Holiday solo meal at a Yeonsu, Incheon gomtang restaurant: Eonyang Dak

Summer's finally over, the weather's turning cool and pleasant, and on a happy holiday I went hunting for a good restaurant. Here's a place that's great for lunch and easy on the wallet too.

Eonyang Dak Kalguksu Incheon Songdo Branch: hours and location

This is Eonyang Dak Kalguksu, specifically the Songdo branch, open from 11am to 9pm — good for a quick lunch or dinner. Personally, this is one of those magical places where once you go once, you keep coming back.

What's on the menu: kalguksu, chicken gomtang, and drinking snacks

As the name suggests, Eonyang Dak Kalguksu serves chicken kalguksu (knife-cut noodle soup) and chicken gomtang, plus Eonyang-style kalguksu, dumplings, and more. For an evening drink, they also had spicy braised chicken, soy braised chicken, and even boiled pork (suyuk) — great drinking snacks.

Can you eat alone here? The window-facing bar seats

Inside Eonyang Dak Kalguksu Songdo, it's clean and spacious, with 4-top tables that can be pushed together to seat up to 8 for group visits. There are also bar seats for solo diners, so you can eat alone while looking out the window.

Ordering chicken gomtang on the tablet: sizes and add-ons

Today I ordered the chicken gomtang. The chicken kalguksu is also a popular bestseller, but I was craving rice, so I went with that. Tip for the hungry: order chicken kalguksu, then when you finish the noodles, order a bowl of rice for the leftover broth — you get two dishes in one visit.

When you order the gomtang, you can choose an extra-large portion, extra chicken, rice on the side, and more. The tablet let me pick every detail of the dish precisely.

Eonyang Dak Kalguksu simmers the chicken down thoroughly for a broth made with chicken bone stock and perilla seeds. The noodles are house-made, kneaded in-house and aged a day in advance. What's most appealing here, though, is the kimchi — it's genuinely delicious.

The self-serve spicy kimchi that beats silbi kimchi for heat

You can grab extra kimchi from the self-serve bar, where two kinds are available: spicy and mild. The spicy one is a real standout — genuinely fiery enough to give silbi kimchi (a famously spicy kimchi) a run for its money — so if you love spicy food, this is a must-visit. I'm so happy there's a place in Songdo where you can eat kimchi this deliciously spicy... I really love spicy food.

How much chicken and broth the 11,000-won gomtang comes with

While waiting, the chicken gomtang arrived, and the portion was genuinely generous. For ₩11,000, you get a big chunk of half a chicken plus a hefty amount of rice and broth — one bowl leaves you completely full. Honestly, I'd recommend two people share a chicken gomtang over ordering fried chicken.

The broth is already seasoned, so you can add salt and pepper to taste, but honestly you don't even need to — it's perfectly seasoned as is and tastes great plain.

The tender chicken falls right apart with a light touch of your chopsticks. It's delicious plain, but there's an even better way to eat it — with the kimchi.

Even the mild kimchi is seasoned differently from the kimchi we usually eat, tuned perfectly to match the chicken gomtang.

There's also a chicken leg in the bowl, and the broth is incredibly rich. Take one spoonful and you'll find it addictive — you just keep scooping more.

Not a fan of spice? Stir the kimchi into the broth instead

The rice, already mixed in, soaks up the broth properly, and topping it with kimchi is a great match. I personally enjoy the spicy kimchi on its own, but for those who can't handle spice, stirring it into the broth like a minced seasoning apparently makes it even more richly spicy to enjoy.

This is truly a great-value restaurant and a spicy kimchi hotspot. Great for lunch, great for eating solo, the kind of place you find yourself craving and returning to regularly. A great Songdo restaurant for a solo lunch.