Lunch near Hakdong Station, sorted for solo, team meals and late lunch

Is there a lunch near Hakdong Station for a day you bring a client? Jinmi Pyongyang Naengmyeon on Hakdong-ro is the answer. A naengmyeon (cold buckwheat noodle) house listed in the Michelin Bib Gourmand every year since 2018.

The usual order is one bowl of naengmyeon with a half portion of jeyuk (boiled pork) or mandu (dumplings) on the side. The broth leans seasoned rather than plain. Three of four reviews are about that broth. Staff come around with a kettle and top it up. The mandu is Pyongyang style, packed with tofu.

No break time, open year-round. On the timetable it is open well past 13:00, and one review says they sat without waiting. Seats depend on the day, but this is the first candidate for a late lunch. The Diningcode price rating is 3.5, a notch below the 4.6 for taste. A bit steep to come every day for lunch.

A Chinese restaurant on the ground floor of the Mihyeon Building, right in front of exit 7 of Hakdong Station. Hongmyeong appeared on Sung Si-kyung's show Meogeulten-de. One review says walk-ins write their name on a waiting slip and wait.

The star of the lunch reviews is not a main dish but the wok char of the gan-jjajang and the jjasai (pickled mustard stem).

The fried rice comes with egg soup instead of jjamppong broth. One reviewer ate all four dishes and still wrote that the jjasai was the best. The Diningcode taste rating of 4.8 is among the highest of the five.

There is a private room. For a team lunch, the room is worth a phone call first. One three-star review says the gan-jjajang is a little short on noodles and slightly light on sauce. Valet is ₩4,000.

Where can a group sit around a grill? Ryumongmin's Hakdong branch, on the second floor of C Place on Hakdong-ro 25-gil. A flame-grilled dakgalbi (spicy chicken) place where pre-cooked chicken goes over the fire once more.

The staff grill it through to the end.

The fire show is the first scene in the reviews. Piling on bean sprouts from the self-serve bar is the second. There are noodles too. Gosomyeon and bibim yeolmu makguksu are ₩9,900, so a group with someone who wants something light still works.

Free parking, and bookings are taken. One four-star review says service gets a little rushed when they are busy. The break starts at 15:30, so lunch has to end before that.

If you are looking for a seat to eat alone, it is Mia Saigon on Dosan-daero 30-gil. Seven minutes on foot from exit 8 of Hakdong Station, a Vietnamese noodle house open weekdays only.

Fresh rice noodles is the phrase that repeats in the reviews.

The broth is genuinely deep, and you add sauce to set the heat to your taste. Phở bò is ₩12,000, and with bún chả and cơm sườn on the menu, a day you don't want noodles works too.

Closed Saturday and Sunday. Five's take: this place lives on the weekday office lunch. One review says you write on the waiting list even at 11:30, and the break starts at 14:30. By the timetable, a late lunch past 14:30 is out. Sitting alone is easy, but the seven minutes each way and the queue belong in the same sum. One review says the chairs are a bit low.

While the other four open at 11:00 or 11:30, Mandu-ui Jeonseol opens at 10:30. Ground floor of the Yuram Building on Hakdong-ro, a place that folds its own mandu.

Order the mixed one and you get three kimchi mandu and two meat mandu.

One review says the wrapper is thin enough that the juices burst when you bite. The broth is clear, with egg stirred in softly. One review says this is the only mandu place with dongchimi (radish water kimchi).

Closed Sunday, and the door shuts at 19:30. No parking. A three-star review says the spicy manduguk is red but not actually spicy, so expecting real heat may leave you a little short.