Makguksu and Kongguksu (2026): Seoul's Summer Noodle Guide — Sugar or Salt?

Reduce Korea’s summer noodles to naengmyeon and you’re missing half the story. The two bowls that actually draw the longest lines in summer are a different pair: makguksu (buckwheat noodles) and kongguksu (cold soybean noodle soup).

They’re opposites. Makguksu is all buckwheat aroma and tangy sourness; kongguksu is nutty and thick. One is sold year-round, the other disappears from menus when summer ends. But they share one thing: Koreans argue among themselves about how to eat them.

How is makguksu different from naengmyeon?

One-line answer: how finely the buckwheat is milled.

Naengmyeon hulls the grain and mills only the pale inner part into a fine white flour. Makguksu does the opposite — the whole grain, coarsely ground, hull and all. That’s why the noodles are grey-brown with dark specks, smell far more strongly of buckwheat, and snap when you lift them with chopsticks. That fragile, breakable texture used to be the whole identity of makguksu.

🌾 Makguksu vs naengmyeon — what's actually different

Item	Makguksu	Naengmyeon
Region of origin	Gangwon-do (Chuncheon–Yangyang area)	Mul-naengmyeon from Pyongyang & Haeju; bibim-naengmyeon from the Hamhung lineage
Buckwheat prep	Whole grain, coarsely milled	Hulled, only the inner grain finely milled
Noodle color	Grey-brown with dark specks	Pale grey or light brown
Texture	Breaks easily, somewhat dry	Chewy and springy (depends on starch content)
Broth	Dongchimi + light meat broth	Beef, pheasant, or dongchimi base; deep and rich
Main styles	Cold-broth · spicy-sauce · perilla-oil	Cold-broth · spicy-sauce
Price (Seoul, 2026)	₩10,000–14,000	₩14,000–17,000

Why did perilla-oil makguksu take off?

Because it removed the barrier to entry.

Traditional makguksu came in two forms: mul-makguksu in a cold broth, and bibim-makguksu tossed in gochugaru sauce. But the cold broth’s dongchimi tang is unfamiliar to many, and the bibim version is spicy — even plenty of Koreans, not just foreigners, can’t handle it.

Perilla-oil makguksu sidestepped both. No broth, no sauce — just perilla oil, soy sauce, and crushed laver. Nothing sour, nothing spicy, only a nutty aroma. It’s said to have debuted at Gogiri Makguksu in Yongin, Gyeonggi-do in 2012, then spread across Seoul, and today most makguksu shops list it. Many serve it lukewarm instead of cold, so you can eat it even outside summer.

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What is that white broth in kongguksu?

Ground soybean broth. Not milk, not cream — just soybeans and water.

The method is simple but labor-intensive. Soak dried beans overnight, boil them, peel off the skins, grind finely with water, then strain through a fine sieve. The strained liquid is the soybean broth. Cook thin wheat noodles, add them, top with cucumber and sesame, and you have kongguksu.

Three things separate one shop from another: which beans they use (white soybeans give a pure white broth; black seoritae beans give a grey-purple, nuttier one), how concentrated it is (the water ratio is the concentration), and how thoroughly they peel the beans (leftover skin makes it chalky). What Seoul’s old houses boast about is mostly concentration — a broth thick enough to stand a spoon in is what passes for a good bowl.

Sugar or salt — what is this debate?

It’s one of Korea’s oldest recurring summer food arguments. And it isn’t about taste — it’s about region.

The broad split: the east, centered on Yeongnam, uses salt; the west, centered on Honam, adds sugar. What’s fascinating is that even the name changes. In Honam the broth is called kongmul (bean “water”), in Yeongnam it’s kongguk (bean “soup”) — as if water is drunk sweet and soup is eaten salty, the name reflects the seasoning.

The sweet version also has a fairly specific start date. In 1974, Daeseong Kongmul in Gwangju began serving noodles in the bean broth, and the next year Yudal Kongmul in Mokpo and others joined in, cementing the Honam-style sweet kongguksu.

🧂 Kongguksu seasoning culture — by region

Region	Broth name	Default seasoning	Notes
Honam (Gwangju · Mokpo · Jeonju)	kongmul	Sugar	Popularized in 1974 when Gwangju’s Daeseong Kongmul added noodles. Sweet is the default
Yeongnam (Busan · Daegu · South Gyeongsang)	kongguk	Salt	Eaten seasoned salty. Many Seoul classics follow this line
Seoul & metro area	kongguksu (generic)	Salt dominant · diner’s choice	Standard practice: a salt shaker on the table, season to taste
Chungcheong	Mixed	Mixed	Varies shop to shop even within the region

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Where are Seoul's kongguksu institutions?

Three names come up again and again. All three share one trait: they only serve it in summer.

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🍜 Seoul kongguksu & makguksu at a glance (based on public sources as of August 2026 · re-confirm before visiting)

#	Name	Area	Signature	Price	Hours & notes
1	Jinju Hoegwan	Seosomun, Jung-gu (3-min walk from City Hall Station Exit 9)	Cold kongguksu	₩16,000	Mon–Fri 11:00–21:00 (LO 20:30) / Sat 11:00–20:00 (break 14:00–15:00) / closed Sun · kongguksu 3/1–11/15
2	Jinju-jip	Yeouido, Yeongdeungpo	Cold kongguksu · bibim-guksu	₩15,000 / ₩12,000	Yeouido office district · big lunchtime lines
3	Gangsanok	Near Cheonggyecheon, Jung-gu	Summer-only kongguksu · kongbiji-bap	₩14,000	Kongguksu in summer only
4	Bukchon Makguksu Jemyeonso	Samcheong-dong, Jongno	Perilla-oil makguksu · bibim-makguksu	₩13,000	Daily 10:00–20:30 · 100% Bongpyeong Nonghyup buckwheat, noodles made in-house
5	Seongcheon Makguksu Nonhyeon	Banpo, Seocho	Mul-makguksu · bibim-makguksu · jeyuk	Unconfirmed	Mon–Sun 11:30–21:00 (break 15:00–17:00) / closed holidays · third-generation family business
6	Gogiri Makguksu	Gogi-dong, Yongin, Gyeonggi (main store)	Perilla-oil makguksu	Unconfirmed	The shop that first introduced perilla-oil makguksu · up to 2-hour waits on weekends

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If it's summer-only, when should I go?

The safest window is mid-June through late August. Outside that, it depends on the shop.

Jinju Hoegwan has the clearest published schedule: kongguksu from March 1 to November 15, and at summer peak lunchtime it runs a kongguksu-only menu. One item means fast ordering and fast turnover — yet the line never stops from morning to late lunch.

📅 Summer noodle season calendar

Period	Kongguksu	Makguksu	Notes
Mar–Apr	Some start (Jinju Hoegwan from 3/1)	Year-round	Only dedicated kongguksu shops open
May	Most start	Year-round	Lines still short — a good time to go
Mid-Jun–late Aug	Peak	Peak	Expect lunch lines. Single-menu operation
Sep	Still served	Year-round	Lines drop sharply. Best value window
Oct–early Nov	Jinju Hoegwan until 11/15	Year-round	Most ordinary restaurants have already pulled it
Winter	Almost none	Year-round (perilla-oil is all-season)	Kongguksu effectively over

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₩16,000 a bowl — why so expensive?

Ingredient costs are the direct cause. And summer noodles are unusually sensitive to them.

Jinju Hoegwan raised its kongguksu from ₩15,000 to ₩16,000. The previous year it had already gone up ₩2,000, and less than a year later another ₩1,000 was added. Naengmyeon is the same story: Eulji Myeonok raised its Pyongyang naengmyeon from ₩13,000 to ₩15,000, a 15.4% increase, citing a jump in buckwheat prices to ₩13,750/kg from ₩5,310 a year earlier — up 159%.

Soybeans aren’t safe either. In 2026, international soybean futures hit their highest in about two years on geopolitical factors. Even old houses that use domestic beans get caught up: when imported bean prices rise, demand floods into domestic beans and pulls those prices up too.

Part of why this price stings in Korea is the comparison set. In a market where a roll of gimbap is ₩4,000 and a bowl of gukbap runs about ₩10,000, ₩16,000 for noodles is clearly top-tier. People line up anyway, because this dish only exists for a few months of the year.

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How does it compare to naengmyeon, milmyeon, and chogyeguksu?

Korea’s cold noodles branch into more varieties than you’d expect. Two axes make sense of it all: what the noodles are made of and what the broth actually is.

🥢 Korea's cold summer noodles — a field guide

Dish	Noodle base	Broth · sauce	Origin	Flavor axis
Makguksu	Buckwheat (whole, coarse)	Dongchimi · broth / sauce / perilla oil	Gangwon-do	Buckwheat aroma · nuttiness
Pyongyang naengmyeon	Buckwheat (hulled, fine)	Beef · pheasant · dongchimi broth	Pyongyang	Mild, deep broth
Hamhung naengmyeon	Potato · sweet-potato starch	Spicy sauce + raw fish garnish	Hamhung	Chewy noodles · heat
Milmyeon	Wheat + starch	Pork broth + medicinal herbs	Busan	Sweet, rich broth
Chogyeguksu	Wheat thin noodles	Chicken broth + vinegar · mustard	Gangwon & northern	Tangy · mustard bite
Kongguksu	Wheat thin noodles	Soybean broth (the broth is the dish)	Nationwide, regional seasoning	Nutty · thick
Bibim-guksu	Wheat thin noodles	Gochujang sauce	Nationwide	Sweet-spicy

In this table, kongguksu is the odd one out. Everything else is noodles in a broth; kongguksu is a broth that happens to contain noodles. The ground-soybean liquid is the star, and the noodles are more or less a utensil for eating it. That’s why so many people finish the bowl down to the last drop in summer.