Gangnam date-night Chinese spot: dim sum & cucumber salad, Namsogwan

Why Namsogwan for a date near Gangnam Station

Namsogwan U Yuk Dosakmyeon (남소관 우육도삭면) is a Chinese restaurant near Gangnam Station known for handmade dim sum and beef noodles, and I'd happily recommend it as a date spot. The area around Gangnam Station is packed with restaurants and bars, so when an important plan comes up, it's hard to decide where to go. I wanted good food, a clean atmosphere and a menu nobody would object to, and Namsogwan is what I found.

People in the know rave about it as a Gangnam Station dim sum place and beef noodle specialist, so I headed over with high expectations.

What does Namsogwan's building look like?

Namsogwan is a standalone two-story building, so you can spot it from afar even in the busy Gangnam Station alleys. The exterior is flashy and exotic, and it stands out among the neighbors.

The look gives off the feel of a famous local restaurant in Taiwan or Hong Kong, and the sign neatly mixes Chinese characters and Hangul, which gives it real Chinese-restaurant presence. The building is kept clean too, so you trust the place before you even go in.

Is Namsogwan's dim sum made by hand in the restaurant?

Right at one side of the entrance there's an open-kitchen dim sum station, so you can watch the dim sum being shaped. Seeing with my own eyes that it's made by hand in the restaurant every day, not stamped out by a machine, made me trust it even before eating.

The tables are spaced comfortably, so outside noise didn't bother us and it was nice to talk over the meal. The overall mood is clean and modern, and the place was lively with couples on dates and office workers out after work.

What's on the Namsogwan menu?

The menu is neatly organized into signature beef knife-cut noodles, rice dishes, main dishes and handmade dim sum. True to the name, there's a wide range of Chinese dishes.

• Signature beef knife-cut noodles (U Yuk Dosakmyeon)
• Rice dishes
• Popular main dishes such as sweet and sour pork, guobaorou (crispy sweet and sour pork), fried eggplant and cream shrimp
• The handmade dim sum lineup, the main reason to come to Namsogwan

Peanuts and zha cai (pickled mustard stem) came first as free side dishes, along with soy sauce for dipping the dim sum.

Should you order the cucumber salad with dim sum?

The cucumber salad (상큼오이무침) is served before the dim sum and gets your appetite going, and it cuts the richness of the dim sum, so I recommend ordering it together. It's a thoughtful little dish that did its appetizer job well.

The cucumbers are sliced in rough, chunky-looking pieces yet neatly sized for easy eating, so the portion is quite generous. The soy-based sauce has what seems like a golden ratio of sugar, so that sweet-and-salty charm stays intact and I couldn't stop reaching with my chopsticks.

It's tossed with soft wood ear mushrooms and thinly sliced onion for extra crunch, so picking through it is fun. Since the salad instantly cancels out the oily juiciness of the dim sum, I strongly recommend ordering it every time, a best-pairing combo.

Namsogwan's xiaolongbao: how juicy, how thin the wrapper?

Namsogwan's xiaolongbao (soup dumplings) have a thin, chewy wrapper filled with clear, rich meat juice. They arrived looking like you could feel the weight of the broth sloshing inside the pale wrapper.

I carefully moved one onto a spoon without tearing the wrapper, then tore it slightly, and the clear, rich juice poured out like a waterfall and filled the spoon. I blew on it first and carefully sipped the hot broth, and a savory, deep meaty flavor spread through my mouth.

Popped into the mouth in one bite, the softly minced pork filling melted away and tasted fantastic. The wrapper isn't too thick, so there's no strong flour taste, and it blends harmoniously with the filling, recreating the taste of a proper xiaolongbao.

How much shrimp is in Namsogwan's shumai?

Namsogwan's shumai is a dim sum made by shaping a thin yellow wrapper into a flower, open at the top so you can see the shrimp-packed filling. It's special to look at before you even taste it.

Because the top is open, you can glimpse the red shrimp meat inside, and they didn't skimp, packing it full. It feels hefty when lifted with chopsticks, and a big bite fills your mouth with that bouncy, snappy shrimp texture.

The savory juices of minced pork and plump shrimp are packed tightly together, so every bite is chewy and tender at once.