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#479 Ojang-dong Heungnamjip / 오장동흥남집 @ Ojang-dong’s Hamheung Naengmyeon Alley / 오장동함흥냉면골목, Seoul / 서울시

Posted by swisscheese on September 19, 2017 in hoe bibim naengmyeon, naengmyeon, north korean cuisine, seoul, video |

Since the weather was very unforgiving and I was on my very own solo trip to Seoul two Sundays ago, I decided to try a new dish that I have never tried at Seoul previously and the type of food that will be able to cool me down. This dish is none other than Bibim Naengmyeon! It is known that all the good restaurants that serve naengmyeon dishes can be found at the Ojang-dong Hamheung Naengmyeon Alley / 오장동함흥냉면골목.

Ojang-dong Heungnamjip / 오장동흥남집
Seoul, Jung-gu, Ojang-dong 101-7 / 서울특별시 중구 오장동 101-7
+82 2-2266-0735


Naengmyeon is actually a North Korean dish and apparently, there are two types of naengmyeon. I have actually tried Mul Naengmyeon / 물냉면 twice. The first time was at one of the Korean restaurants at International Plaza in Singapore but as I was wearing braces at that time, it was so difficult for me to consume such chewy and never-ending long buckwheat noodles from the beef broth that was icy cold. The other time was just a small portion of it that we had at a BBQ joint in Gangnam during spring this year. The reason why I only took a couple of bites of this dish was because the weather was quite cold in April and the chunks of ice will only make you colder. Thus, I did not have a complete experience eating Mul Naengmyeon, which is the cold noodles that originates from the capital of North Korea, Pyeongyang.


I have no idea why people are telling me that Seoul was so cold back in early September but it ended being so hot and humid. I was contemplating on the dishes to try on my own and naengmyeon came to mind due to the weather. When I arrived at Seoul on Sunday afternoon, I did some research at night on the restaurant that serves the best naengmyeon. I wanted to try the mul naengmyeon once again but I did not know that there are two types of naengmyeon and ended up heading to Ojang-dong Heungnamjip / 오장동흥남집, which serves the best bibim naengmyeon / 비빔냉면, also known as hamheung naengmyeon / 함흥냉면 since it originates from the second largest city in North Korea, Hamheung.

 Ojang-dong Heungnamjip / 오장동흥남집 opened when the Korean War ended in 1953. I believe naengmyeon was introduced when North Korea invaded South Korea during the Korean War. So if you look at the restaurant closely, you will see that it is quite old school with one area having proper tables and chairs and another area, whereby you have to remove your shoes and sit on the floor and consume the food in Korean and Japanese style. I was expecting to see many tourists since this restaurant is highly raved in blogs but 99.99% of the customers are local and all the servers are unable to speak English. I was so glad to be in this scenario since I love it when I head to an authentic restaurant. Knowing that I am unable to speak Korean, the lady who was serving me provided me with the menu that have pictures and descriptions of each dish. I just showed her the picture in the website recommended by a food blogger. She then pointed out that the dish is Hoe Bibim Naengmyeon /회비빔냉면 and ordered for me right away.

As seen in the video above, another server helped me to cut the noodles when I was served with the dish as the noodles are even more chewier than the mul naengmyeon since it is made from either potatoes or sweet potatoes. She also taught me to add the soy sauce / 왜간장, Korean mustard called geoja / 겨자 and vinegar / 식초 to my dish before mixing the pear, julienned cucumbers, radish, raw skate with gochujang sauce and cold noodles together. I usually enjoy having my eggs last or in between the beginning and ending of my meal. I found the naengmyeon so gratifying since I have never had a full experience of it before. Although it was too much for me, I ended up finishing the dish because it was just that good! I have no idea how some people can even order more noodles for their meal when there were a lot of noodles in one serving already. This got me stunned for a bit but oh well! Oh and I thought they were serving the naengmyeon with hot tea but it ended up being hot soup so that’s a nice surprise to warm the stomach with something hot before consuming the cold meal filled with spices.

Opens daily from 11:00am to 9:00pm
Nearest Station: Exit 8 from Euljiro 4-ga via Line 2 & 5

As it was a hot day outside and I was going on my solo hike to Yongmasan Mountain, this dish kept me cool for awhile and full for my entire hike. I am looking forward to try the best mul naengmyeon at Seoul in my next trip!

*swisscheese

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