Insa-dong buckwheat pancake dinner at makguksu restaurant Goshine

I had dinner plans near Insa-dong, so I went to Goshine Donghae Makguksu Jongno branch, a Korean restaurant near Anguk Station worth trying. If you're looking for something different in the Anguk Station or Insa-dong area, this place is worth a stop.

Where is Goshine Donghae Makguksu in Insa-dong? 5 minutes from Anguk Station, beside Ssamziegil

It's on the Culture Street across from the Seoul Museum of Craft Art, and it's the very first shop in the alley right next to Ssamziegil, so it wasn't hard to find at all. It's about a 3-minute walk from Jogyesa Temple and about 5 minutes from Anguk Station, so it's also convenient to reach by public transportation.

Goshine Donghae Makguksu has apparently been run for two generations in front of Gangmun Beach in Gangneung, where you can see the sea. I was curious that this same Goshine Donghae Makguksu had opened its first directly-run branch here in Insa-dong's Culture Street in Jongno, Seoul, and the restaurant sits in an elegant hanok building that really matches the Insa-dong atmosphere. There was a reason it's known as a great Korean restaurant near Anguk Station.

The interior is also decorated in a hanok style, so it felt a bit different from a typical makguksu place.

Menu and self-serve banchan bar at Goshine: one-person and two-person sets

As a place specializing in Gangwon-do buckwheat food, Goshine Donghae Makguksu Jongno branch had a wide variety of menu items. They make their makguksu (buckwheat noodles) with fresh noodles pulled to order, and the menu includes their own buckwheat gimbap, perilla seed soft tofu, Gangwon-do kkamakjang bossam, Yangyang perilla oil makguksu, and chodang soft tofu makguksu, all using local Gangwon-do ingredients. There's a 1-person set for solo diners and a 2-person set that's great for couples or two people dining together, which made choosing easy.

Various side dishes are available at the self-serve bar.

Every table is stocked with mustard sauce, sugar, vinegar, and more.

They basically give you cold broth, yeolmu kimchi (young radish kimchi), and pickled radish as a matter of course!

What comes in the two-person set: mul and bibim makguksu plus half-and-half buckwheat pancakes

That day we ordered the 2-person set, which let us try the noodles and the bossam together. For the makguksu, we picked one bowl of water makguksu and one of spicy mixed makguksu, and added a half-and-half buckwheat pancake as a side. Being able to taste several menu items at once made this a great choice for two people.

How does the mul-makguksu taste?

The water makguksu had a broth made with deeply steeped kelp and a soy sauce base, given a tangy-sweet touch with the restaurant's secret recipe. Rather than an overly strong seasoning, the broth was clean yet full of savory depth, and the noodles — pulled fresh right after ordering — had great texture too. Eating the cool broth together with the buckwheat noodles made for a light, easygoing dinner.

Bibim-makguksu made with pollock sikhae

The spicy mixed makguksu had a completely different charm from the water version. It's made with Goshine's own recipe for Gangwon-do pollock jeotgal (fermented pollock) and a seasoning sauce finished with perilla oil. The tangy-sweet sauce combined with the nutty aroma of perilla oil really woke up my appetite.

With the pollock jeotgal mixed in, each bite had extra texture, and the overall flavor felt a bit deeper than a typical spicy mixed makguksu.

Suyuk (boiled pork) with kkamakjang sauce

The bossam (boiled pork slices) exceeded expectations too. The pork belly is apparently simmered slowly with traditional Gangwon-do kkamakjang and 15 other ingredients, and it came out with no gamey smell, tender yet nicely chewy.

Eating it together with the makguksu, the clean-tasting bossam paired so well with the tangy noodles that I kept reaching for more, haha.

Gondre and kimchi buckwheat pancakes, half and half

We ordered the buckwheat pancakes half gondre and half kimchi. The gondre buckwheat pancake had meat and gondre (Korean thistle) greens inside, and I loved the crispy-outside, moist-inside texture.

The kimchi buckwheat pancake was packed with kimchi filling, giving it a slightly spicier and cleaner flavor. Being able to try one of each made it easy for two people to share.

A good dinner for two at Goshine, with a private room for groups

Overall, being able to enjoy not just makguksu but also bossam and pancakes together made for a pretty filling meal. Eating Gangwon-do style buckwheat food in the middle of an Insa-dong hanok atmosphere felt quite different from the makguksu places I usually go to. They also said groups of 10 or more can reserve a private room, so it seems like a good spot for gatherings too.

From freshly pulled handmade buckwheat noodles to Gangwon-do pollock jeotgal and kkamakjang bossam, it was a great dinner to sample a variety of Gangwon-do local flavors, haha. Recommended as a Korean restaurant near Anguk Station!