Guryonggak, Yangjae: I Came for Jjamppong. The Cucumber Salad Stole the Show.

Every trip to a Korean-Chinese restaurant starts with the same dilemma. Jjamppong or jjajang?

At Guryonggak in Yangjae, I solved it the easy way. I ordered both. One jjamppong, one ganjjajang. So far, all according to plan.

What wasn't in the plan was the cucumber salad. I ordered it as a side. It walked off with the whole meal.

A 30-second glossary

• Korean-Chinese food — Chinese cooking as it evolved in Korea. It's its own cuisine, with its own classics.
• Jjamppong — a fiery red noodle soup loaded with seafood and vegetables.
• Ganjjajang — the "dry" take on jjajangmyeon (noodles in black bean sauce). The sauce is stir-fried to order without added water and served on the side.
• Samseon — literally "three delicacies." On a menu, it means the seafood-upgraded version.
• Oi-muchim — seasoned cucumber. Here it's the Chinese-style version, tossed in chili oil with wood ear mushrooms.
• Danmuji & jacai — yellow pickled radish and Sichuan pickled mustard stem, the standard free sides on a Korean-Chinese table.

Open the door and it's more "restaurant" than you'd think

Walk in expecting a neighborhood Chinese joint and you'll be a little thrown. Wood ceiling, dark gray paneled walls, neat rows of tables under the lights. It's a big place spread across three floors, so group dinners are no problem. Two of the top Naver keywords sit side by side here, reading roughly "spacious" (3,351 people) and "great interior" (3,347), and one step inside, you get why.

Round 1: Jjamppong

When the jjamppong lands, you see the seafood before you see the broth. Plump shrimp, scored squid, mussels, and wood ear mushrooms. And the broth isn't just heat: there's a sweetness underneath, drawn out of the vegetables and seafood, that keeps the spoon moving. It's the kind of jjamppong where you finish the noodles and still go back for a few more spoonfuls of soup.

Round 2: Ganjjajang

The ganjjajang comes with a fried egg on the noodles and the sauce on the side. The sauce is stir-fried fresh, no water added, and when you pour it over and mix, the sweetness of the onions and the nutty depth of the black bean paste wrap every strand in a glossy coat. Naver's one-line summary of this place nails it. It reads, roughly, "the perfect combo of jjamppong and jjajang."

The plot twist: cucumber salad

And then this showed up. Chinese-style cucumber salad: chunky-cut cucumber and wood ear mushrooms tossed in a chili oil dressing. On the first bite, the crisp cucumber washes your mouth clean, and the spicy, tangy dressing kicks in right behind it.

Why is this the kicker? Because it resets your palate between the jjamppong and the ganjjajang. A bite of jjamppong, a bite of cucumber, a bite of ganjjajang, back to the cucumber. Get into that loop and neither bowl gets old before it's empty. Only one conclusion: the cucumber salad is mandatory.

What I remember as much as the food: the people

Food isn't the only reason I want to go back. The staff are kind. I came at dinnertime, and from the moment I walked in to the moment I left, the service was warm and consistent. The bigger a restaurant gets, the easier it is for service to turn mechanical. Guryonggak was the opposite.

What other diners say

This place's record is too impressive to ask you to trust my taste buds alone. Here are the numbers from Naver Place (Korea's go-to map and review app) as of September 2026, with the keyword labels translated, roughly:

• ⭐ Visitor rating 4.83 · 7,918 reviews (6,779 of them with photos)
• 🥇 Most-picked keywords: "The food is delicious" 7,520 people, "Fresh ingredients" 4,153
• 🙂 "Friendly staff" 2,393, "Great value for money" 2,321
• 📝 Most-mentioned topics in reviews: taste (6,073) > satisfaction (3,328) > service (1,195)

Holding a rating in the 4.8s across nearly 8,000 reviews means this isn't a place that got lucky once or twice. It wasn't just me.

Menu and prices

Menu	Price
Value jjajangmyeon (gatseongbi, the budget pick)	₩8,000
Value jjamppong (gatseongbi)	₩10,000
Guryong samseon ganjjajang — seafood ganjjajang	₩11,000
Guryong samseon jjamppong — seafood jjamppong	₩12,000
Guryong chadol jjamppong — with beef brisket	₩13,000
Samseon bokkeumbap — seafood fried rice	₩11,000
Guryong tangsuyuk — sweet and sour pork (small / medium)	₩21,000 / ₩34,000
Yurinji — fried chicken in a tangy soy dressing (small / medium)	₩32,000 / ₩42,000

They're also running a corkage-free promotion, so it works well for a get-together over a few dishes.

How to order (even with zero Korean)

• Point at 짬뽕 and 간짜장 on the menu, or say "Jjamppong hana, ganjjajang hana juseyo" — one jjamppong and one ganjjajang, please.
• Then add "Oi-muchim do juseyo" — the cucumber salad too, please. Do not skip this step.
• The ganjjajang sauce comes on the side. Pour it over the noodles and mix before you dig in.
• Mind the break time: the restaurant pauses from 15:00 to 17:00.

Visit info

📍 Guryonggak Yangjae (구룡각 양재동점) · 61 Nonhyeon-ro, Seocho-gu, Seoul (floors 1–3)

• 🚇 Getting there: Yangjae Citizen's Forest Station (Sinbundang Line), Exit 2, about a 14-minute walk (roughly 950 m)
• 🕐 Hours: daily 11:10–22:00, break time 15:00–17:00
• 💰 Price: jjamppong from ₩10,000, ganjjajang ₩11,000
• ✅ Good to know: parking and valet parking, reservations, group seating, high chairs, waiting area, Wi-Fi
• 🗺️ Maps: Google Maps · Naver Map — Google Maps finds the spot and handles subway routes in Korea, but for walking directions Naver Map is more reliable.

Looking for one more meal in Yangjae? Oneuldo Bossam Kalguksu Yangjae is a 2-minute walk away, and I recommend it too.

Jayden's verdict

The jjamppong and ganjjajang kept their promises. The cucumber salad betrayed my expectations. In the best way.

• Jjamppong & ganjjajang: ★★★★★
• Cucumber salad: ★★★★★ (mandatory)
• Friendliness: ★★★★★
• Coming back? Yes. When I'm craving Korean-Chinese in Yangjae, this is where I go, no second thoughts.