Jung-gu Korean restaurant for three kalguksu styles: Tanbaek

Lately, I’d really been craving either a spicy, hearty soup or refreshing, mild noodle dishes, haha. So I visited Tanbaek, a great Deoksugung spot that has all of those options and delivers on every one! I went at weekday lunch, and with just one team ahead of me, I got in quickly, haha.

Tanbaek hours and parking information

Tanbaek

Hours are 11:00–21:00, with a break from 3–5 PM. Last orders are at 8 PM.

There is no parking lot, so you’ll need to use nearby paid parking. It averaged around ₩5,000–₩6,000 per hour, while the Ihwa Jeongdong Building Parking Lot and Seoul Museum of Art Parking Lot were around ₩5,000 for an hour. Ihwa Jeongdong Parking listed ₩6,000 for one hour and ₩10,000 for two hours. The Seoul Museum of Art Parking Lot was full, with a line to wait!

Tanbaek is an easy walk from City Hall Station, so it’s very accessible~~ There can be a wait during the lunch rush, but since it’s a noodle place, tables turn over quickly!! You can join the waitlist through Catchtable in front of the restaurant! Inside, everything was very tidy, including the spacing between tables, so it felt pleasant and comfortable to eat there, haha.

Seating for solo meals and groups

The first floor has bar-style seating, which is nice for eating alone. Upstairs on the second floor, there are tables that are great for dining with companions.

The second-floor atmosphere and interior were really lovely too, haha. I spotted about two high chairs as well! I think it would feel even more atmospheric at the peak of autumn.

There are quite a lot of seats, from tables for two to tables for four and six, haha.

A menu with three kinds of kalguksu

The biggest appeal here is the wide range of choices on the menu. There’s spicy yukgaejang kalguksu (knife-cut noodles in spicy beef soup), nutty soy noodle soup, and mild gom kalguksu (knife-cut noodles in clear beef soup), so it’s easy to choose what suits your taste! The boiled beef hot pot also looked delicious, but that’s a dinner menu. At lunch, it’s definitely the kind of place where you fill up with one bowl of noodles per person. You order by scanning the QR code on the menu, and then photos pop up like this, haha.

The weather has been so nice lately, and coming to a good restaurant like this just puts me in such a great mood! The lighting and windows were so pretty that I had to take a photo.

Warm pork and herring roe sauce

The warm pork came out first~~ It was chewy pork jowl, tender and springy with no off smell at all! Tanbaek is also known for its kimchi dumplings, but I was craving meat that day, so ordering the warm pork was a good choice! That red sauce had a crunchy bite, and when I looked closely, it was herring roe sauce! It was delicious with the herring roe sauce and vegetables!

Clear beef and yukgaejang kalguksu

We ordered all three noodle dishes! The gom kalguksu was really mild. Don’t picture a rich ox-bone gomtang broth; think of a light, clear beef soup instead~! The yukgaejang kalguksu wasn’t heavy or thick, but had a clean yukgaejang flavor, so it was delicious. Overall, Tanbaek has clean, refined flavors, so anyone who likes that kind of taste will really enjoy it~ (especially if you don’t like seasoning-heavy or overly intense flavors).

Thick, nutty mixed soy kalguksu

The mixed soy kalguksu was pure nuttiness! It was thick and nutty, and even more delicious with the finely shredded Korean melon, which added sweetness, haha. It somehow felt like I was having a healthy dose of soy protein.

It really comes down to preference, and all of them were delicious because the noodles themselves were elastic and chewy, haha. I usually order mushroom rice and mix it into yukgaejang or gom kalguksu, but it was sold out, so I couldn’t order it ㅠ I’m 100 percent willing to come back next time, order this whole spread plus mushroom rice, and mix it in~

Think of the mixed soy noodles as soy noodle soup without broth once you stir it up! Rich and purely nutty. I think it had sesame oil? Or perilla oil? Drizzled over it, making it even nuttier! Recommended for anyone who loves soy noodle soup!!

If you’re looking for a properly made meal near City Hall Station before or after a walk along the Deoksugung Stone Wall Road, this is a choice you’re unlikely to regret! It had been a while since I’d eaten so well, and I even got to go out to Deoksugung, so it was such a happy day~~!