Gwanghwamun beef noodle restaurant: broth vs stir-fried, Cheonghwa

Cheonghwa Uyuk Dosakmyeon: a Jongno knife-cut noodle spot for a weekend date

Cheonghwa Uyuk Dosakmyeon is a knife-cut noodle (dosakmyeon) Chinese restaurant at 19 Jongno, Jongno-gu, Seoul. I came here with my boyfriend for a weekend date, and honestly if you like Chinese food — especially dosakmyeon — this is a must-visit.

I went through a phase of loving dosakmyeon so much I was hunting down every good spot, and somehow I'd never been here.. shocking. My sister had told me it was good, and once I actually ate here myself, it really really was. So let's get into the detailed review~~!! 🤍🤍🤍

The outside looks like this — from this alone you'd never guess it's run by Chinese owners, it's such a clean, sleek exterior. Inside was clean too, but the vibe inside is quite different from what the outside suggests. Inside felt a bit more like a classic Chinese restaurant!

Menu photos and prices are posted outside the door

They had all the menu items posted outside with photos and prices, which I really appreciated!! There were so many kinds — noodles, rice dishes, even dim sum and cooked dishes! I spotted quabaorou, which I love, and decided right then I had to order it haha.

Looking back now, I kind of regret not ordering dim sum too — the food here was that good!! The standing sign outside had several dim sum photos, so the dim sum here is probably great too. My sister told me she once came alone and ate two dim sum dishes plus quabaorou by herself, so that tells you how good it is.

Inside Cheonghwa Uyuk Dosakmyeon and how the tablet ordering works

The inside I mentioned earlier looked like this. From these photos you can definitely tell it's a proper Chinese restaurant!! There were solo diners eating quickly, family gatherings, and lots of couples on dates too — seems like a spot everyone enjoys, all ages.

Once seated, you order via the tablet at each table. The tablet also shows photos, so ordering is easy. We looked at the pictures and ordered the basic broth beef noodles and the stir-fried beef noodles. And of course my beloved quabaorou too.🩷

How does the basic beef noodle soup taste? Deep meaty broth with a tangy lift

First up, the basic beef noodles! The broth has a slightly tangy edge — not sure what gives it that touch of tang. Think of it as a deep, meaty broth with a spoonful of tanginess mixed in, and the noodles are so, so chewy and delicious. The beef mixed in was really tasty too, ㅠㅠ.

At first I thought there wasn't much meat, but as I kept eating, more beef kept turning up. The portion of meat was generous, so I was very, very satisfied. Chewy noodles, chewy beef, all good!!

If you order one dish, make it the stir-fried beef noodles

But the next dish, the stir-fried noodles, was seriously, seriously delicious — the mala sauce was exactly my type, and the beef in it had this amazing charred flavor, ㅠㅠㅠ. If I had to recommend just one noodle dish, it's hands-down this stir-fried beef noodles!!

The noodles were chewy too, and the sauce coated them perfectly! The vegetables mixed in were nice and crunchy and went so well with it — honestly the sauce does all the work, I feel like any ingredient would taste great in it haha.

This beef is seriously so good ㅠㅠ. The sauce is delicious so the noodles and beef go so well together, and on top of that the beef has that charred flavor, so I kept eating faster and faster!! I worried the beef portion might be small, but it was generous, so I could eat beef right to the last bite — the umami is no joke ㅠ.

Looking back at the photos with my boyfriend, it's the kind of taste that makes you want it again right away. I don't usually say 'let's go again' right after leaving a restaurant, but these noodles were so good I want to go back and eat them again.

Quabaorou texture: batter that never peels off the pork

Next up, quabaorou. Once you taste this quabaorou's crispy batter, you might never be able to eat another quabaorou again.. it was genuinely amazing.. The sauce itself was a bit tangy and generously poured, so it wasn't exactly my favorite part, but the crispy fried meat carried the whole dish ㅠㅠ. I'd almost call it the dish that puts every other quabaorou spot in its place.

The meat is thin, but not in a bad way — thin yet somehow both chewy and tender at once, and the batter sticks so perfectly to the meat that no matter how small a piece you cut, it never falls off. There's no gap between the coating and the meat, so they stick together beautifully — is that the right way to describe how delicious that is? Genius texture, out of every quabaorou I've had..

What to order at Cheonghwa Uyuk Dosakmyeon

So my boyfriend and I finished everything off. Every dish was delicious.. but if I had to pick the must-orders, it's the stir-fried noodles and the quabaorou!! Don't skip these — order them both, no question!!

And that's the end of this delicious restaurant review.