Korean restaurant with high chairs in Siksa-dong, Goyang: Arirang

Today I'm sharing a warm, hearty meal I had with my mom and my 26-month-old daughter haha. The weather's been getting cooler lately and I kept craving a hot, filling soup dish! So we headed to the famous, wildly popular restaurant in Siksa-dong, Goyang — Arirang Gaeseong Son Mandu Siksa Branch!

Parking and the room at Arirang: what a family with a baby checks first

Arirang Gaeseong Son Mandu Siksa Branch has plenty of parking and a fairly spacious dining room. We showed up close to dinnertime and the place was already packed with customers! It's clearly a well-known local favorite — families and all sorts of groups kept coming in.

Parking is always a headache when you're out with a baby, but this place had plenty of spots, so we parked comfortably and walked right in. Great first impression 👍🏻

Half kimchi, half meat dumpling hot pot: what arrives at the table

We ordered the restaurant's signature dish, mandu jeongol (dumpling hot pot) 😎 Since we wanted to try both kimchi mandu and meat mandu, we went with the half-and-half option!

The hot pot composition here is really generous! Per serving you get 3 dumplings cooked right in the pot, plus 1 steamed dumpling served separately. On top of that, the pot comes with kalguksu (knife-cut noodles), the real star of any jeongol, so it ends up being a very filling meal 😆

When the hot pot arrived I was shocked by the sheer size of the dumplings..!! They were seriously huge!!

It looked like they hand-make the dumplings fresh in-store every day — the moment I bit in, the filling and the juiciness were on another level 👍🏻

How the 26-month-old and grandma took to the dumplings

The meat mandu in particular had zero gamey smell and was really clean-tasting, so it was great for the baby too!! haha

The kimchi mandu was also spicy in a clean, not-overwhelming way, and my mom kept saying how good it was ♥️ You could really taste that they use only well-chosen ingredients and put in real effort.

Arirang's self-serve banchan bar and fresh geotjeori kimchi

At Arirang Gaeseong Son Mandu Siksa Branch, you can help yourself to as much banchan (side dishes) as you want from the self-serve bar (just note kimchi has to be requested separately haha). The kimchi especially was amazing! It seemed house-made, super fresh and crunchy, geotjeori-style, and it paired incredibly well with the hot pot broth and the noodles 💚

Review event freebies and takeout at Arirang

By the way, if you visit, definitely check out the review event! Leave a review and you get 6 gulrim mandu (rolled dumplings) or 2 fried dumplings on the house. Pairing those golden fried dumplings or the round, clean-tasting gulrim mandu with your meal makes it even more satisfying! (We were already too full to join, sadly... no room left in the tank haha)

And if you finish your meal and think of family waiting at home, or need food for camping or a housewarming, takeout is available too! Loads of people were ordering to go, haha.

By the way, high chairs are ready to go too ^^

Is Arirang in Siksa-dong worth it for three people?

Mom, me, and the baby all left full and satisfied at Arirang Gaeseong Son Mandu Siksa Branch! Deep, clean broth, fist-sized dumplings, and finishing off with the kalguksu noodles — a full course that warmed us right up, haha. If you're near Siksa-dong looking for a hearty, carefully made Korean meal, I highly recommend giving this place a try!