Yongin kalguksu with a 3-minute tableside hourglass: Baekcheongu

The video probably already got you, right?! Haha, ladies and gentlemen 😎 Do you all like kalguksu (knife-cut noodle soup)?! Whenever the weather starts cooling down like this, I start craving hot broth and noodles, haha. This time I went to 'Baekcheongu Kalguksu Yongin Dongbaek Branch,' a place in Dongbaek, Yongin, that feels like it's been around forever. Most of all, the owner was so kind to me when I visited that I left in a great mood ☺️

Parking and what Baekcheongu Kalguksu Yongin Dongbaek Branch looks like

You can park behind the building at Baekcheongu Kalguksu Yongin Dongbaek Branch! 🚗 That said, the parking space isn't huge, and it felt a bit tight when I visited 🥹 If you're going at a busy time, I'd recommend checking nearby parking lots ahead of time just in case ✨

The big Baekcheongu Kalguksu sign made the place easy to spot as soon as I arrived! Doesn't the exterior already give off that vibe of a kalguksu spot that's been run in the neighborhood for a long time, haha?

Outside, there were also big photos of the seafood kalguksu and mandu jeongol posted up! First-time visitors can check out what the dishes look like before even going in 👀

Shoes off at the door: how big is the inside?

The entrance you see right as you walk in! At the Dongbaek branch of Baekcheongu Kalguksu, you take off your shoes and switch into slippers. There's also a long shoehorn and tongs set up on one side of the entrance for putting shoes back on. That seemed like it would genuinely come in handy if you're visiting with elderly family members 🙌🏻

Once you're inside, the interior is more spacious than I expected 👀 The tables are arranged in long rows and the whole place felt clean, and the big windows meant it never felt cramped, haha. If you look closely at the photo, you'll also notice a baby chair set up!

Three people, two servings of seafood kalguksu — the owner's advice

Before you read on! There were 3 of us, but we ordered 2 servings of seafood kalguksu + half-and-half steamed mandu 🙌🏻

I'm a light eater myself...>//< Even though all three of us were light eaters, the owner told us that ordering just 2 servings of kalguksu would be plenty! I was genuinely touched by that kindness...🥹 Taking the chance from this post to say a real thank-you, owner ㅠㅠ🙏🏻♥️

Now!!! Time to check out the most important part, the menu?! 😎 I zoomed in so it's easy for everyone to read. Please refer to the photo below for prices, haha. I personally loved that the mandu came as half kimchi, half meat, haha. (For reference, they mentioned all menu items are available for takeout too 🙌🏻)

They also sell kongguksu (chilled soybean noodle soup) and bibim guksu (spicy mixed noodles), so you can pick according to your taste 🙌🏻

If you're looking for kongguksu in Yongin or Dongbaek, this is worth keeping in mind for summer too 🙌🏻

Side dishes: barley rice you mix with kimchi and bean sprouts

The basic side dishes at the Dongbaek branch of Baekcheongu Kalguksu were napa cabbage kimchi, yeolmu kimchi, and bean sprouts! Barley rice came standard too, and it turns out you're meant to mix it with the yeolmu and bean sprouts into a kind of bibimbap 😳 Plain rice alone sometimes isn't quite enough, so a place that serves it as bibimbap instead — I loved that so much! 🤩

So this is what the full table setting looks like. At first the pot comes out with the lid still on, and you boil it yourself right at the table! The weather was sooooo nice on the day I went, so even the scene of waiting for the kalguksu looked lovely 🌿💚

While enjoying the view, I mixed in the yeolmu kimchi, bean sprouts, and seasoning sauce and gave it all a good stir, haha

Once I added the sesame oil, it got so glossy and delicious-looking... you really have to see the video to feel how vivid and tasty it looked!!

Boiling the seafood kalguksu tableside with a 3-minute hourglass

Finally, the seafood kalguksu arrives 🙌🏻 Seeing the ingredients laid out separately, I was like, ohh... impressed! 🤩 Shrimp, what looked like baby octopus, along with shellfish, zucchini, and other vegetables were all arranged together! The kalguksu noodles in particular looked pretty generous in portion too 😎

Now it's time to pour all the seafood kalguksu ingredients into the broth and let it bubble away! The way it all goes in is a work of art 🤩

Once the noodles, seafood, and vegetables all went in together, the pot filled up fast, right? Hahaha. When you're craving hot kalguksu, boiling it fresh right at the table like this means you get to eat it even warmer — I think that's such a great point 🙌🏻 The owner poured in the ingredients and stirred it for us, so much care put into it 🥰

After stirring the kalguksu well, the owner flipped the hourglass and told us to eat after 3 minutes. It made checking the boiling time really easy ⏳ (there's one 3-minute hourglass per table, haha)

Half-and-half steamed mandu: kimchi or meat, told apart by wrapper color

And then the mandu (dumplings) we'd ordered together showed up too 🙌🏻 I got the half kimchi, half meat combo! You can tell from the photo alone that the mandu are pretty large-sized, right?! 😳 Total king-sized mandu... The kimchi mandu had a reddish wrapper and the meat mandu a greenish one, so they were easy to tell apart, and so glossy too... 👍🏻

Wide hand-cut noodles and a clean, refreshing broth

Meanwhile, the seafood kalguksu was done too ✨ With shrimp and shellfish mixed in along with vegetables and the noodles all coming together, even at 2 servings the pot looked really generous! In particular, since the noodles weren't perfectly uniform but wide and irregular like hand-cut noodles, it looked like real kalguksu from the very first glance 🙌🏻

And here's the finished seafood kalguksu ✨ The visuals were seriously insane!!!! ㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠ If you watch the video too... you're really going to want to go, haha ㅋㅋㅋ

I scooped some into my own plate to try! I genuinely love these bumpy, uneven hand-cut noodles 🤤♥️ The noodles were thick yet chewy, so there was real texture to bite into, and they were great together with the clams! Especially with the seafood in there, the broth was refreshing and clean, haha. If eating just kalguksu feels a little lacking, the mandu makes a great side to pair with it, and the combination worked well 🙌🏻

And you all remember that barley rice from earlier, right? Haha, it was great for waking up the appetite before the kalguksu, and it also went well eaten alongside it throughout the meal 👍🏻

Pick up a chopstick-full of noodles and the thick, wide shape really catches your eye, haha. Scooping up the seafood and noodles together, one bowl alone was pretty filling!

And finishing it off by mixing in the rice at the end... showing that I really am a big eater today!! ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ

Now I was so full... after finishing everything, I glanced outside and the view was... today was a day when everything just felt right... 💚

Still feeling like it wasn't quite enough, I packed another round of half-and-half mandu to take home, haha. Opened it up at home and it was still so moist~~ hahaha

The park right next to the walk to the parking lot

Remember how I said the weather was amazing? So on the way to the parking lot... there was a park right next to it?!! Wow... genuinely the best 🤩

Is Baekcheongu Kalguksu Yongin Dongbaek Branch worth a visit?

• The owner and staff were incredibly kind 🥰
• A place where 3 people can order just 2 servings and still be fine!
• Generously loaded with noodles and seafood!
• The combo of barley bibimbap and seafood kalguksu 👍🏻
• There's even a park nearby for a post-meal walk..😭💚

I genuinely wondered why I hadn't gone sooner, it was that good. It's been a while since I left a meal feeling this satisfyingly full...😋 You could easily feast here from breakfast onward...👍🏻 Definitely coming back 💯 With the weather getting chillier now, why not give it a try yourselves, haha? Did today's post make you crave kalguksu too?!? If so, mission accomplished today ✨✨✨