Solo dining Korean restaurant in Seongsu, Seoul: Dwaeji Gomtang House

When people think of Seongsu, Western food usually comes to mind, but let's be honest — our soul lives in Korean food, right? As the weather turns chilly, soup starts calling. So today I'm introducing Dwaeji Gomtang House Musinsa Mega Store Branch. If you're a gomtang (pork bone soup) lover looking for a Seongsu Station restaurant, this is a true find you shouldn't miss :)

Dwaeji Gomtang House Musinsa Mega Store Branch opening hours

Dwaeji Gomtang House Musinsa Mega Store Branch is open daily from 11am to 9pm. Last order is at 8pm.

How to get there from Seongsu Station: Musinsa Mega Store 4F Food Garden

Dwaeji Gomtang House Musinsa Mega Store Branch is inside the Musinsa Mega Store building. It's about a 7-minute walk from Exit 3 of Seongsu Station on Line 2.

Once you get to the Mega Store and head up to the 4th floor, there's a food garden

and that's where Dwaeji Gomtang House Musinsa Mega Store Branch is set up as a special pop-up!

Inside Dwaeji Gomtang House: solo seats with bag hooks

This is Dwaeji Gomtang House Musinsa Mega Store Branch. It's set up as a special pop-up tucked between food court stalls.

The tables are standard food court tables, so there were plenty of both solo seats and regular tables.

The solo seats in particular had a bag hook underneath, which was really convenient.

Dwaeji Gomtang House menu and prices

The main menu items are the Clear Gomtang Set and the Spicy Gomtang Set, with side dishes like minari (water dropwort) tot (hijiki seaweed) king mandu, cold pork belly, and herring roe radish. Note that ordering the Clear Gomtang Set already comes with herring roe radish as a side dish, so you don't need to order it separately.

There's also cola, zero cola, and cider.

For reference, the chili powder, rice, barley, pork, and seaweed here are all domestic (Korean).

I ordered the Clear Gomtang Set and the minari tot king mandu.

You can order at the kiosk,

and when the buzzer goes off, you just pick up your order.

What the Clear Gomtang Set tastes like

First up, the Clear Gomtang Set I ordered.

The centerpiece is a pork gomtang so clear you can see the bottom of the bowl,

and the side dishes were seokbakji (young radish kimchi) and herring roe radish,

along with salted shrimp, a slice of orange for dessert, and chili paste pickle.

Interestingly, the garnish on top was green onion and tot (hijiki seaweed).

I tried the broth first. They say it's clarified using low-temperature, high-pressure cooking... and there wasn't a hint of gamey pork smell, just a mild, clean broth. By my standards, this is perfectly Seoul-style broth! If pyeongyang naengmyeon (cold buckwheat noodle soup) were a gomtang, I imagine it would feel like this.

The meat was layered on top of the pork gomtang,

and as you can see, it's cut very thin, so it has a tender feel. Meat sitting in soup usually turns out dense, but because it's so thin, it wasn't like that at all.

Eating it with the chili paste pickle set aside in the small bowl on the right was a perfect match. The chili paste pickle tastes exactly like homemade doenjang (soybean paste)-pickled chili peppers, you know? It went well with the plain, mild meat.

It also paired well with the salted shrimp.

Under the meat was toryeom (parboiled) barley rice.

Eating it, I noticed the portion here is really generous. I'd say even an adult man could fill up on this alone without ordering a larger size.

The herring roe radish was spicy with the distinct salty tang of herring roe, and the radish had a nice crunch that went great alongside the gomtang.

Minari Tot King Mandu: a flat-style dumpling

And the other thing I ordered, the minari tot king mandu! It comes as a set of 3.

I was expecting a regular round king mandu (dumpling), but it turned out to be this flat dumpling shape.

Comparing it against my fingers, you can see it's genuinely huge. It truly lived up to the name 'king mandu.'

The dipping sauce had a spicy kick with chili peppers mixed in. So I piled it on top like this.

Here's a cross-section of the minari tot king mandu! Overall it's a mild, unassuming meat mandu flavor, but with minari (water dropwort) mixed in, there was a faint, fragrant herby aroma.

The verdict in one line

So that's my honest rundown of Dwaeji Gomtang House Musinsa Mega Store Branch! 📌 To sum it up in a line:

• ✅ About a 7-minute walk from Seongsu Station (Line 2) Exit 3
• ✅ The clear pork gomtang has a mild, clean flavor
• ✅ Amazing when paired with chili paste pickle, salted shrimp, and herring roe radish

Honestly, having only eaten thick, heavy, or spicy broths before, this kind of broth gave me a pleasant shock. If this place were near my office, I think I'd eat here for lunch often. If you're a gomtang lover looking for a Seongsu Station restaurant, or visiting the Musinsa Mega Store, how about giving this place a try?