Myeongdong restaurants, where visitors get stuck at the ordering counter

If your friend has no idea what to eat first in Korea, start at Myeongdong Kyoja Main Branch. Walk in from exit 8 of Myeongdong Station along Myeongdong 10-gil and a whole four-storey building is the noodle house. There are only four dishes — kalguksu, mandu (dumplings), bibim-guksu (cold noodles in chilli sauce) and summer kongguksu (chilled soybean noodles) — with photos on the wall. Choose at the kiosk by the door, pay first, and staff find you a seat.

The broth is chicken-based, and many reviews call it deep yet clean. The dumpling skins are thin enough to see the filling through, with garlic chives inside. The kimchi is heavy on garlic, so tell any visiting friends in advance.

Shared tables are the default, so a pair of you will sit beside strangers. Turnover is fast, though, and review after review says they were seated within 10 minutes if they avoided the noon peak. Of the five, this is the cheapest.

Hadongkwan opens at 07:00 and closes at 16:00. It shuts earlier if the broth runs out, so go before lunch to be safe. The menu is two things: gomtang (clear beef soup) and suyuk (sliced boiled beef).

Five minutes' walk from Myeongdong Station brings you to a gomtang house that started in 1939. You pay at the till first and take a paper ticket to your seat. The rice comes ladled with hot broth in a heavy brass bowl.

Under the menu, in Korean and English, it says you can have it without offal. If you dislike tripe and intestine, ask for meat only. The broth is clear and mild, so you season it yourself with salt and the juice from the kkakdugi radish kimchi. The side dishes are sparse, and at ₩18,000 a bowl people do call it expensive.

Hamcho Ganjang Gejang is the priciest of the five, at ₩45,000 for a one-person set. Should it have been left out, then? It could not be. It sits in the basement of a mall towards exit 8 of Myeongdong Station. The room is dressed with plants, and a screen at the table shows you how to eat gejang (raw crab cured in soy sauce).

One Trip.com review says Japanese was understood, so ordering felt easy. A Diningcode review notes that foreign diners are overwhelmingly the majority. The soy-cured crab is not salty, and people keep saying a bowl of rice just disappears.

Booking is available, and one review says it is better to call ahead. Another notes plenty of foreign diners even at 16:00. Prices differ by source, so ask about the set price on the phone once.

Where the noodle house means shared tables, Hansik Wangbijip Euljiro takes bookings. Three minutes from exit 5 of Euljiro 1-ga Station, then down to the basement. The name says Euljiro, but the address is Myeongdong. One review says the tray comes out as neatly as at an upmarket hanjeongsik house.

Staff grill the meat from start to finish. The hanwoo set for two is ₩96,000, so order meat when there are two or more of you. On your own, the yukhoe bibimbap tray at ₩20,000 arrives as a full spread.

There is an English menu, and you can book through Naver Place or Catch Table. One review mentions about 10 minutes in the waiting seats at lunch. It stays open until 23:00, so you can still grill meat on a day you arrive late.

One review line — a Myeongdong classic — says almost everything about Yeongyang Center Main Branch. It is about 150m from Myeongdong Station. This is the house that first served electric-roast whole chicken in 1960. Odd thing is, samgyetang (ginseng chicken soup) now sells as well as the chicken.

You tear the chicken with your hands and dip it in salt. Pickled radish comes with it. One review says the skin is nutty and salty, better than the meat.

Samgyetang is ₩20,500, and at lunch there is a chicken set for ₩15,000. The crowds peak at weekend lunch and dinner, and mid-afternoon is empty. There is no notice of an English menu, so you would have to call and ask.