Yangsan Korean restaurant for perilla chicken noodles with kids

Tongdosa Temple is always such a lovely place to visit. Autumn is really in the air now, and once the leaves start turning, Tongdosa is absolutely somewhere I have to come for foliage viewing! There are several hermitages inside too, so if you visit them like you’re collecting stamps, even coming every week probably wouldn’t be enough.

This weekend, we went to Eonyang near Tongdosa Temple :) After visiting a café in Eonyang with pretty flowers in bloom, it was nearly dinner and we were wondering what to eat, so we decided on Eonyang Dak Kalguksu Tongdosa Branch (언양닭칼국수 통도사점). Their house-made kalguksu (knife-cut noodles) comes with nutty perilla-seed broth and a whole half chicken on top, so it’s filling and great for kids too. The prices were good as well!

Hours and parking

• Daily 11:00–21:00
• Last order at 20:00
• Regularly closed every Wednesday
• Baby chairs available
• Large dedicated parking lot beside the restaurant

There’s a big dedicated parking lot right beside the restaurant. Parking is always something to worry about when going somewhere, but having such a roomy lot makes a visit feel so easy. Plus, they operate for long hours with no break time, so you can come whenever suits you! It isn’t easy to keep strictly to mealtimes when you’re with a child.

A spacious interior that was comfortable with a child

This is part of the interior. The window and sofa seats were packed, but the restaurant was more spacious than I expected, so it looked like it could accommodate groups too. Lots of people come with children, so baby chairs are ready, and as soon as our child sat down, they set out children’s tableware right away.

Chicken kalguksu topped with half a chicken

Let’s look at the menu. Chicken kalguksu is the signature dish. At a chicken kalguksu restaurant near my husband’s place, apparently they serve one chicken leg on top, but here you get a whole half chicken, so it’s incredibly filling. They also have chicken gomtang (clear chicken soup), spicy jjimdak (braised chicken), and soy sauce jjimdak, so you can enjoy proper dishes too. There’s also chokgye bibim milmyeon (cold wheat noodles mixed with chilled chicken broth), cold milmyeon, and suyuk (boiled sliced meat) for hot summer days.

Chicken kalguksu, chewy dumplings, and spicy kimchi

Our family ordered two chicken kalguksu and chewy dumplings. If you’re eating with a child, chicken gomtang would be just perfect to order. Our child said he was too full to eat rice, so I served him some kalguksu instead, haha.

The real kick here is the spicy kimchi. It’s seriously delicious. They carefully make it fresh every day using Korean-grown napa cabbage, and it goes so, so well with the kalguksu.

They also have non-spicy kimchi for anyone who can’t eat spicy food, but do try the spicy kimchi at least once, haha. It’s seriously addictive. The chewy dumplings were plentiful too, and the son who said he wasn’t eating rice ended up finishing half the dumplings, haha. Officially honey-sweet delicious.

Rich perilla broth and tender chicken

The chicken kalguksu arrived in a huge bowl. First of all, the deeply rich, nutty broth loaded with perilla seeds was so good. Being able to enjoy the chicken along with chewy noodles makes this my absolute favorite menu item, haha. I love that the price doesn’t feel burdensome either.

The chicken is simmered so thoroughly that the meat falls apart as soon as you touch it with chopsticks. It isn’t tough or dry at all—just soft and tender—so kids eat it well too.

The best combination is noodles topped with chicken and eaten with kimchi... that’s the deliciousness point :) The staff were kind, our child ate well, and we’ve bookmarked this as the place to visit without hesitation whenever we come near Tongdosa Temple for a while.

Grab an ice cream for dessert on the way out, and you’ll be saying, “Ah, that was a great meal!”