Ansan : Madang DukKalguksu (마당닭 칼국수)

7th November 2012.
Ansan, Gyeonggi-do, South Korea.

In contrast to your hearty rang myeon or jjigae…kalguksu is another lighter form of Korean dish. Loosely translated as “knife noodles” kalguksu is thick wheat flour noodles commonly served in a huge bowl with a broth (could be clams or chicken-based) along with other ingredients.

We found a restaurant serving Chicken Kalguksu near our school named 마당닭 칼국수 and we decided to try it one day. Besides kalguksu, the restaurant also serve tasty 해물전 haemuljeon with generous amounts of seafood in it and the pancake was pan-fried to perfection like a good oyster omelette.

While mandu are rather common in Korean restaurants, I seldom see Kaesong Mandu 개성 만두 being served in the restaurants around our school. “Kaesong” refers to the city of Kaesong, located in North Korea and it used to be under South Korea until the aftermath of the Korean War when the 38th Parallel was drawn. The Kaesong Mandu looks like a plump pau. The skin was slightly thick and sticky and the it is stuffed with glass noodles, minced meat and spring onions.

The duk kalguksu 칼국수 or Chicken Knife Noodles was served in a huge bowl filled with flavourful chicken broth with chopped chilies, shredded chicken, scallions and seaweed. Instead of rice, we were offered bowls of boiled barley which we consumed together with some of the chicken broth. Separately, we consumed the springy noodles together with the chicken broth. If you prefer, you could add some sesame oil to the mix too. The noodles and chicken soup were very delicious. For 6000 KRW, it was also very filling meal.

The Kimchi here is pretty good. It had none of that off-the-shelf taste.

마당닭 칼국수
Madang DukKalguksu

It is located opposite a strange-looking building that serves ssambap cuisine (the last time when we were there). It is quite near a huge church located next to a river and a central road that leads to Phomein and 7 Eleven which connects the junction outside Hanyang University ERICA Campus and a big carpark.