Weekday-only beef shabu-shabu ₩11,000 in Pyeongtaek: Songdam Kalguksu

Today I visited Songdam Kalguksu, a famous restaurant in Anjung, Pyeongtaek. It's well known as a top kalguksu (knife-cut noodle soup) spot in Anjung, so I went in with high expectations.

Location and atmosphere at Songdam Kalguksu

If you go straight in from Suksudae on the left, you'll find Songdam Kalguksu. The place marked "Songdamjeong" is Songdam Kalguksu.

The restaurant is spacious with plenty of seating, so it's great for group gatherings too. The tables are spaced quite far apart, and even with a lot of customers, it never felt loud or chaotic thanks to the size of the place.

Menu board — hot pot kalguksu and weekday shabu-shabu

The signature menu includes hot pot kalguksu dishes: fresh clam hot pot kalguksu, beef hot pot kalguksu, vegetable hot pot kalguksu, and meatball dumpling hot pot kalguksu.

There's also a shabu-shabu menu available on weekdays only — fresh clam shabu-shabu, beef shabu-shabu, and octopus shabu-shabu, all of which include kalguksu noodles.

They also serve red bean kalguksu, red bean ongsimi (rice dumpling soup), and kongguksu (cold soybean noodle soup). There's a wide range of add-ons too, like extra clams, meat, or octopus.

Today's order

• Beef shabu-shabu — ₩11,000
• Extra beef — ₩7,000

At the self-serve corner, you can help yourself to extra kimchi, garlic, cheongyang chili peppers, and broth.

You order through the table order system, and every dish comes with barley rice and corn bread included. The kalguksu noodles are handmade chive noodles.

All the kalguksu menus can be mixed and matched. Enjoying seafood and beef together makes for an even richer flavor.

The beef shabu-shabu spread for two

Ordering the beef shabu-shabu for two brought out a hearty spread: homemade sanghwang mushroom broth, beef, meatball dumplings, vegetables, yeolmu (young radish) kimchi, geotjeori (fresh cabbage kimchi), corn rice wine bread, kalguksu noodles, and barley rice — an incredibly generous table.

First, yeolmu bibimbap

I made yeolmu bibimbap by mixing the young radish kimchi with gochujang (red chili paste). The savory, spicy smell hit my nose right away.

The crunchy yeolmu kimchi paired really well with the spicy gochujang — a nice light bite before diving into the shabu-shabu.

Starting with vegetables in the sanghwang mushroom broth

I put the vegetables into the homemade sanghwang mushroom broth first and let it boil. There was a great variety — mushrooms, napa cabbage, bok choy, and white wood ear mushrooms.

Once it had boiled for a while, I added the beef, along with the meatball dumplings.

Once the meat was cooked, I ate it together with the vegetables. There wasn't a hint of gamey smell, and the broth was so clean and delicious.

The beef was tender and delicious, and it paired really well when dipped in the sauce.

The meatball dumplings were packed full inside, and they were great dipped in the sauce as a side.

The beef was so good that we added more. We put in extra meat and kept eating!

Finishing with handmade chive kalguksu

We finished off with the handmade chive kalguksu noodles. They really lived up to being handmade — so chewy. Adding the noodles to the beef-infused broth made for a rich, satisfying finish.

Just so you know, they also sell puffed rice snacks, yeot (Korean taffy), corn bread, and kongguksu broth separately if you want to buy some to take home!

To finish, you can even have a coffee. They had americano too, which was such a nice touch!

Overall thoughts

• A top restaurant in Anjung, Pyeongtaek
• A top kalguksu spot in Anjung
• A wide variety of kalguksu dishes
• Certified as a good-price restaurant
• Kalguksu you eat dipped in sanghwang mushroom broth

Songdam Kalguksu business info

• Address: 129 Gangbyeon-ro, Anjung-eup, Pyeongtaek-si, Gyeonggi-do, South Korea
• Hours: Tue–Sun 09:00–21:00, last order 20:10
• Closed: Every Monday
• Parking: Available in front of the restaurant

You can park right in front of the restaurant, and the parking area is spacious, so it was easy and convenient.