Pyeongchang buckwheat restaurant where the pancake won: Migayeon

I went out to eat in Pyeongchang, Gangwon, and stopped by Bongpyeong Memil Migayeon (봉평메밀미가연). Since I'd come all the way to Bongpyeong, I figured I should properly taste some buckwheat this time.

Hours and parking at Bongpyeong Memil Migayeon

Bongpyeong Memil Migayeon is open Mon–Sun from 10:00 to 17:00, closed every Wednesday. Parking is available, so it was easy to get to by car, and the place was pretty clean overall.

The three dishes we ordered

That day at Bongpyeong Memil Migayeon we ordered buckwheat sprout suyuk (boiled pork with buckwheat sprouts), Yidaepal 100% buckwheat migamyeon (buckwheat noodles), and handmade buckwheat pancake.

So those are the three. We started with the buckwheat sprout suyuk.

Buckwheat sprout suyuk: eat it together with the pork

The suyuk comes topped with buckwheat sprouts, and it worked better than I expected. Suyuk inevitably has that rich, fatty meat flavor, and the slightly bitter, nutty taste of the buckwheat sprouts balances it out nicely. Eating the sprouts along with the pork made it much cleaner than eating the meat alone.

Picking up meat and buckwheat sprouts together was my personal favorite way to eat it. Eating meat alone for too long can get a bit greasy, but pairing it with the sprouts every few bites gave my palate a nice reset.

Next was the Yidaepal 100% buckwheat migamyeon. Since we came to Pyeongchang for makguksu (buckwheat noodles), there was no skipping this one.

Yidaepal 100% buckwheat migamyeon: go easy on the kelp vinegar

You get a gentle whiff of buckwheat aroma from the noodles, and the overall flavor is on the mild side. I tried it plain first, without adding anything, and honestly that was fine as-is. Then I added about a spoonful of kelp vinegar, and the tangy note gave it a whole different feel. I'd recommend adding it little by little to match your taste rather than dumping it all in from the start.

It leaned more toward a clean, buckwheat-forward style rather than a strong, punchy makguksu. I personally liked how the subtle buckwheat aroma lingered, and it didn't clash much in flavor even when eaten alongside the suyuk or the pancake.

But the thing I liked best that day was the handmade buckwheat pancake.

Why the handmade buckwheat pancake was the best of the three

Honestly, at first I thought of it as just a side dish, but it turned out to be the tastiest thing on the table. It was clean and nutty, with that distinctive mild buckwheat flavor coming through clearly. It wasn't heavy or overly greasy either, so after one piece my hand kept going back for more.

The pancake seemed to taste nuttier while it was still warm, and it worked well eaten in between bites of the other dishes. By the end I was thinking, 'I'd order this again next time.' If I could only pick one of the three to have again, it'd be the handmade buckwheat pancake.

Overall thoughts on ordering all three

Eating all three together, each one had a pretty distinct feel. The suyuk was best paired with the buckwheat sprouts, the migamyeon was great for enjoying a mild buckwheat aroma, and the pancake's nutty flavor stood out most. So even with several dishes on the table, it never felt like eating the same thing over and over.

If anything, ordering all three together made for a natural flow from meat to noodles to pancake, and the overall satisfaction was better than sticking to just one dish. I'd come to Bongpyeong wondering what to eat, and it turned out to be a pretty satisfying meal. It was a bit of a surprise that after going in thinking only about Pyeongchang makguksu, the handmade buckwheat pancake ended up being the most memorable.

Ordering tips for Bongpyeong Memil Migayeon

If you want to try buckwheat dishes in Bongpyeong, it might be worth ordering the handmade buckwheat pancake or the buckwheat sprout suyuk alongside the migamyeon, rather than just the noodles alone, so you get to taste a bit of everything.

If I come back again, I'll definitely order the handmade buckwheat pancake once more.