Yongin Giheung noodle course for two with 180g sirloin: Jangwongap

I went to Jangwongap Kalguksu, apparently famous as the "omakase of kalguksu." Honestly at first I wondered what on earth that phrase even meant, haha... but after eating there I totally got it. It's not just a bowl of kalguksu and done — you start with shabu-shabu, enjoy the noodles changing texture as they cook, and finish with proper fried rice, like a full Korean-food omakase experience haha.

Inside Jangwongap Kalguksu Yongin Giheung Branch and its self-serve corner

Jangwongap Kalguksu Yongin Giheung Branch is on the 1st floor at 90 Gomae-ro, Giheung-gu, Yongin-si, Gyeonggi-do, and the tables inside are spaced generously. We visited around 11:30 for an early lunch and it looked quiet, but it filled up fast.

Even so, the space is big enough that we could eat comfortably, which I liked.

The self-serve corner is kept neat, with kimchi, chili, wasabi, and shabu-shabu broth on hand if you need more.

They give you kimchi and wasabi to start with, so I hope nobody else scoops as much as I did..^^;;

What two people ordered, plus the 180g extra sirloin

We ordered chadol minari-wrap shabu kalguksu (a beef brisket and water-parsley shabu kalguksu) and Jochiwon peach bibim mandu (dumplings tossed in sweet-and-sour sauce). Since we wanted a bit more meat, we added 180g of sirloin.

Chadol minari-wrap shabu kalguksu, piled with minari

We started with the chadol minari-wrap shabu kalguksu. Bottom right is the extra 180g of sirloin haha.

Once the broth starts boiling, you cook the meat in it, and there's so much minari (water parsley) that it pairs beautifully with the meat.

I especially love minari, so having it piled on generously made me really happy haha.

Pair the softly cooked meat with plenty of minari, and first you taste the savory juices of the beef, then the more you chew, the fresh, fragrant minari flavor rises up.

Cooking the minari in the broth is delicious too, but I actually preferred dipping the raw minari in sesame oil sauce and wrapping it around the shabu meat.

Especially since the sesame oil is freshly pressed at a mill, the aroma alone was on a different level ㅠㅠ Fragrant raw minari, softly cooked meat, and that nutty sesame oil sauce together were such a perfect combination... The crisp texture of raw minari is also totally different from the cooked version, so I kept alternating between the two haha.

Kalguksu noodles that change through 5 textures

After finishing the meat, we finally added the kalguksu noodles we'd been waiting for. Jangwongap's noodles are said to change through 5 different textures depending on how long they cook.

Honestly, this noodle was the thing I was most curious about at Jangwongap Kalguksu — a single noodle changing into 5 textures depending on how cooked it is.

Usually kalguksu means boiling the noodles thoroughly and eating. But here the whole point is enjoying the noodles as they cook, so instead of boiling them fully from the start, it was fun to taste them along the way and feel the texture change.

And when you lift the noodles, they stretch a little like cheese — that's how incredibly chewy the noodle texture is, and it was totally my style.

It's not just noodles boiled in broth — the texture changes depending on how cooked they are, and dipping them in that explosively nutty mill-pressed sesame oil turns it into a completely different kind of kalguksu again...

At this point I totally got the "omakase of kalguksu" comment! Haha. I already loved kalguksu cooked in leftover shabu-shabu broth, but Jangwongap made eating the noodles itself so varied that it was even more fun.

Jochiwon peach bibim mandu: only 10 plates a day

Jochiwon peach bibim mandu is a side dish sold at only 10 plates a day at Jangwongap Kalguksu. It had a sweet-and-tangy flavor that worked well between the shabu-shabu and the kalguksu.

We also tried the Jochiwon peach bibim mandu we'd ordered together.

The name alone was unusual enough that I was curious about it from the moment I ordered haha.

After the shabu-shabu and kalguksu, my mouth still had that warm, rich lingering taste, and eating the sweet-and-tangy bibim mandu right then really brought my appetite back to life.

The dumplings were crispy and the sauce sweet and tangy, so the texture worked well when we shared it between the two of us. It especially paired well alongside a warm, mild dish like shabu-shabu! My boyfriend kept saying the mandu was so, so good, and I felt like I'd picked well haha.

Perilla oil kkakdugi fried rice with Uiseong garlic kimchi

After finishing the kalguksu, Jangwongap serves perilla oil kkakdugi (radish kimchi) fried rice for free. Even the kimchi isn't regular kimchi — it's Uiseong garlic kimchi.

Honestly, by this point we were already pretty full...

But the nutty perilla oil aroma rising up made it impossible not to eat;

Jangwongap's kimchi isn't regular kimchi but Uiseong garlic kimchi, and putting it on top of the fried rice together... there are just no words needed ㅠㅠ I really need to lose weight before my wedding photoshoot soon, but I still cleared the fried rice too...ㅎ

Ending with the complimentary misugaru slush

On the way out after the meal, we even got a free misugaru (roasted grain powder) slush. After eating our way through shabu-shabu, hot kalguksu, and fried rice until we were stuffed, a cold misugaru slush was the perfect finish. The crunchy shaved-ice texture along with misugaru's signature nutty-sweet flavor made for a light, easy dessert.

My boyfriend seemed genuinely so satisfied that day, saying everything we ordered was delicious. By the time we left, he was raving that there wasn't a single bad dish and calling it a perfect place. Thinking back, we started with chadol minari-wrap shabu kalguksu, tried the noodles changing through 5 textures, then had the Jochiwon peach bibim mandu, perilla oil kkakdugi fried rice, and even the misugaru slush...

Food just kept coming from start to finish...ㅎ Rather than feeling like we just went out for a bowl of kalguksu, there was real fun in eating through each course in order, which is why I felt the "omakase of kalguksu" description really fits. If you're searching for a good kalguksu spot in Giheung-gu, Yongin, and want to eat your way through shabu-shabu, kalguksu, and fried rice to your heart's content, Jangwongap Kalguksu is worth a visit.

Jangwongap Kalguksu Giheung at a glance

• Omakase of kalguksu, noodles that shift through 5 textures
• Chadol minari-wrap shabu kalguksu — top-tier broth, loaded with minari!
• Highly recommend the Jochiwon peach bibim mandu side dish (only 10 plates a day)
• Complimentary perilla oil kkakdugi fried rice
• Complimentary misugaru slush