A Bottle of Soju with Boiling Warmth... 30-Year-Old Gongdeok Sundaeguk Specialty Honam Restaurant [Jeon Jin-young's Old Shop Exploration]

Honam Sikdang, a 30-Year-Old Gongdeok Sundaeguk Restaurant
A Traditional Eatery Run by Two Generations
Hearty Offal with Spicy Red Broth
Order Sundaeguk for 8,000 Won
and Get a Complimentary Plate of Sample Sundae

[Asia Economy Reporter Jeon Jinyoung] The highest temperature was 34 degrees Celsius, and the road asphalt was sizzling hot. On such a day, I wanted to eat piping hot Sundaegukbap (Korean blood sausage soup with rice) and wipe the sweat off my forehead as I left. My steps led me to Honam Sikdang, a 30-year-old traditional Sundaegukbap restaurant known to all residents of Gongdeok.

The restaurant is located near Exit 4 of Gongdeok Station on Seoul Subway Line 5. The shop is small and old, so if you don’t notice the signboard saying “Sundaeguk Specialty Honam Sikdang” and the phrase on the window “The Real Original Sundaeguk Specialty,” you might easily pass by.

The restaurant is run by an elderly couple and their two sons, spanning two generations. The father is nearing ninety years old. At first, he opened the Sundaeguk restaurant without telling his children, but for 30 years, he came to the shop every day from 1 a.m. to boil the broth, wearing down the fingerprints on his fingers. Due to declining health, since two years ago, two of the three brothers took over the restaurant. The eldest son comes early in the morning to boil the beef bone broth, and the younger son manages the restaurant during the day. Both sons graduated from Seoul National University; one was formerly an executive at a large corporation and still receives scouting offers, but they chose to inherit the restaurant.

The sons say, “Cooking and selling Sundaeguk is very demanding,” and try to discourage their elderly father from running the shop, but even on the day I visited, the father personally took orders and served Sundaeguk at the table. Thanks to the 30-year-old traditional atmosphere preserved by the second generation, the restaurant often appears in dramas. It is also close to the Seoul Western District Court, so it has appeared as a place where prosecutors drink Sundaeguk in legal dramas like “Prosecutor Civil War.”

Honam Sikdang's Sundaeguk Regular

On the day of my visit, Honam Sikdang resembled a neighborhood community center. Regular customers greeted the owner as soon as they entered. Inside the restaurant were a variety of patrons: a man in his 50s drinking soju alone with Sundaeguk, people in their 30s drinking after work, and elderly people with limited mobility. A regular Sundaeguk costs 8,000 won and comes with a complimentary plate of Sundae (blood sausage) to taste. The generous hospitality surprises first-time customers who say, “I didn’t order this.” The plate includes five pieces of chewy Sundae, liver, head meat, and other assorted offal.

The Sundaeguk here is not the usual milky white broth but a red broth. This is characteristic of Jeonju-style Sundaeguk, fitting the name Honam Sikdang. The soup contains perilla leaves, and instead of a seasoning sauce, seasoned salted shrimp (saeujeot) is served. The broth has a clean taste that doesn’t cling thickly to the lips. The soup is filled with generous offal, allowing you to enjoy the ingredients from the first to the last bite.

That day, I finished a bowl of soup and a bottle of soju alone. The customers occasionally glanced at the young woman drinking soju with her Sundaeguk, wondering what story she might have, but I paid no mind and left, patting my full stomach.