Naengmeon is one of the most popular foods in South Korea when summer comes. This cold buckwheat noodle cools down the heat of dinners accumulated from strong sunshine outside. Its broth is made with radish and other beneficial ingredients that supply water and minerals to our body and the radish especially has cold properties. However, to those who have reactions to gluten, a bowl of naengmeon is a pie in the sky. Feeling sympathized, Yongduk Lee opened Naengmeon Jangsoo and is selling the cold noodle made of 100% black rice with no gluten and additives.

“Dinners at my restaurant often say that they feel comfortable inside after eating the cold noodle here. This is because gluten in flour makes stomach uncomfortable but we use rice noodle that has no gluten as well as additives. If the normal flour noodle starts swelling after 10 minutes, the noodle made here does not swell even after 30 minutes up to an hour. This gives dinners crispiness of the noodle until they finish a bowl.” explains Lee.

Instead of additives, Lee uses black rice, black ginseng, black beans, black sesame and black garlic to add healthiness. Black rice and beans contain rich anthocyanin (antioxidant), protein, amino acid and minerals. Black sesame is known to help reduce cholesterol and prevent dry skin and itchiness. Black garlic is good for liver and increases immunity. 

▲ Naengmeon Jangsoo / CEO Yongduk Lee

If you do not know what to try when you are there, try Donttong Naengmeon. It has everything the flagship menu has to offer. From broth to noodle, Lee’s years of knowledge and expertise as a chef are melted in there. It comes with a number sides: a braised pollock, a seasoned braised pollock and a bowl of young radish rice. Finish half of the noodle and add these sides to mix so that you can enjoy the feel of eating a cold fish soup. Apart from the cold noodle, you can order a pork cutlet that is as good as a pork cutlet restaurant must be.

When summer has gone and you think the restaurant has nothing to offer, you are mistaken. When winter comes, the restaurant changes menus from the cold noodle to hot noodles and rice soups that come with a number of sides including a meat pie and a fire-grilled beef. 

About 700 reviews on food delivery apps are increasing steadily, and taking the momentum, Lee is expanding the business to Gyeongju and Andong. Naengmeon Jangsoo won the 2022 Korea Future Management Awards in the category of dinning. <PowerKorea>