The Best Naengmyeon in Pohang

Rotary Naengmyeon

The characters on the glass doors read “Naengmyeon Jonmun” and that means “Naengmyeon Specialty”. I like restaurants that have only two things on their menu and both of them are wonderful.

The where? Rotary is located up the street from the CGV movie theater at the 6 Street Intersection (AKA yuk-gori, the “go” is pronounced like it would be in “got”) across the street from one entrance to the pedestrian shopping street. It’s a family-run restaurant that’s been in business for 50 years. The city hall used to be a few blocks up the street in what’s now the public library.

Wiki-quote for the uninitiated: “Naengmyeon is served in a large stainless bowl with a tangy iced broth, julienned cucumbers (Korean cucumbers are like the gourmet cukes. Remove seeds if using the ubiquitous waxy cukes), slices of Korean pear, and either a boiled egg or slices of cold boiled beef or both. Spicy Mustard sauce [or Mustard oil-use sparingly] and vinegar are often added before consumption. The long noodles would be eaten without cutting, as they symbolized longevity of life and good health, but modernly, servers at restaurants usually ask if the noodles should be cut prior to eating and use food scissors to cut the noodles.”

The why? Rotary makes their own noodles, the broth is incredible, and the beef slices are better (quality and quantity-wise) than I’ve had elsewhere.

The bibim naengmyeon’s not bad either.