Sinchon area in Seoul is definitely food heaven for those who like to eat. Not only do they have a wide variety of food stores, the prices are also relatively affordable as it is a university area. Sadly it isn’t a very popular place where many people go to if they are visiting Seoul. Having lived in the area for the whole semester while I was in Yonsei, here are (some of) my favourite places to eat in Sinchon that you can try out if you are in town.

Jinwonjo Dakhanmari 진원조닭한마리

If you ever crave for a taste of home, go to this restaurant to satisfy your craving. They sell only one dish – chicken soup. Sounds really plain but trust me, it’s very tasty. When you come, you’ll just need to tell them how many portions of soup you want to order and if you want any add-ons in the soup.

My friends and I normally order 3인분 (3 people portion) and 2 portion of noodles (Guksu 국수) for 4 people because they give a large amount of chicken in the soup. Each portion is 10,000 KRW and you need to order minimally 2 portions. The add-ons range between 1,000 KRW to 3,000 KRW per portion.

It is also very common to leave some soup at the end of the meal and order some porridge (Juk 죽). Each portion of porridge costs 3,000 KRW and you can order just 1 portion for 4 people, depending on how full or hungry you are (I will definitely recommend trying at least 1 portion of porridge).

Kachumi Gyukatsu 카츠미 규카츠

Gyukatsu is actually Japanese food but has been really popular in Sinchon area recently. It’s similar to tonkatsu but the meat used is beef instead of pork. The beef is breaded and the fried until only the outer part is cooked while the beef stays raw. It is then served with a hot plate (look at the picture above) for you to cook the inner part of the beef to as how you like.

The gyukatsu is served in 3-sized portions: 160g, 200g and 250g for 13,000, 17,000 and 22,000 KRW respectively. You can also order their gyudon (raw beef with rice, which again, you can cook to your liking) for 11,000 KRW if you do not want gyukatsu.

The restaurant is located on the second floor of a building at the corner of the street so when you look for it, be sure to look up while walking. Once you see the store, find the entrance of the restaurant by going up the staircase on the right side of the building. It is quite small so try not to come during peak meal hours because you may need to wait for a table.

Bokseonggak 복성각

This restaurant is known to be the most famous chinese restaurant in Sinchon. It’s hidden in an alley behind the main street so it can be slightly hard to find. There are 2 floors in the restaurant so there should be plenty of seats. The dish that you should eat if you ever visit Bokseonggak is their Jjajangmyeon (Black bean noodles, 5,000 KRW) and Tangsuyuk (Sweet and sour pork, 15,000 KRW for small).

I think their tangsuyuk is very special: they use cranberry sauce instead of the traditional pineapple sauce so the sauce is pinkish in color. The portion is quite large (in my opinion), so it’s best to share the tangsuyuk with some friends.

They also serve other chinese dishes that I did not get a chance to try because I usually only go there for the tangsuyuk 😀

Read part 2 and part 3 too for more dining options at Sinchon!