Gangnam Chinese lunch for char siu rice bowls: Namsogwan

A Chinese lunch in Gangnam before my test

A Gangnam outing for the first time in ages!! I was taking my TOEIC Speaking test in Gangnam rather than Jamsil that day... and since it was in the afternoon, I stopped by for lunch.

Namsogwan U Yuk Dosakmyeon in Gangnam is a Chinese restaurant famous for beef shaved noodles and dim sum. It seems they do regular Chinese dishes well too, not just noodles and dim sum? The fish-fragrant eggplant rice bowl looked delicious too...!!

The first floor was already full, so I was shown upstairs! The second floor was quite spacious and had group seating, but I was surprised that it was nearly all full too...!!

It is right in the back street behind Exit 11 of Gangnam Station, so it is easy to get to. Maybe because it is Chinese food, I also saw lots of people eating quickly on their own and heading out. Hours are daily from 11:00 to 22:20. Oddly, they are open until 22:20, with last orders at 22:00....?

What is the best way to eat xiaolongbao?

The basic sides were zhacai (pickled mustard stem) and peanuts~ A Chinese restaurant needs these to be good :)

The xiaolongbao came out first! The menu says xiaolongbao is a famous pork dim sum, and it is my favorite kind of dim sum because the soup inside matters so much :) Be careful if you eat it right away—the soup inside is hot!! Add some of the shredded ginger served alongside it for absolute deliciousness!!!

Make a little tear like this and drink the soup inside first, then top it with a little shredded ginger for the best bite.

Honey-sauce char siu rice and beef shaved noodles

I wanted rice, so I ordered the honey-sauce char siu rice bowl!!! I ordered it without much thought, but when it arrived, it looked exactly like the Jeongmumun set meal from that show with Kwak Beom, something about taking leave without annual leave.

Such a good-looking rice bowl! Drizzle on a little more of the sauce served with it, and the seasoning comes together perfectly—it is delicious.

The char siu was so good :)

And then, the dish Namsogwan U Yuk Dosakmyeon is proud of! The restaurant is named after beef shaved noodles, so that says it all... Their authentic signature dish!! To serve Taiwanese-style beef shaved noodles properly, they make the broth from beef bones in-house and boil the beef shank on top themselves.

Eating it like this really felt like having a proper full spread, which I loved. The dim sum was already gone 😂

The beef-shank topping is boiled in-house! The meat was not tough at all and had just the right amount of chew, which was great.

The noodles called dosakmyeon are made by shaving dough with a knife, and there are loads of great dosakmyeon places around Konkuk University. In Gangnam, there may not be anywhere besides Namsogwan? If you are craving an unusual noodle dish for lunch, come try it! The char siu rice bowl is delicious too—I recommend it!

Watching the dim sum being made, too

After finishing and heading downstairs, I found the dim sum-making station..! I mean, with just a few movements of their hands, a convincing little piece of dim sum popped out—it was surprisingly fun to watch. Once the crowd had thinned a bit, I also looked around the interior, and it seemed nicely decorated with a Taiwanese feel. I recommend Namsogwan U Yuk Dosakmyeon as a great Gangnam restaurant! If you are craving Chinese food for lunch, definitely visit at least once!!