Cold buckwheat noodles, rice cake soup and blood sausages are just some of the North Korean dishes that have become popular in South Korea.Today there are dozens of restaurants in Seoul specializing in North Korean cuisine. These restaurants are often run by North Korean descendents or defectors and feature the cities Pyongyang and Kaesong in their names.
If you are relatively new to North Korean cuisine and are unsure of where to start, head to Ryugyeongok (02-711-0797) in Gongdeok-dong, Mapo District, northwestern Seoul.
The restaurant is run by a group of North Korean defectors. The name Ryugyeong is a nickname for Pyongyang and is said to be related to the large number of willow trees in the city.
The best thing about the restaurant is that it sells all of the key North Korean regional specialties, ranging from naengmyeon (cold buckwheat noodles) and onmyeon (warm noodles) to myeongtaehoe (pollack sushi), manduguk (dumpling soup) and sikhye (a sweet rice drink).
In particular, pollack is used a lot in North Korean cuisine, as it is quite common in the country.
The saying, “One thing more common in North Korea than women is pollack,” is a sure reflection of this.
Ahn Hye-sook, the restaurant’s cook, offered some advice on eating the noodles.
“The best way to enjoy North Korean naengmyeon is to eat it without cutting the noodles,” Ahn said.
Before defecting to South Korea, Ahn had sold naengmyeon in Hamheung, which is the birthplace of Hamheung naengmyeon.
Hamheung naengmyeon, which is made of potato starch, is just as famous in the South as Pyongyang naengmyeon, which is made of buckwheat flour.
In fact, people say that when you ask North Korean defectors what they miss the most from their home country, they say, “My mother and Pyongyang naengmyeon.”
The best place to go for Pyongyang naengmyeon is Pyongyangmyeonok (02-2267-7784) in Jangchung-dong, Jung District, central Seoul.
The owner is Byeon Jeong-sook, and her daughter now runs a branch of the restaurant in Bundang, Gyeonggi.
There is another restaurant of the same name located in Uijeongbu, Gyeonggi (031-877-2282).
There, too, the owner’s daughters now run two other famous North Korean naengmyeon restaurants in Pil-dong, also in Jung District, called Pildongmyeonok and Euljimyeonok.
For a taste of tteokguk (rice cake soup) and mandu (dumplings), Kaesong Dumpling Gung (02-733-9240) in Insa-dong, Jongno District, central Seoul, and Kaesongjip (02-923-6779) in Yongdu-dong, Dongdaemun District, central Seoul, are quite famous.
If you have a sweet tooth, you can sample Kaesong-style cookies and rice cakes at Chrysanthemum Next to Wall (02-517-1157) in the French quarter in Banpo-dong in Seocho District, southern Seoul. The cafe has no association with North Korean descendents or defectors.
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