Suin Insadong Dakhanmari : Whole Chicken Soup Restaurant in Seoul

Suin Insadong Dakhanmari is a small restaurant in Seoul specialising in the traditional Korean chicken dish of dak-hanmari 닭한마리 or whole chicken soup.

Whole Chicken Soup Restaurant in Insadong, Seoul

We found the Suin Insadong Dakhanmari restaurant on the Catchtable app that is used for restaurant reservations in South Korea. It is simply referred to as “Su-In 수인” when we did a Google map search. The rest of the name is easier to figure out. The restaurant is located in a quiet lane in the popular Insadong area in Seoul. According to Wikipedia, Dak-hanmari ( 닭한마리) is a South Korean chicken soup dish which originated in areas around Dongdaemun in Seoul since 1960s. 

The restaurant is located on the ground level of a small brick building. We could have easily walked past this restaurant if not for a small sign on the ground (picture above) pointing us into the building with the words “whole chicken soup samgyetang”. Entry is via a glass sliding door inside the building (picture below).

Suin Insadong Dakhanmari Restaurant in Seoul

The interior has a traditional casual Korean restaurant feel. Simple but comfortable wooden furniture in a neat and clean dining hall. We went slightly early at about 11.30am to avoid the lunch crowd and was rewarded with a nice quiet restaurant (picture below).

Midway though our meal, the place soon filled up with the lunch crowd (picture below), but it never felt overcrowded at any time.

Insadong Chicken Soup Restaurant Menu

The Suin Insadong Dakhanmari restaurant menu is quite a straightforward one. The Korean version is displayed on the walls (picture above). For visitors like us, an English version was also available. Since we were at a dakhanmari restaurant it was logical that we should try the one-chicken soup priced at KRW28,000 (approx. S$25). We also read somewhere that a whole chicken soup meal should be completed with noodles at the end. And so we also placed an order for kalguksu (KRW3,000), to be cooked in the soup at the end.

Lunch at Suin Insadong Dakhanmari

Lunch started with the arrival of a few side dishes (banchan). Compared to other restaurants we tried on this visit to Seoul, these seemed rather basic.

The main event arrived soon after. A pot of dak-hanmari (닭한마리) was placed on top of the induction stove in the middle of the table. The pot contained pieces of cooked chicken in chicken soup, topped with a generous amount of leeks.



The soup was soon boiling and was kept boiling for several minutes to cook the vegetables. Once the vegetables were soft and the flavours infused into the broth, it was perfect (picture below). Although it was a whole chicken soup, it was different from the ginseng chicken soup which we experienced at Gobong Samgyetang in Myeongdong where the whole chicken was cooked intact. Having the chicken pieces cut up made eating easier. Each piece was tender and meaty. The soup was delicious and seasoned well.

Once the main contents were eaten, it was time to start up the stove and add the kalguksu. With the noodles soaking up the tasty broth, they tasted wonderful. So much so that we forgot to take pictures of the cooked noodles. This is a picture of the uncooked noodles before their swimming lesson. A satisfying meal for two costing a total of KRW31,000 (no extras for tax etc were added to the menu price).

Ratings:
Food: 4
Service: 4
Value: 4
Atmosphere: 3
Overall Rating: 4 TOPs 

Suin Insadong Dakhanmari
 서울특별시 종로구 인사동10길 23-8 1층
1st floor, 23-8 Insa-dong 10-gil, Jongno-gu
Seoul, South Korea