Beef knife-shaved noodles like sujebi in Daehangno: Cheonghwawon
In short
Cheonghwawon Daehangno Branch is a Taiwanese beef noodle restaurant on Daemyeong-gil, 166m from Hyehwa Station Exit 4 in Jongno, Seoul. On a Saturday at 7pm the table held beef knife-shaved noodles, a yuxiang eggplant rice bowl and guobaorou (sweet-and-sour pork): the broth tasted as familiar as siraegi haejangguk while the beef and wide, sujebi-like noodles were pure Taiwan. The guobaorou was crisp outside and tender inside, and the leftovers went home in a takeout box.
Good to know
- Address
- 36 Daemyeong-gil, 1st and 2nd floors, Jongno-gu, Seoul (183 Myeongnyun 2-ga)
- Location
- 166m from Hyehwa Station (Line 4) Exit 4
- Hours
- Daily 11:00–22:20, last order 21:50 (open year-round except Lunar New Year's Day)
- Parking
- Not available; nearby paid lots charge about 1,000 won per 10 minutes
- Other
- Takeout available, groups welcome, corkage allowed (fee applies)
- Ordering
- Kiosk
- Dishes ordered this visit
- Beef knife-shaved noodles, yuxiang eggplant rice bowl, guobaorou (sweet-and-sour pork)
- Complimentary sides
- Salt-roasted peanuts, jasai (pickled mustard stem)
as written by the visitor on Aug 14, 2026
It's been a while since I found such a satisfying restaurant, and I'm in a great mood about it. Hyehwa Daehangno Chinese restaurant Cheonghwawon!!! The sign says Taiwanese beef noodles right on it, but honestly everything else was delicious too, and people clearly know it's good because they keep going up to the second floor. Let me write this review with love.
Where is Cheonghwawon Daehangno Branch? Hours and parking
Cheonghwawon Daehangno Branch (청화원 대학로점) is located at 36 Daemyeong-gil, 1st and 2nd floors, Jongno-gu, Seoul (Myeongnyun 2(i)-ga 183, Jongno-gu, Seoul), 166m from Hyehwa Station (Line 4) Exit 4. It's open daily 11:00–22:20, with last order at 21:50.
- Contact: none listed
- Open year-round with customers, except Lunar New Year's Day
- ✅ Takeout available
- ✅ Groups welcome
- ✅ Corkage allowed (fee applies)
- ✅ No parking — the restaurant doesn't provide parking space. Please use a nearby paid lot even if it's inconvenient. It's about ₩1,000 per 10 minutes.
A Saturday 7pm dinner in Daehangno instead of a trip to Taiwan
I visited Cheonghwawon Daehangno Branch around 7pm on a Saturday. Instead of the Taiwan trip I missed in April, I came to a Taiwanese restaurant, hah! The sign really gives off a feeling like it could actually be in Taiwan, but the place itself felt super clean, and they gave us salt-roasted peanuts and jasai as side dishes(?).
What is on the Cheonghwawon menu, and how kiosk ordering works
You order through a kiosk~~ The menu was really, really long, and after much deliberation I put in their signature udoensakmyeon first, then ordered guobaorou and the yuxiang eggplant rice bowl. I heard the dim sum is good too, so I'll definitely have to come back for that next time.
- Noodles: Udoensakmyeon, Sichuan-style udoensakmyeon, Yubal doensakmyeon (mixed noodles), Beef stir-fried noodles
- Dim sum: Shumai, Xiaolongbao, Crystal moon dumplings
- Rice: Beef fried rice, Shrimp fried rice, Yuxiang eggplant rice bowl, Yuxiang shredded pork rice bowl, Tiger rice bowl, Gongbao chicken rice bowl
- Fried dishes: Guobaorou, Yurinki, Fried eggplant, Chili shrimp, Cream shrimp
- Side dishes for drinks: Sujeoueopyeon, Sujuyukpyeon, Bok choy and shiitake stir-fry, Cumin beef, Jingjiang rousi, Tomato egg stir-fry, Sichuan-style chicken, Refreshing cucumber salad, Refreshing cold noodle salad
Solo bar seats and the window table at Cheonghwawon
Cheonghwawon takes its name from Hwachunwon, a garden built during the Qing dynasty where nobles used to stroll and chat comfortably. They also have these solo bar-table seats ~ we sat at this window seat.
After we came in, more and more people kept arriving until they were going all the way up to the second floor. Even foreign tourists were finding the place..! A restaurant doing really well for itself.
How do the beef knife-shaved noodles taste? Haejangguk broth, Taiwanese beef
Cheonghwawon's signature dish, udoensakmyeon, I ate it so, so happily. Why does the broth taste like siraegi haejangguk (dried radish green hangover soup)?? Haha, it was an explosion of umami with a comfortingly familiar broth flavor that wrapped right around my tongue.
But then you eat the meat and suddenly you're in Taiwan. This isn't siraegi haejangguk, it's genuinely beef noodles, haha. The noodles were wide and had this really chewy, springy texture almost like sujebi (hand-torn dough soup), and the harmony with the broth was so good. A dish I want to eat again.
Yuxiang eggplant rice bowl: a texture you would never guess is eggplant
The yuxiang eggplant rice bowl looked a bit different from what I pictured as an eggplant rice bowl, but maybe that's what they call it in Taiwan?? The eggplant was fried so perfectly that if you didn't tell me it was eggplant, I wouldn't have known from the flavor or texture.
And that distinct sauce flavor genuinely made me feel like I was abroad. It's a bit of a unique taste, so I'd recommend trying it at least once!!! It was so good piled on white rice.
Guobaorou at Cheonghwawon: crisp outside, tender inside, leftovers boxed up
It had been a while since I had Cheonghwawon's guobaorou too, and it had also been a while since I'd had guobaorou fried this well and this tasty! It's the very embodiment of crisp-outside, tender-inside. Maybe it's because they fry it with potato starch? It was genuinely crispier and nuttier than usual.
Both of us ate the guobaorou so, so happily, and I want to eat it again already... We had some guobaorou left over so we boxed it up, and my husband ate it all as a late-night snack, haha. Next time I want to come back and try the tiger stir-fry with the curious name, or the crystal moon dumplings, or some dim sum ❤️
Where it is
36 Daemyeong-gil, 1st and 2nd floors, Jongno-gu, Seoul, South Korea서울특별시 종로구 대명길 36 1층, 2층 청화원 대학로점
