When you're driving down south toward Gyeongsang or Jeolla provinces in the sweltering midsummer heat, you usually start getting hungry right around Yeoju (a city southeast of Seoul). When highway rest stop food doesn't sound appealing, you can head over to Cheonseori Makguksu, a restaurant famous in Yeoju for its cold buckwheat noodles. Walking inside, the place was packed and bustling. It felt like everyone had come looking for some cold noodles to beat the heat. Still, given the type of food, the table turnover was fast, so I was able to grab a seat in no time. It felt a bit lacking to just eat makguksu, so I also ordered a plate of steamed dumplings. From the outside, the wrappers had a color that made them look like they were made with buckwheat, but when I actually tried them, they tasted like pretty standard meat dumplings. There's nothing particularly special about them, but they were a decent side dish to pair with the noodles. The main dish, the makguksu, came with a generous topping of seaweed flakes and spicy seasoning paste over an icy slush broth. There were two whole bundles of noodles rolled up, making it a very generous portion for one person. Even though I was sweating like a waterfall in the boiling weather, slurping down the cold noodles made me feel like the heat was finally subsiding a bit. That being said, the taste itself isn't incredibly unique. Honestly, I don't think it's the kind of flavor you'd travel from far away just to eat. Still, in this sweltering weather, a bowl of icy makguksu is definitely precious.
I think the rumors might have gotten a bit exaggerated since this is the only famous makguksu spot in Yeoju. Rather than going out of your way to visit, I recommend stopping by for a refreshing bowl if it happens to fit your route while driving down south.
