Dae Yeop in Seongsu-dong, Seoul (Dae Yeop) Every morning, the kitchen at Dae Yeop restaurant in Seoul presses fresh buckwheat noodles and sets a hanwoo broth to simmer. The result is a plain-looking bowl of Pyongyang-style naengmyeon that has drawn long lines to the restaurant's original Seongsu location and its newer Euljiro branch since its opening in August 2024. On a recent Saturday, a wait had already formed minutes after the dinner break ended. The summer-only sweet pumpkin kongguksu, cold noodles in a chilled soybean puree, sold out within the first few minutes of service. A wall near the entrance carries the signatures of celebrity guests, and sacks of buckwheat flour sit stacked by the kitchen. Owner-chef Ko Seok-hyun built the restaurant around restraint. The naengmyeon (13,000 won) pairs thick, coarse buckwheat noodles with a clear beef broth, a few slices of cold pork, pickled cucumber and light garnishes. The noodles carry a strong buckwheat aroma and use no chemical additives, so the grain's rough texture comes through against the broth. 모바일 바다이야기 황금고래 Pyongyang naengmyeon (Hong Yoo/The Korea Herald) That broth is where Dae Yeop makes its case. Many naengmyeon houses build stock from pork and beef bones, but Ko simmers only brisket, hanwoo and vegetables for five to six hours. The method yields a deep beef aroma, a clear color and a clean finish. The pickled cucumber sharpens the seasoning, and the cold pork garnish stays savory without the off-smell that can dog the cut. Diners are encouraged to taste the broth first, with refills available on request, then loosen the noodles and garnishes and eat them together. A small bowl of rice comes alongside. The variety used is suhyangmi, prized for its fragrance, and it is meant to be spooned into the leftover broth at the end. A pinch of gochutgaru (red chilli powder) or black pepper shifts the flavor for anyone who wants it. Ko came into the restaurant trade in his early 20s, worked through a business failure and returned to the floor before building the Kossine Food brand, which began with a gochujang (red chilli paste) stew house in Chungmuro. 바다이야기게임 예시 He is currently starring on tvN's "Street Restaurant Fighter" and competed as a "black spoon" on the first season of Netflix's "Culinary Class Wars." "Noodles exist in every country, and only the way people eat them differs a little. When you make it too flashy, it stops being Dae Yeop. I wanted to put everything into this one bowl so that you think, 'Ah, this is Korean food.' I believe a noodle restaurant that can represent Korean cuisine can go global, and that it stands higher than any fine dining," Ko said. "Buckwheat and broth are sensitive and temperamental no matter how much time passes. So even now, I pull the noodles and draw the broth on edge, every single day," he added. His ambition is already crossing borders. Dae Yeop opened its first overseas branch in Hong Kong last December, and the brand was named to the Blue Ribbon Survey's 2026 Seoul list. At lunch, the kitchen rotates in weekday specials such as yukgaejang (spicy brisket soup) and mandu soup. 릴게임 백경 Sweet pumpkin kongguksu (Instagram) This summer, Dae Yeop teamed with 100.1.Pyeongnaeng, a Busan naengmyeon house, on a limited sweet pumpkin kongguksu (14,000 won, or $9.70). Ground soybean forms a thick, cream-like base, with summer sweet pumpkin adding a gentle sweetness and crushed nuts piled on top for extra nuttiness. It arrives lightly seasoned, and diners can add salt, as with a standard kongguksu, or a little sugar to taste. The noodles are the same buckwheat strands used in the naengmyeon. Pan-fried mandu (Hong Yoo/The Korea Herald) The side dishes hold their own. The pan-fried mandu (16,000 won for a full plate, 8,000 won for a half order of four) reworks a North Korean-style dumpling, packing minced meat and garlic chives into a crisp shell that stays juicy inside. Boiled beef slices (Hong Yoo/The Korea Herald) The boiled beef, or suyuk (43,000 won full, 22,000 won half), is tender enough to give way almost immediately. It comes with a dipping sauce of chojang, scallions, perilla seed powder and mustard, which cuts the richness, and a small flame under the plate keeps the slices warm through the meal. l="nofollo