Noodle houseKorean
Myeongdong Gyoja
명동교자 Myeongdong is the downtown Seoul district the shop is named for, and gyoja is an older Korean word for dumplings (the jiaozi of Chinese).
Compiled from 8 blog posts read in fullSources →
A noodle-and-dumpling house at Myeongdong 10-gil 29, in the middle of Myeongdong. Chicken-broth kalguksu is 12,000 won and dumplings 13,000 won, with a very garlicky kimchi on the side. Staff on the ground floor ask your party size and send you to a floor, and you order on the way in. We read 25 posts from 19 September to 8 October 2026; 10 were about other places or other branches (Itaewon, the No. 1 branch) and were set aside. Of the remaining 15, eight describe an actual visit.
Data as of · Published ·
Location & hours
- Address서울특별시 중구 명동10길 29 (명동2가, 1,2,3,4층)29 Myeongdong 10-gil, Jung-gu, Seoul
- Phone02-776-5348
- Typical spend₩11,000 – ₩13,000
- Floor areaFloor area 644 m² · Status In business
What sets it apart
- There is a line, but it moves. Of the four visit posts that dealt with waiting, two report a line — one titled its post with a 45-minute wait, another says there is a long line every time — and two reach no clear verdict. A group of four on a weekday lunch saw the line yet were seated in under a minute, before reaching the top of the stairs; another visitor found the wait shorter than feared and turnover fast.
- Four of the eight visit posts describe a return trip — 'dropped by after a long time', 'my favourite kalguksu place', 'I come every time I'm in Myeongdong'. Only one says it was a first visit. Among the returners is a runner who came down after two hours of hill training on Namsan for noodles and dumplings.
What 8 bloggers said
kalguksu
Returning customer
We read all 8 in full. The most common claims are “Returning customer” (4) and “Had to wait” (2).
What they liked
What they struggled with
Things you can check on site
- Second floor 1 of 8 posts
These are raw counts, not percentages. Someone who did not mention something is not someone who disagreed.
Who came, and with whom
- Date 2 of 8 posts
- Group visit 1 of 8 posts
- With a friend 1 of 8 posts
Where it is
We could not find this shop’s own listing on Naver Map, so the link searches for its Korean name around this spot instead.
Getting inside
| Second floor | 1 of 8 posts |
|---|---|
| In a basement | yes 0 · no 1 (of 8 posts read) |
One post describes a host at the ground-floor entrance who asks your party size and assigns a floor; that group of four went to the third floor, past a sign for parties of three or more, and saw notices that solo diners, pairs and fours are seated separately. Once you finish, staff politely ask whether they may clear the bowls — and, the writer noticed, every table takes the hint and leaves.
Only one post mentions floors: greeted on the ground floor, seated on the third. Nobody described the other floors.
Nobody wrote about a step at the entrance, wheelchair or stroller access, or a lift. One group of four simply climbed the stairs to the third floor. That means we don't know, not that there is none.
No post says where the toilets are or whether they are separated by gender.
No one mentioned: Lift to the floor · Ramp at the door · Step at the entrance · Step-free access · Toilet inside · Accessible toilet · Separate restrooms. That is not the same as there being none — it means we could not confirm it. Worth calling ahead, and do tell us: we will put it here.
How to read these posts
- Posts saying they paid themselves1 of 8 posts
- Posts saying nothing either way7 of 8 posts
Posts that followed a TV spot
Of the 15 posts we gathered, 7 went up on a single day right after a TV spot and show no sign of a visit. They retell the broadcast, so we left them out of the counts.
We do not discard them. That a TV spot produced a burst of posts is itself something worth knowing about a place, and a star rating will not show it.
When the posts appeared
Month by month
| Month | Posts |
|---|---|
| 2026-09 | 2 |
| 2026-10 | 6 |
What we do not know
- One post dissents on taste: it found the kalguksu too oily, closer to beef noodle soup, and the tables too cramped. Another couple ordered noodles plus dumplings and could not finish them.
- Two posts say the shop moved into a new building, but both are hearsay — one says 'a few years ago', the other calls it newly opened — so we did not count it, and none of our posts describes the old building. The same post notes the xylitol candy once handed out to offset the garlic kimchi is no longer given.
- There is a separate No. 1 branch in Myeongdong; we set aside one post that explicitly went there instead of the main shop. Three visit posts do not say which branch they visited, so some of their details may belong to the other one.
- No visitor described actually getting there by subway or bus; the 'Myeongdong Station exit 8' line appears only in copied directions.
- Only one visit post gives opening hours — daily 10:30 to 21:00, explicitly taken from Naver Place. Five uncounted information posts copy the same hours, two adding a 20:30 last order, but no visitor confirmed them.
- Three posts agree on 12,000 won for kalguksu and 13,000 won for dumplings. One information post dated 19 September gives 11,000 and 12,000; since nobody mentions a price rise, we treat it as a stale copy. Two noodle bowls plus one plate of dumplings would come to 37,000 won, but no post records what a meal actually cost.
- The phone number (02-776-5348) appears in only one uncounted information post. On booking, one visitor noted there are no reservations — you just turn up.
Sources (8)
Every number above was counted from the posts below.
- 먹고 마시고 구경하고!완벽했던 명동 알차게 즐기기 코스(명동교자,.... 2026-10-08 · 스마트 살림 톤온톤
- [명동 맛집] 깊고 진한 닭 육수 칼국수와 알싸한 마늘김치의 대명사,.... 2026-10-07 · 돈과 맛
- 통째로 남기는 5월 일상 2026-10-07 · 흰아리의 소소한 이야기♥
- 절약 중인데 결국 깜장봉다리 한가득ㅋㅋ 명동교자 먹고 남대문시.... 2026-10-06 · -
- 9월 일상,, 서울 인천 울산 경주 찍고! ㅋ ㅋ #직장인일탈 2026-10-06 · 오쩡 맘대로 굴렁굴렁 굴렁쇠
- 명동교자 본점, 앉자마자 만두가 먼저 와 있던 날 (아는 사람만 시킨다는 다대기) 2026-10-03 · 다노리 살림노트 · via Daum
- [명동•회현] 낮엔 디저트, 밤엔 와인! 반전 매력의 명동 카페 "피롤.... 2026-09-30 · 놀고 먹기 좋아하는
- [훈련일지] D-26 춘마 : 러너들의 업힐 훈련 성지, 남산 북측순환로 3회전! 2026-09-29 · ESLOG · via Daum
Of 351 candidate posts we opened 120 and kept 8 as evidence. We have not seen them all yet; another pass would add more.