Eulji Myeonok in Nakwon-dong: The Cold Noodle Landmark’s New Chapter

Eulji Myeonok in Nakwon-dong is now the main chapter in the story of one of Seoul’s best-known Pyongyang naengmyeon restaurants. After leaving its longtime Euljiro home because of redevelopment in 2022, the restaurant began serving again in Jongno-gu’s Nakwon-dong on April 22, 2024.¹

For many readers, the move matters because Eulji Myeonok was never just another cold noodle shop. It opened in Ipjeong-dong in 1985, operated there for 37 years, and ended service at its previous Euljiro location in June 2022.² The Nakwon-dong reopening turned a paused Seoul food story into a new address, with the same name carrying a lot of memory into a very different setting.

Eulji Myeonok Nakwon-dong: From Euljiro Memory to Jongno Address

Eulji Myeonok in Nakwon-dong five-story Seoul restaurant concept

The new location sits in Seoul’s Jongno-gu, near Exit 5 of Jongno 3-ga Station and beside the Jongno Tax Office, in a building described as one basement level and five above-ground floors. Building records cited in reporting listed the basement level and first floor for general restaurant use.² Another report described the site as the former Jeil Building location in Nakwon-dong, with service operating up to the third floor and an elevator installed.³

That detail says a lot about the change. The old Euljiro location was remembered for the atmosphere of an older building, the kind of place where the setting and the food seemed to belong to the same era. The new Nakwon-dong restaurant, by contrast, is a much larger and more modern structure. NewsPost framed the move as part of a broader urban story after Euljiro redevelopment, noting the contrast between the old neighborhood feeling and the changed location after relocation.⁴

Still, the core reason people followed the name was the food. When the reopening was being prepared in March 2024, Eulji Myeonok was reported to be getting ready to serve again after roughly two years away from its old site. One restaurant-side comment captured the seasonal promise simply: it wanted to serve cool naengmyeon to customers before the intense heat arrived.²

What Changed at the New Five-Story Restaurant

The clearest physical change is scale. The Nakwon-dong building was reported as having one basement floor and five floors above ground, with a total floor area of 999.5 square meters.⁵ That is a very different image from the kind of compact, worn-in old restaurant many longtime Seoul diners associate with famous no-po, or long-established local restaurants.

The sign also carried a bridge between old and new. Dailyan reported that the front sign at the new store used the letter shapes of the previous blue brush-style painted sign, while changing the color.⁵ It is a small design choice, but for a restaurant with a name as recognizable as Eulji Myeonok, even the lettering can help regulars connect the new address with the older memory.

Before opening, the exact date was not immediately fixed. Chosun Ilbo reported in mid-March 2024 that the restaurant was preparing for an April or May opening behind Nakwon Arcade, while the site was still under repair. In that report, Hong, the representative, said, “We are reopening Eulji Myeonok here.”⁶ Workers at the site expected interior work to wrap up in early April, and the later photo report confirmed that business began in Nakwon-dong on April 22, 2024.¹

Once open, the restaurant drew the kind of attention expected from a returning Seoul noodle landmark. Hankook Ilbo reported customers lining up after the April 2024 reopening, and it also gave a useful snapshot of the new prices: both mul naengmyeon and bibim naengmyeon were 15,000 won per bowl, up 2,000 won from two years earlier. Prices for suyuk and pyeonyuk had also risen.³

The Same Recipe Question

Whenever a beloved restaurant moves, one question tends to come first: does it still taste the same? The reporting around Eulji Myeonok’s Nakwon-dong reopening leaned directly into that question. Hankook Ilbo quoted the restaurant side as saying, “The recipe is the same now as it was 39 years ago.”³

That quote is important because the move changed almost everything around the bowl. The neighborhood changed from Euljiro to Nakwon-dong. The building changed from an older setting to a larger multi-floor restaurant. The line, the elevator, the floors in use, and the updated prices all belong to the new chapter. But the restaurant’s own message was that the cooking method had not changed.

There is also a timeline that helps explain why the reopening drew so much interest. Eulji Myeonok began in 1985, stopped operating at its old place in 2022 because of redevelopment, and resumed in Nakwon-dong in 2024.¹ NewsPost noted that the restaurant, known for Pyongyang naengmyeon, would mark its 40th anniversary in 2025.⁴ That makes the Nakwon-dong era more than a simple relocation; it is the setting for a milestone year in the restaurant’s history.

Eulji Myeonok Nakwon-dong Seoul cold noodle landmark

For anyone tracking Seoul’s old restaurants, Eulji Myeonok’s Nakwon-dong reopening is a compact example of how food culture survives urban change. The old atmosphere may not be fully transferable, and the new building is plainly different, but the name, the noodles, the sign’s visual memory, and the restaurant’s stated commitment to its long-running recipe all connect the new address to the Euljiro story that made it known.