Sokcho makguksu restaurant for a couple's large suyuk lunch: Topgol

Of course you have to eat makguksu (cold buckwheat noodles) on a Sokcho trip! It's such a perfect lunch option while traveling. I visited Sokcho Topgol Makguksu Main Branch near Sokcho Beach and tried the deulmemak and suyuk (boiled pork). As a well-known perilla oil makguksu spot in Sokcho, they've even trademark-filed the name deulmemak. Portions were more generous than other places, and the location was great too — definitely a place I'd want to revisit next time I'm in Sokcho.

Where is Sokcho Topgol Makguksu Main Branch, and what are its hours and parking?

Sokcho Topgol Makguksu Main Branch is at 12 Haeoreum-ro 188beon-gil, Sokcho-si, Gangwon-do. Hours are 09:30–21:00, closing at 22:00 on weekends. There's a public parking lot right in front where they register your parking — just a 1-minute walk from there!!

It's still hot enough during the day that makguksu feels perfect, though honestly it's amazing even in winter. Sokcho makguksu is a must-eat meal on any Gangwon-do trip, so I grabbed a seat and ordered.

What a couple ordered at Sokcho Topgol Makguksu: large suyuk plus a bowl each

Sokcho Topgol Makguksu Main Branch has all kinds of menu items. My husband and I eat a lot, so we ordered the large size suyuk and one makguksu bowl each. There's also a single-serving suyuk and various side dishes to consider. Since it's known as a Sokcho perilla oil makguksu spot, deulmemak is the most famous item, so I'd recommend trying it.

The basic side dishes came out first — radish salad, yeolmu kimchi (young radish kimchi), plus salted shrimp, ssamjang (dipping sauce), and garlic and chili to go with the suyuk.

Is the large suyuk too much for two people?

At a makguksu place you end up ordering suyuk pretty often. If you visit Sokcho Topgol Makguksu, definitely order it. The suyuk was seriously generous in portion and delicious too — tender and juicy, perfectly boiled.

It came with dried radish strips and pollack sashimi salad on the side, which made it even better together. The portion was so generous it was honestly too much for two of us. If we'd been staying one more night I'd have had a makgeolli (rice wine) with it — a bit of a shame we couldn't since we were heading home that day.

I was curious how they even boil the suyuk — it's on a different level from anywhere else I've had it!! Genuinely tender, moist, and chewy. Pairing it with the pollack sashimi salad is a match made in heaven.

Pollack sashimi makguksu, my husband's pick

My husband ordered the pollack sashimi makguksu. We love pollack sashimi salad, so we pretty much always order this one. It comes topped with pollack sashimi and roasted seaweed flakes.

Pollack sashimi makguksu really tastes best when you eat it in Gangwon-do!! The portion of pollack sashimi was generous, which was great.

What is deulmemak, Sokcho Topgol Makguksu's signature bowl?

This is the deulmemak I ordered. It's apparently the signature dish at Sokcho Topgol Makguksu, famous as a Sokcho perilla oil makguksu spot. Fresh-cut buckwheat noodles get a generous drizzle of perilla oil, then are prettily topped with roasted seaweed flakes, ground perilla seeds, and perilla leaf. It looked great and the perilla oil's fragrant aroma was wonderful.

Mix it up to your own taste and dig in. I'd read reviews saying the portion was large, and it really is generous — might feel like an upsized order elsewhere haha. Since we both eat a lot, the big portion was genuinely great for us.

Because it's freshly boiled to order, the noodles weren't soggy at all, and you could fully taste the soft buckwheat noodles in the deulmemak. If you enjoy the taste and aroma of buckwheat, I'd recommend this dish.

Pairing the suyuk with the pollack sashimi salad was the best. Generous portions, great taste — a satisfying meal. We really ate well and filling for lunch.

How deulmemak tastes with dongchimi broth poured over

At Sokcho Topgol Makguksu, a Sokcho perilla oil makguksu spot, pouring dongchimi (radish water kimchi broth) over the deulmemak while eating gave it a whole different flavor, which I loved. In Sokcho, makguksu usually comes with dongchimi broth anyway. It tasted exactly like the classic dongchimi makguksu we all know, but with perilla oil mixed in it felt even nuttier somehow. The cold dongchimi broth also felt like it helped with digestion haha.

There was still a ton of noodles left even by the time we were getting full. We still managed to finish it all though haha.

Deulmemak!! Perilla oil buckwheat makguksu. You can really feel the passion behind trademarking the name.

At the end, you can even take a photo of the receipt. Can't skip that kind of memento. It's not super clear, but you can read it if you look closely haha.

Lunch at 1 p.m. that kept us full until 10 p.m.

This was Sokcho Topgol Makguksu Main Branch, a Sokcho perilla oil makguksu spot. Even though we're big eaters, the portions were clearly generous. We had lunch at 1 p.m. haha, and didn't even realize we weren't hungry until we ate dinner at 10 p.m. Maybe because it's buckwheat noodles, even after eating our fill it didn't feel heavy or bloated — it filled us up in a way that digested slowly and steadily, so even overeating caused no trouble at all haha. Generous portions and great taste made for a great meal. After eating, a walk on Sokcho Beach is perfect. It was a delicious meal.