Basement ramen restaurant in Mokdong, Seoul, just opened: Gyedan Ramen

Today I went out to relive a ramen memory from a trip to Japan, right here in Korea. Here's the story of a great meal at Gyedan Ramen, a well-known ramen spot in Mokdong.

• Gyedan Ramen has a clean interior and partitioned tables that are great for eating alone
• Toppings are generous, so you can eat filling, hearty bowls
• Adding the spicy sauce (karai sauce) lets you enjoy a different flavor

📖 Business info: Open daily 11:00–20:30 / Last order 20:30 / Parking available (3 hours free)

Where is Gyedan Ramen Mokdong Branch? The stairs between Shake Shack and Starbucks

Gyedan Ramen Mokdong Branch is on B1 of the SBS building near Omokgyo Station. You just go down one flight of stairs between Shake Shack and Starbucks.

Ta-da — the freshly opened, cleanly designed Gyedan Ramen. A congratulatory wreath from a friend of the owner caught my eye. Congrats on the opening, ra-men your customers be plentiful. Whoever sent that has real wit — probably the type you'd lose track of time talking to, haha.

Can you eat alone? Partitioned solo seats to group tables

Lots of people eat alone these days, and Gyedan Ramen Mokdong Branch is really set up for it. There were partitioned solo tables. Being inside the SBS building, it must be a hit with office workers dropping in for lunch.

Of course there were also group tables and 2-tops. Quite a few people were eating when I visited, so I couldn't get a photo of those..haha.

Menu and prices: motsu ramen 12,000 won, gyedan ramen 11,000 won

I ordered motsu ramen (₩12,000), gyedan ramen (₩11,000), and tamagobap (₩3,000). While waiting for the ramen, I read the sign carefully. Ways to enjoy it: 1. Eat it plain 2. Add spicy sauce 3. Mix in rice. If you ask for a bowl of rice, they'll give you a small portion for free. Koreans really do run on rice.

Gyedan Ramen reinterprets Japanese ramen in a Korean way. Serving kimchi (fermented cabbage) as a default side already gets a thumbs up from me. This is the spicy sauce that sat on every table.

Our food arrived quickly. Three thick slices of chashu (braised pork belly) were piled on top. My partner and I both chose the rich broth, so ours came out milky. Looking back now, I regret that one of us didn't get the clear broth so we could've tried both, haha. Next time I'll order one basic and one rich.

Motsu ramen: a fistful of crisply seared pork intestines

The best menu item was the motsu ramen. It's loaded with a fistful of tripe seared almost to a crisp. Motsu means beef or pork offal! If you like offal, you'll definitely love this motsu ramen.

Basic gyedan ramen: thick chashu and kimchi

And then the basic gyedan ramen. Wrapping the well-cooked noodles with the thick chashu and slurping it down with the broth — that feeling of your mouth and throat getting coated. Add kimchi and you're starting all over again.

What both ramens had in common 💕 — Gyedan Ramen doesn't skimp on toppings, which I loved. The perfectly soft-boiled egg tasted a little salty, like a soy-marinated egg. And that chewy seaweed, is it kelp...? I never know what it is every time I eat it, but it's so good.

Karai sauce and tamagobap: ways 2 and 3 to eat the ramen

Way to enjoy it, part 2: add the karai sauce. One spoonful of the spicy sauce turns it into a whole different ramen. Most other ramen shops list karai ramen as a separate menu item, so I liked that here you can just add it to taste. One menu, many flavors.

Way to enjoy it, part 3: soak the tamagobap. The sign said to gently stir it with chopsticks, but it was harder to mix than expected. So I just dug in with big scoops instead. The rice was also seasoned with sweet soy sauce, so it was good either eaten plain or dipped in the broth.

A day of pounding my belly full and happy with two bowls of ramen for dinner. Gyedan Ramen Mokdong Branch, a well-known Mokdong ramen spot, is at 161 Mokdong-seo-ro, B1 B103, Yangcheon-gu, Seoul, South Korea.