣

Evening on the first floor and the seats upstairs

I visited in the evening and the first floor already had quite a few customers 😮

Every table had people eating, which gave off the clear sense that this place is already popular in Jongno 👍

We were guided upstairs to the second floor by a staff member 👣

Following the stairs up, there's spacious seating on the second floor too I'd seen how many people were on the first floor and worried there'd be no seats

But going upstairs, the space was bigger than expected, which was great 😆 Plenty of tables too, so it looked fine for larger groups 👍

Before we even sat down, the dim sum steamers caught my eye 😍 Watching the steam rise off those baskets it felt almost rude not to order dim sum 😂 So the debate was short — dim sum was decided on the spot 🥟🔥

Once seated, basic side dishes like peanuts and jjajai (pickled mustard greens) came out Perfect for picking at while waiting for the mains 😋

The table: beef knife-cut noodles, mapo tofu and shumai

We ordered beef knife-cut noodles, mapo tofu, and shumai 😆🔥 Once it was all laid out on the table, the spread looked pretty generous

Beef knife-cut noodles in broth spicy-looking mapo tofu and dim sum too 🥢 I'd call this a winning combo for tonight's dinner 😂 Rice came along with it, so the meal automatically felt filling 🍚

How do the knife-cut noodles and beef broth taste?

First up, the restaurant's signature dish, the beef knife-cut noodles 😋

Beef sits on top of a dark, rich broth and thick knife-cut noodles fill the bowl

The thicker parts are chewy while the thinner parts go down smoothly, so the texture keeps shifting within a single bowl 😆 I expected ordinary noodles going in but the texture alone made its presence known immediately 👍

I tried the broth too 🥄 The dark color made it look intense at first but it turned out to have a faint, savory doenjang-like note, which was pretty unique 😮 Rich yet oddly moreish — the kind of flavor that keeps you reaching for the spoon A first-time flavor for me, but it went down easily without any resistance 😋

Sizzling-plate mapo tofu: how strong is the mala?

Next up, the mapo tofu 🔥 It arrived bubbling away on a hot plate and the spiciness was obvious just from looking at it 😆

Rice comes with it, too so spooning the mapo tofu over the rice was the perfect pairing 🍚

Wow, this mapo tofu is seriously intense 😮🔥

The mala aroma came on pretty strong with a slight tingling numbness on the tip of the tongue Anyone who loves mala will really enjoy this one 😋 If the beef knife-cut noodles are the comfortable, easy dish the mapo tofu is the one shouting 'I'm right here' the whole time 😂

Shrimp shumai with ginger soy sauce

They also brought out a soy dipping sauce for the shumai 😆 The salty soy sauce had a hint of ginger which went really well with the dim sum 👍

I found myself getting excited over the sauce before the shumai even arrived 😂 At this point, I'm officially a dim sum devotee 🥟

Finally, the shumai I'd been waiting for showed up 😍🥟 The moment the steamer lid opened, warm shumai appeared lined up in neat rows Just looking at them made my mouth water On top were pops of roe for texture, which made the visual pretty too 😆

Dipped lightly in the soy sauce and took a bite — inside was packed with shrimp and pork, giving it a proper bite 🦐🥩 The bouncy shrimp texture paired well with the moist meat filling and the wrapper wasn't too thick either, so it was easy to eat without feeling heavy Came for the beef knife-cut noodles and ended up nailing the shumai too 😂

Is Cheonghwa Uyuk Dosakmyeon worth a dinner stop?

If you're in Jongno craving a variety of Chinese dishes — knife-cut noodles, dim sum, mapo tofu — Cheonghwa Uyuk Dosakmyeon is worth a visit 😆 The uniquely textured knife-cut noodles and the intensely mala mapo tofu especially stuck with me and adding the shumai on top made for a pretty satisfying combination 🥢🔥 Even though I was already full I'll keep it a secret that I glanced at the other dim sum menu items on the way out 😂