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Soup season · Seoul, South Korea
The best bowl in Seoul: Ox bone soup
A milky-white broth of ox bones simmered all night, with thin slices of beef and rice noodles; you salt it yourself and add scallions and kimchi.
Seolleongtang is Seoul's own soup, from the royal fields where kings offered sacrifices. The oldest restaurant in Korea has been simmering it since 1904.
Imun Seolnongtang
38-13 Ujeongguk-ro, Jongno-gu, Seoul
Get: Seolleongtang, with the rice tipped into the broth and plenty of kkakdugi (radish kimchi)
설렁탕 하나 주세요. (Seolleongtang hana juseyo.)One ox bone soup, please.
Korea's oldest restaurant, open since 1904 and on Michelin's Bib Gourmand list; the broth simmers for 17 hours, and the regulars salt it at the table.
From early morning to evening; it's a classic breakfast.
Make it at home
Seolleongtang (milky ox bone soup)
There's no seasoning in the pot: just bones, water and time. The broth turns milky-white from a hard, long boil. Everyone seasons their own bowl with salt, pepper and scallions at the table.
You need
- 4 lb (1.8 kg) beef leg bones (sagol) or knuckle bones, cut
- 1 lb (450 g) beef brisket or shank
- 6 quarts (5.7 l) water, plus more to top up
- 1 onion, halved
- 1 head garlic
- 1 2-inch piece ginger
- 8 oz (225 g) thin Korean starch noodles (somyeon or dangmyeon)
- To serve: sea salt, black pepper, 4 scallions finely sliced, steamed rice, kkakdugi (radish kimchi) and napa cabbage kimchi
How to make it
- Soak the bones in cold water 2 hours, changing the water once, to draw out the blood.
- Put the bones in a big pot, cover with water, boil 10 minutes, drain and rinse the bones and the pot.
- Return the bones to the pot with 6 quarts fresh water. Bring to a rolling boil and keep it boiling hard, partly covered, for 4 hours. Add the brisket, onion, garlic and ginger after the first hour; lift out the brisket after 1 1/2 hours, when tender, and refrigerate it.
- Top up with boiling water every hour to keep the bones covered. After 4 hours the broth will be milky. Pour it off into another pot.
- Add 4 quarts fresh water to the bones and boil hard 4 more hours. Combine the two batches (this makes the broth whiter and richer). Strain and chill; lift off the fat when it sets.
- Cook the noodles as the packet says, drain and rinse. Slice the brisket thinly.
- Bring the broth to a boil. Put noodles and brisket in each bowl and ladle the boiling broth over. At the table, everyone adds salt, pepper and a big spoonful of scallions, and eats it with rice and kimchi.
Pans and tools
- 16-quart stockpot
- fine sieve
- large container for chilling
Chef's tips
- It must boil hard, not simmer, or the broth stays clear.
- Make a big batch: it freezes for 3 months.
- Add rice straight into the broth for the way Seoul eats it at breakfast.
Four more bowls in Seoul
Ginseng chicken soup
A whole young chicken stuffed with sticky rice, ginseng, jujubes and garlic, simmered in a milky broth.
Tosokchon · 5 Jahamun-ro 5-gil, Jongno-gu, Seoul
Get: Samgyetang, with the little glass of ginseng liquor
삼계탕 하나 주세요.One ginseng chicken soup, please.
Seoul's most famous samgyetang house, in an old hanok by the palace; a Michelin Bib Gourmand pick.
Make it at home: Samgyetang
Koreans eat it on the hottest days of summer to fight heat with heat. Cornish hens are the right size.
You need
- 2 Cornish hens or small chickens (about 1 1/4 lb / 570 g each)
- 1/2 cup (100 g) glutinous (sweet) rice, soaked 1 hour
- 2 fresh or dried ginseng roots
- 6 dried jujubes (red dates)
- 12 garlic cloves
- 1 tbsp pine nuts or chestnuts (optional)
- 2 quarts (1.9 l) water
- Salt and black pepper, sliced green onion
How to make it
- Rinse the hens inside and out. Stuff each with half the rice, 2 jujubes, 3 garlic cloves and a few pine nuts; tie or cross the legs.
- Put the hens in a pot with the ginseng, the remaining jujubes and garlic, and the water.
- Bring to a boil, skim, and simmer covered 1 hour, until the meat falls from the bone.
- Serve each hen in its own bowl of broth, with salt and pepper on the side and green onion on top.
Chef's tips
- Season with salt at the table, as Seoul does.
Knife-cut noodle soup
Hand-cut wheat noodles in a thick chicken broth with dumplings, and very garlicky kimchi on the side.
Myeongdong Kyoja · 29 Myeongdong 10-gil, Jung-gu, Seoul
Get: Kalguksu (refills of noodles are free) and the mandu
칼국수 하나 주세요.One kalguksu, please.
A Myeongdong noodle house since 1966 with a Michelin Bib Gourmand; it serves four dishes and moves fast.
Pay first; the line moves quickly.
Make it at home: Chicken kalguksu
Cutting your own noodles takes 20 minutes and is worth it; their starch thickens the broth.
You need
- For the noodles: 2 1/2 cups (310 g) flour, 1 tsp salt, 3/4 cup (180 ml) water, 1 tbsp oil
- 1 chicken (about 3 lb / 1.4 kg) or 2 lb (900 g) thighs
- 3 quarts (2.8 l) water
- 1 onion, 6 garlic cloves, 1 in (2.5 cm) ginger, 4 green onions
- 1 zucchini, in matchsticks
- 2 tbsp soy sauce, 1 tbsp fish sauce, salt
- 8 frozen pork mandu (optional)
- Toasted sesame and seaweed strips
How to make it
- Knead the flour, salt, water and oil into a firm dough; rest 30 minutes.
- Simmer the chicken in the water with the onion, garlic, ginger and green onions 45 minutes. Shred the meat and strain the broth.
- Roll the dough thin, flour it well, fold it over and cut into 1/4 in (5 mm) noodles.
- Bring the broth to a boil, shake the flour off the noodles and cook them 5 minutes with the zucchini and mandu.
- Season with soy, fish sauce and salt; serve with the chicken, sesame and seaweed.
Chef's tips
- Eat with the sharpest, most garlicky kimchi you have.
Pork bone soup
Pork spine and potatoes in a spicy perilla broth, at the restaurant said to have started the dish.
Taejo Gamjaguk · 118 Bomun-ro, Seongbuk-gu, Seoul
Get: Gamjaguk for two or three, with rice stirred in at the end
감자국 2인분 주세요.Pork bone soup for two, please.
Open since 1958 and widely called the oldest gamjatang restaurant in Seoul.
Make it at home: Gamjatang (pork bone soup)
Pork neck bones give a rich broth and meat you pull off with chopsticks. Ground perilla seeds give the nutty body.
You need
- 3 lb (1.4 kg) pork neck bones
- 1 onion, 6 garlic cloves, 1 in (2.5 cm) ginger
- 2 tbsp doenjang (soybean paste)
- 3 tbsp gochugaru, 1 tbsp gochujang
- 2 tbsp soy sauce, 2 tbsp fish sauce, 1 tbsp mirin
- 3 tbsp ground perilla seeds (deulkkae garu)
- 4 medium potatoes, peeled and halved
- 1/2 head napa cabbage or blanched outer cabbage leaves
- 1 bunch perilla leaves
- 3 green onions
- Rice, to serve
How to make it
- Soak the bones in cold water 1 hour, then boil them 8 minutes and rinse well.
- Cover the bones with 3 quarts (2.8 l) fresh water, add the onion, half the garlic, the ginger and the doenjang, and simmer 1 1/2 hours.
- Mince the rest of the garlic and mix with the gochugaru, gochujang, soy, fish sauce and mirin.
- Remove the onion and ginger. Add the seasoning paste, perilla powder, potatoes and cabbage and simmer 30 minutes, until the potatoes are tender.
- Add the perilla leaves and green onion and serve bubbling, with rice.
Chef's tips
- The first boil and rinse is what keeps the broth clean.
Hangover soup
Ox blood, tripe and cabbage in a rich beef broth with doenjang, the soup Seoul eats after a long night.
Cheongjinok · 32 Jong-ro 3-gil, Jongno-gu, Seoul
Get: Haejangguk, with the blood (seonji) or without
해장국 하나 주세요.One hangover soup, please.
Serving haejangguk in Jongno since 1937, with a Michelin Bib Gourmand.
Make it at home: Ugeoji haejangguk (cabbage and beef hangover soup)
Restaurants add congealed ox blood; this home version keeps the beef, cabbage and soybean paste.
You need
- 2 lb (900 g) beef brisket and bones
- 3 quarts (2.8 l) water
- 1 lb (450 g) napa cabbage outer leaves (ugeoji), blanched and torn
- 3 tbsp doenjang, 1 tbsp gochugaru
- 6 garlic cloves, minced
- 2 tbsp soy sauce (guk-ganjang if you have it)
- 1 cup (100 g) soybean sprouts
- 3 green onions
- Salt, black pepper, rice
How to make it
- Soak the beef 30 minutes, blanch 5 minutes and rinse.
- Simmer in the water 1 1/2 hours. Slice the brisket and strain the broth.
- Mix the cabbage with the doenjang, gochugaru, garlic and soy.
- Add the cabbage and beef to the broth and simmer 30 minutes.
- Add the bean sprouts and green onion for 5 minutes, season, and serve with rice.
Chef's tips
- Some like it with a raw egg dropped in.
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No. 1 checked October 28, 2026; the other four picked the same day from local guides and menus. Places change; if one has, tell us at hello@chefamazing.com.
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