The Gom Tang 곰탕 at HaDongGwan 하동관
All Restaurants usually have one dish, perhaps two dishes that especially stand out, either publicly, unofficially, or blatantly. HaDongGwan 하동관 is a Gom Tang Jip which means, in Korea, that they specialize in the one dish – Gom Tang.
Gom Tang is a beef soup with ox leg meat and brisket that is stewed without bones. Similar to Seollung Tang 설렁탕 with ox tail meat and brisket, except that is stewed with bones to have a white milky colored soup. Both are quite good. (Personally, I am a bigger fan of Seollung Tang)
HaDongGwan, only opens for lunch, does Gom Tang and another soup that contains everything in Gom Tang but also includes tripe. The other soup, called Tukk, is more nutritious, but not my preference. They really don’t serve anything else here. Sort of like the Soup Nazi from New York City and Seinfeld, they have simple rules that everyone follows. You stand in line to order & pay, then tell them how many in your party, and then get seated. Then you wait patiently for food, then eat, and then leave quickly. There’s some pressure to eat and eat fast with so many people waiting for tables and servers cleaning up. As you try to savor and enjoy your soup, you sharing your table with strangers, since the lunchtime crowd is crazy packed. Upstairs is a traditional dining room where you take off your shoes and sit on the floor. This experience with the food is interesting and it makes things easier to manage a restaurant.
The Gom Tang, with all the restaurants simple quirkiness, actually very good. That’s why people endure this type of treatment or like the experience. The hearty and flavorful consume/soup comes to the table pipping hot and with rice already including inside. Koreans, like to enjoy their soups with rice inside, sort of chicken and rice soup. Depending on your selection, you have your protein in the soup as well. The semi large brass bowl, with sides of radish and regular kimchi, comes almost already prepared to eat. But most of the time, you season it yourself, with pepper, salt, diced green onions, and spicy pepper paste/sauce. Strangely, you offset the salty consume with the spicy kimchi to round out the taste profile – which I have always liked.
After you finish, you given a cup of hot tea/water right before you step out. And that’s your meal at HaDongGwan. Even on this cold winter day, there were people lining up and waiting outside, just to get a table, as I walked out the door. Their system allows for fast turnover, so they won’t be waiting long. That’s good to know, since I won’t have to wait long the next time I go.
Seolleong Tang Wikipedia Entry
What to Order: Gomtang and nothing but Gomtang What not to Order: Don’t get the other one, unless you like tripe
Rating 3 Pigs Price Range 1 $/¥/NT
Previous Thirsty Pig Post – Jan 2009, by Mr. B HiExpat Listing Joongangdaily Listing
하동관 HaDongGwan 10-4 Myeongdong 1(il)-ga, Jung-gu Seoul South Korea 02-776-5656
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