Rainy-day pufferfish kalguksu near Korean Folk Village: Yubok Kalguksu

It was bright out today but it kept raining. Even in hot summer, don't you want something warm on a rainy day? Especially soup! So I went looking near Korean Folk Village and found this Yongin kalguksu place — Yubok Kalguksu!

✔️ Name: Yubok Kalguksu Korean Folk Village Branch / ✔️ Address: 24 Minsokchon-ro, 1st floor, Giheung-gu, Yongin-si, Gyeonggi-do / 🕒 Hours: 11:00-22:00 / 🚗 Parking: in front of the restaurant / 🎟 Reservations needed: No / 👶 With kids: baby chair available / 📝 One-line tip: special broth, domestic kimchi!

Atmosphere and going with kids

Let me show you the inside of Yubok Kalguksu. The restaurant is divided into two main spaces. The atmosphere is pretty relaxed so it seems good for family visits — there's a baby chair, and the restroom is inside too, so it's really good-good-good for visiting with kids.

Menu and ordering

Here's the menu at Yubok Kalguksu. Kalguksu and jjukkumi (webfoot octopus) are the main items. I ordered two servings of pufferfish seafood kalguksu and also the jjukkumi seafood chive pancake. I heard the jjukkumi dishes are good too, but I'd had jjukkumi recently, so I'll try that on my next visit!

What makes pufferfish broth different?

The broth at Yubok Kalguksu has a different kind of refreshing quality. That's because it's made by simmering wild pufferfish, which is good for you, for a long time. They say the flavor comes purely from seafood, no seasoning added! I actually learned about pufferfish's benefits for the first time today—

• High-protein, low-fat diet benefits
• Fatigue relief and function improvement
• Antioxidant effects and stronger immunity
• Better blood circulation and skin health
• Better blood health, lower risk of arteriosclerosis
• Even keeps bones and teeth healthy

At this point, is there anything it doesn't do? (hahahahaha)

Each table has spicy pepper and pepper soy sauce set up like this! You can't leave out the black pepper with kalguksu!

Self-serve bar and basic side dishes

What I really liked about Yubok Kalguksu was the self-serve bar, which was kept spotless. Not long ago the whole country was shocked by news about how some Chinese kimchi is made, so seeing a sign saying this was homemade domestic kimchi and side dishes really put my mind at ease before eating!

There were two basic side dishes: a mild, tangy radish salad and a sweet fresh kimchi. The radish salad wasn't spicy — there were flecks of chili powder visible, but the flavor was really just tangy, so I think even kids could eat it. I might bring our Nini along next time and let her try it.

Pufferfish seafood kalguksu: the 3-minute hourglass boil

Clams, sea squirts, tunicates, oysters, mushrooms and zucchini came out first. They told us to wait until the broth was at a rolling boil before adding everything—!

Once the broth was boiling hard, I added the seafood and vegetables, then the noodles, flipped the hourglass on the table, and waited 3 minutes! Watching the pretty sand fall, it went by in no time.

Outside it was raining, the kalguksu was bubbling away, and I was so hungry I just wanted it to hurry up and boil!

Jjukkumi seafood chive pancake, ₩13,000

The jjukkumi seafood chive pancake arrived while the kalguksu was still boiling! It costs ₩13,000. It's mostly jjukkumi and shrimp — the shrimp seemed to be dried shrimp, which made the texture even crispier. Nini's dad said he liked the pancake even more than the kalguksu! Definitely try it together at least once.

You dip the jjukkumi seafood chive pancake in soy sauce like this — since I like spicy flavors, I tried adding extra chili powder from the table. There's less flour and more chives, so the sweetness of the chives actually comes through more!

So how did the finished kalguksu taste?

Bubble, bubble— wow, the kalguksu had cooked up nicely. Nini's dad and I like our noodles cooked a bit softer, so we let it boil longer than the hourglass suggested. Picking out the clams, oysters, and popping tunicates was so fun with this pufferfish kalguksu! The portion was more generous than expected too, so it made for a really filling meal.

The noodles were nice and chewy, and above all the pufferfish broth was incredibly tasty. The soup was so refreshing it would probably make a great hangover cure too!

On the way out I noticed a fridge selling the broth to take home! They say it's like a cool, gentle tonic-broth made from pufferfish! It'd probably be great as a shabu-shabu broth too! Oh, and the staff were so kind and welcoming that I felt good the whole meal.