Garak-dong kalguksu restaurant with 48-hour aged noodles: Hanyang Dak

Hanyang Dak Kalguksu in Songpa is a chicken kalguksu (noodle soup) specialist near Gyeongchal Hospital Station — if you like chicken dishes, I recommend it.

A good kalguksu spot in Songpa near Gyeongchal Hospital Station, great for lunch or dinner.

Hanyang Dak Kalguksu hours and location in Garak-dong

Hanyang Dak Kalguksu Main Branch is open daily from 11:00 to 21:00, with last order at 20:20. It's closed during Chuseok holiday.

Hello! I found a kalguksu place near Gyeongchal Hospital Station with really delicious homemade noodles. There must be a lot of you chicken kalguksu fans out there, so let me introduce this place I visited myself.

How to walk from Gyeongchal Hospital Station, and where to park

Parking is available if you're driving. It's about a 2-minute walk from Exit 4 of Gyeongchal Hospital Station, and there's parking too.

There's space for about 5 cars in front of the restaurant, so parking shouldn't be a worry.

What the Hanyang Dak Kalguksu dining room looks like

Hanyang Dak Kalguksu makes everything from scratch, from the broth and noodles to the domestic kimchi.

A rich chicken broth simmered over 12 hours every day, paired with handmade noodles aged 48 hours at low temperature — that's what makes this place delicious.

Basic chicken kalguksu, 11,900 won: the dish to order

Hanyang Dak Kalguksu basic, ₩11,900. Broth simmered over 12 hours, homemade noodles, and a generous topping of shredded chicken breast.

Being a chicken kalguksu restaurant, my top recommendation is naturally the chicken kalguksu. They say it's made using a homemade noodle-making method — by hand, maybe? The noodles here are truly a treasure. Even eaten slowly, they don't go soft and stay chewy — this is what homemade noodles are supposed to be.

What are house-made noodles aged 48 hours?

Jagajemyeon (자가제면) refers to noodles that aren't factory-made but are kneaded and cut in-house, by machine or by hand, right at the restaurant.

• Freshness and texture: freshly made noodles are much fresher and moister, and since each restaurant uses different dough ratios and aging times, you get that restaurant's own unique taste and texture.
• Meaning: in Chinese characters it reads as 自家製麵, literally "noodles made at home."

The signature chicken kalguksu comes with a deep, rich chicken broth, chewy aged noodles, and a generous helping of mild chicken.

Chicken gomtang, 11,500 won: how was the broth seasoned?

Chicken gomtang (rice dish), ₩11,500, loaded with tender chicken thigh meat. Next up is the chicken gomtang. If kalguksu is hard on your stomach, try the gomtang instead.

Compared to the kalguksu, this has even more chicken, and the tender thigh meat was really tasty. The broth was already seasoned, though — that was a bit disappointing. I wish they'd serve a savory, mild broth and let you adjust the salt yourself. Still, for restaurant food, it wasn't too salty :)

High chairs, outlets and eating alone at Hanyang Dak Kalguksu

There are baby chairs, and plenty of outlets too, so charging your phone was easy. It's a neighborhood favorite for families, but the atmosphere is also comfortable enough to eat alone without feeling awkward — highly recommended for solo diners.

With prices these days being no joke, getting a tasty, generous meal for around ₩10,000 felt great.

Side dishes: the house-made kimchi self-bar

You can help yourself to kimchi from the self-bar. They've prepared house-made spicy and mild kimchi, both matched well to go with kalguksu.

The kkakdugi (radish kimchi) isn't spicy, but the napa cabbage kimchi is quite hot — almost sillbi-kimchi level. If you love spicy kimchi, come running :)

Hanyang Dak Kalguksu menu and prices

It's cute how the kalguksu is split into green onion topping and gim (seaweed) topping options so you can pick your preference, haha. Seeing how spicy the kimchi is, I bet the chef is great with spicy food too — makes me want to try the spicy kalguksu next time. Give it a shot!

Verdict: is Hanyang Dak Kalguksu worth a trip to Garak-dong?

The chewy noodles left a strong impression on this bowl of chicken kalguksu. For my taste it was slightly seasoned (though still less salty than instant ramyeon), but the noodles were so good I ended up finishing every last bit.

If you're craving delicious noodles, I recommend this spot near Gyeongchal Hospital Station! The owner is kind, the restaurant is kept clean, and it's one of the good, honest restaurants around Garak Market. Highly, highly recommended for lunch if you work in Songpa.