Chungmuro Korean restaurant for lemon soba: Nagwon-ui Soba

Bossam and pork cutlets are two of my absolute soul foods that I simply can’t leave out! They seem so different, but I visited Nagwon-ui Soba, a place that makes both of them its signature dishes~ I remembered really enjoying the pork cutlet back when it operated as a pork-cutlet specialist, and since it now sells bossam too, I went back to try it!

Nagwon-ui Soba location and visit time

Nagwon-ui Soba Bossam Kalguksu Chungmuro Station Main Branch 2F, 2 Seoae-ro, Jung-gu, Seoul Hours 10:00–22:00 Break time 15:00–16:30

I visited Nagwon-ui Soba, a great restaurant near Chungmuro Station~ It is about a three-minute walk from Exit 1 of Chungmuro Station, so it was easy to reach by public transport.

The restaurant is on the second floor of the building, and Nagwon-ui Soba is already incredibly well known, with appearances on several TV programs! I heard Chef Kim Young-kwang is a soba specialist who has appeared on television many times~

You can see outside that they sell a wide range of dishes. There is usually a long wait, but you can also join the queue through Catchtable! I visited right after the break time and luckily got in straight away, haha 👍

A spacious dining room and tablet ordering

Here is the inside of Nagwon-ui Soba near Chungmuro Station~ It takes up almost the entire second floor, so it is quite spacious. There are tables for four as well as group seating, so it looked great for dining with a larger party too.

At Nagwon-ui Soba Bossam Kalguksu Chungmuro Station Main Branch, you can order from a tablet at each table. They sell an enormous variety of options, from simple meals such as pork cutlet and soba to filling dinners like bossam and assorted jeon (pan-fried savory pancakes), plus dishes to have with drinks!

• Small bossam ₩36,000
• Set meal ₩17,000 (lemon soba + half portion of pork cutlet)

Tender and pleasantly chewy small bossam

I started by ordering the small-size bossam (boiled pork served for wraps)~ The plating was so pretty and neat, and I loved everything from the wrap vegetables to the amount of meat!

Doesn’t Nagwon-ui Soba’s bossam look amazing?! It is made with super-fresh pork boiled every day, so the meat had an incredible sheen. It was not dry at all; the tender, chewy texture was really delicious.

Bossam is delicious on its own, but you know it gets even better with bossam kimchi, shredded radish salad, and salted seafood, haha. For me, the cleanest and tastiest combination was simply topping it with salted shrimp and bossam kimchi!

They also served neat plates of perilla leaves, napa cabbage, and lettuce to eat with the bossam~ Make one big wrap with the meat, rice, and ssamjang (savory soybean paste), and that is Korean soul food right there..❤️

The meat was cut thick and there was plenty of it, plus there were lots of combinations to enjoy with pollock sashimi and shredded radish salad. I really enjoyed Nagwon-ui Soba’s bossam menu! It is one I recommend ❤️

A set meal of lemon soba and mini pork cutlet

Bossam alone did not feel like quite enough, so I also ordered the soba set, which lets you have soba and pork cutlet at once~ I chose the lemon soba, and it comes with a mini pork cutlet!

The house-made lemon soba is refreshing, chilled buckwheat noodles made by squeezing fresh lemons to order. The lemon on top makes it look so fresh even at first glance!

The broth was so cool and refreshing, with a gentle tang of lemon. It tasted like one bowl would make the summer heat disappear! The house-made noodles were delicious too, not at all dry or crumbly~

You know how adding the accompanying scallions and radish to your taste makes the broth even more savory, haha. Along with lemon soba, they also have basic soba, Cheongyang chili tomato soba, makguksu (cold buckwheat noodles), and more, so keep that in mind~

The pork cutlet that came with it was crisp outside and juicy inside, with nice thick pieces of meat, so it was truly delicious! Perhaps because Nagwon-ui Soba used to specialize only in pork cutlets, the pork cutlet remained genuinely excellent as a staple dish even after the menu expanded, haha 👍

If you take part in the review event, you can even have ice cream for dessert! It felt so thoughtful that they made sure to take care of dessert after such a delicious meal, haha. If you want to enjoy a variety of tasty dishes including pork cutlet, soba, and bossam, I recommend visiting Nagwon-ui Soba near Chungmuro Station ერთხელ :) 💕