K-alliance restaurant review: PyeongRaeOk - Feeding customers in Seoul since 1950

Myeongdong sure is a great area to do shopping, meet friends and enjoy the fast-paced bustling life of central Seoul. However, the flipside is that shopping especially takes its toll on your legs, and soon you will find yourself both fatigued, weary and with a rumbling stomach craving for some delicious Korean food. Fear not, for refuge can be found about 200m behind the towering Myeongdong Cathedral, close to Euljiro 3-ga station on the green subway line 2.

Restaurant 평래옥 (PyeongRaeOk) is famous all over Seoul for its Naengmyeon and Chogyetang, and has been keeping its doors open for hungry customers since 1950! Naengmyeon essentially is a bowl of long, thin, handmade cold noodles served in a cold, icy broth made usually from beef or chicken. Added to the dish are julienned cucumbers, sliced Korean pears, a boiled egg and sometimes chicken meat, beef and/or lettuce or other salad leaves. The customer is presented with vinegar and mustard which is added to liking to the broth.

Now, this is all basic and can be found pretty much anywhere in Seoul, but restaurant PyeongRaeOk’s uniqueness shines through in its Chogyetang. This dish is very similar to naengmyeon but requires at least two people to be ordered and is served in a big glass bowl with separate individual plates. The broth here is made of chicken and does not have any ice in it, and is thus only mildly cold and very enjoyable even in the coldest winter day. As a matter of fact I visited the restaurant in the middle of February and both floors were full of customers, so I can only begin to imagine how packed it might be in summer when hordes of people might come looking for a cool oasis in the middle of Seoul. Chogyetang is served in a bowl brimful with meat, which I suspect to be hen meat since it is a bit more chewy and dark than regular boiled chicken. This goes great with the rest of the ingredients which are a bit softer, so the meat has a welcome chewy texture.

As you can see the side dishes are sparse but ever so delicious. First of all we were presented with a plate of watery radish which was not spicy at all but perfectly salted. The other side dish is almost too amazing to be called merely a side dish. The plate is overloaded with chicken meat in a spicy but sweet paste which goes marvelously well if you eat it together with the tangy and salty Chogyetang broth. As you can see in the picture the table is prepared with all your regular utensils with an addition of mustard and vinegar so that you can adjust the taste of the broth according to your own taste.

Before your order is served you get two metal cups of steaming hot soup which is perfect on a cold day. Should you require drinking water you need tell the waitress separately to get it, since they only serve the hot soup before the meal. The staff was generally nice to us and worked in an efficient manner and refilled the cups of hot soup twice without needing to ask for it. Upon order they also asked if the chefs should add vinegar and/or mustard to the broth or if the customer wants to do that all by themselves.

The layout and atmosphere is good and it looks to be a very clean place. The customer has visibility into the kitchen and the transparency guarantees a clean cooking environment since the chefs have the customers’ eyes on them but might be a bit irritating for the customer who is troubled by seeing the chefs work in a fast pace. PyeongRaeOk consists of two floors where the second floor is made up of several separate rooms which is perfect if you go in a big or small group. Downstairs is where the kitchen and cash register is and the first floor also hosts several tables for groups smaller than four people and has visibility out on the street.

 

As you can see the menu hosts a number of dishes but the waitress said that Chogyetang is what they are most famous for. Other popular dishes seemed to be the regular naengmyeon and yukgyejang (spicy soup-like dish with beef). So do not hesitate for even a second and make sure to try this guaranteed culinary hit as soon as humanly possible!

 

PyeongRaeOk is open daily from 11:20AM (sic!) to 10pm.

Telephone number: +82 2-2267-5892

Address: 

평래옥

중구 저동2가 18-1, Seoul, South Korea 

PyeongRaeOk

Jung-gu, Jeo-dong 2-ga 18-1, Seoul, South Korea

Directions:

The easiest way is out from Exit #11 of Euljiro 1-ga station on the green subway line 2. Walk up on Supyo-ro until the big intersection with Mareunnae-ro where you will find the restaurant some 20 meters to your left.

Full menu: (Prices as of Feb 2013 in Won per person)

초계탕 11,000 Chogyetang

닭무침 17,000 Dalk (Chicken) muchim

제육 12,000 Jeyuk

녹두지짐 9,000 Nokdujijim

찐만두 7,000 Jjinmanduu

김치만두전골 8,000 Kimchimanduujeongol

소주 4,000 Soju

맥주 4,000 Beer (Maekju)

백세주 7,000 Baekseju

청하 4,000 Cheongha

음료 1,000 Eumryo (Soft drink)

막걸리 3,000 Maekgolli

냉면 8,000 Naengmyeon

비빔냉면 8,000 Bibimnaengmyeon (spicy naengmyeon)

온면 8,000 Onmyeon

육개장 7,000 Yukgaetang

떡/만두국 7,000 Ddeok/Manduuguk (Rice cake soup or Dumpling soup)

장국밥 7,000 Janggukbab

사리 4,000 Sari

공기밥 1,000 Konggibap (rice)

평양식 쟁반 대 55,000/소 33,000 Pyeongyangshik (Pyeongyang style) Jaengban Big/small

등심불고기 13,000 Deungshim Bulgogi (Upper part of sirloin)

한우불고기 22,000 Hanu Bulgogi

Gifts from Korean Food Foundation!

The Korea Food Foundation presented us K-alliance supporters with a New Year’s gift which is bound to entice us all to cook more Korean food at home. A book with an accompanying apron sewn with the most delicate fabric which reminds me of a hanbok awaited us in the mailbox one fine day. I am most grateful to the Korea Food Foundation for this gift and will certainly put the apron to good use and fill it with red chili sauce and other Korean food stains J

닭한마리 Chicken soup place

Korea loves its chicken, whether it be grilled, deep fried or boiled. They serve it in a lot of different varieties, but one of the most social things you can have (except for the beloved “Chicken and Beer!”) is a soup which contains whole chickens. It is served in the middle of the table in a huge bowl and eaten with a chili/soy/vinegar-sauce that adds a whole lot of taste. The soup is made of chicken and broth, and while boiling you dump a whole lot of garlic paste which adds a marvelous flavor (maybe not the best food for Valentine’s Day…but good food is always good food!)

Dongdaemun is famous for a lot of things. Clothes shopping, cheap and bustling markets, the area with Russian and Mongolian restaurants and shops etc. etc. But it is also famous for the little alley area where these chicken soup places stand shoulder to shoulder. Go out through Exit 9 of Dongdaemun Stn, walk westward down Jong-no to Jong-no-40-gil (종로40길), turn left once and then take at the first alley and you’ll soon see something that might look like a mirage och chicken soup restaurants. Most of them are bound to be full during dinner time but it is well worth the wait. Just be careful not to burn your tongue on the boiling soup, and even though it’s hard, just keep a cool head and wait for the food to cool down a bit. These restaurants are often frequented by many tourists from China and Japan who apparently know where the real deal is.

Black tofu soup

The prices in some of the restaurants around Shinsa-station, with its location just next to fancy Apgujeon, might scare you. But look no further, even posh areas in Korea always have some local choices that you can eat for a reasonable price.

This week’s review falls upon a place called 백세흑두부 (BaekSe HeukDuBu) specializing in “black tofu” like its name reveals. Together with the black tofu, which is supposed to be healthier than its white sibling, they serve a choice of duck meat, bossam etc. We chose something less focused on meat but instead brimful with ingredients, namely the dish 두부전골 (Dubu Jeongol) which basically is a big stew containing for example tofu, sesame leaves, mushroom, bean sprouts, celery and small shrimps added as broth taste enhancer.

This whole dish, filling on its own, came with huge side dishes of different vegetables and a miniature version of bibimbap with rice, chili paste and a few vegetables. This dish is a refreshing change to other restaurants that might focus on meat a bit excessively. Here you can instead to your heart’s content, all the time knowing that the more you eat the healthier you actually are!