Korean restaurant near Dongtan Lake for Luna Show set dinner

Summer's fading into fall, it seems haha, and the weather's so nice these days! Before summer fully wraps up, I wanted to share a naengmyeon (cold noodle) spot I visited by Dongtan Lake Park. It's called Naengmyeon Gajun, and it turns out their main branch is right here in Dongtan. It's in a shopping complex right in front of the lake park, so it's really a great spot to eat and hang out lol.

Naengmyeon for ₩7,900 a bowl — ₩15,000 for two

One reason Naengmyeon Gajun is known as a go-to Dongtan Lake Park restaurant is the price. These days it's hard to find a bowl of naengmyeon for ₩7,900, right? Being able to have a full meal for two at ₩15,000 — that's seriously good value, isn't it!?

A lake view with the Luna Show while you eat

The inside of the restaurant was really clean and well kept, which I loved. Sitting right by Dongtan Lake Park, it's got a great location and honestly a beautiful view. I visited on a weekend, and it happened to be a Luna Show day?! I got to comfortably watch the Luna Show while eating, haha.

That day it had rained and then cleared up, so it felt a bit cooler, and watching people spread out mats and gather one by one made me want to go out and join them lol. Normally for the Luna Show you'd have to bring all your gear and sit on the grass, but watching it while seated at this Dongtan Lake Park restaurant felt like a genuine cheat code...

Serving robot and self-service corner

This place has its own serving robot. Utensils are always stocked, and it brought over the side dishes and food. It's honestly amazing how it navigates around without bumping into anything lol.

There's also a self-service corner set up, so you can grab extra side dishes and utensils yourself. Honestly, I find a self bar like this more convenient than calling a staff member over, haha.

On one wall there's a message — sort of a greeting? — from the Naengmyeon Gajun owner, and the wording felt genuinely sincere. Maybe that's why I was already excited before the food even arrived.

What we ordered — naengmyeon + soy sauce pork belly set for ₩17,000

This is also a Dongtan Lake Park restaurant known for its braised beef rib as much as its naengmyeon. They serve delicious beef rib at a low price, and the naengmyeon + braised beef rib set is also super affordable at around ₩20,000-something!! I'm really curious about the mul naengmyeon + spicy braised beef rib combo, haha. Besides the braised beef rib, there's also a pork belly set. We went with the naengmyeon and pork belly set! The price was ₩17,000 for bibim naengmyeon + soy sauce pork belly.

First up, the two bowls of naengmyeon arrived. To be fair to both, we ordered one bibim naengmyeon and one mul naengmyeon. It was nice that a separate broth came for pouring over the bibim naengmyeon too, haha. I'm the type who likes my bibim naengmyeon with a bit of broth in it.

A bit later, the soy sauce pork belly came out too. Even though it's the pork belly included in a single-person set, the portion was just right for two people to share. Getting all this as a set for under ₩20,000 felt really reasonable, haha. The naengmyeon portion is huge too!

How does the bibim naengmyeon taste? Sweet, spicy, broth on the side

Taste is the most important thing, right?!! It was genuinely delicious, haha. It was just the right amount of sweet and spicy, so even though I'd ordered mul naengmyeon, I ended up enjoying the bibim naengmyeon more. I stole basically all of my boyfriend's... lol. There was half a boiled egg on top too, which was great eaten together.

Instead of a thick, gloppy bibim naengmyeon, there was just the right amount of broth, which made it easy to mix and easy to eat! Without any broth it can end up tasting overly salty and strong, but there was none of that here at all, haha.

Look at this pile of noodles... isn't the portion seriously huge? A single bowl of naengmyeon usually wouldn't fill you up that much, but this Dongtan Lake Park restaurant, Naengmyeon Gajun, feels even more satisfying since it's cheap and the portions are generous, haha.

You know how great meat and naengmyeon together is, right? If any of you end up visiting, definitely order one of the pork belly sets, haha. I recommend it. Bibim naengmyeon with soy sauce pork belly is delicious, and it's good with mul naengmyeon too. Mul naengmyeon + spicy pork belly sounds like it'd be a great combo as well!

Half a plate of kkujumi mandu — heat-averse folks, try the octopus mandu

For a side dish we ordered half a plate of kkujumi (spicy baby octopus) mandu, and 4 pieces came out. The wrapper was super thin and chewy, so it was genuinely delicious! I think more than half of a mandu's quality comes down to the wrapper, and this one I really enjoyed. It's filled with spicy octopus, and the chili flavor came through nicely. This one's a bit spicy though, so if you're sensitive to heat, the octopus mandu might be a good pick instead.

Parking and final thoughts

For parking, you can just use the building's parking lot. We left with full stomachs after a delicious, affordable naengmyeon meal, haha. I'd definitely recommend visiting Naengmyeon Gajun if you want to eat while looking out at Dongtan Lake Park!