Seogwan (西關) is the old name for the Pyeongan region in the Joseon era. It names the region where Pyeongyang Naengmyeon has its roots, and it shows what food and culture Seogwanmyeonog means to carry on. The name Seogwanmyeonog holds more than a restaurant that makes Pyeongyang Naengmyeon. It holds the intent to carry the noodle culture of Pyeongan, and the food culture within it, into today.

Finding Seogwan in Jeong Yak-yong's Writing

The name Seogwanmyeonog also connects to the writing in Yeoyudang Jeonseo by Dasan Jeong Yak-yong.

Jeong Yak-yong left written records of the food and the noodle culture of the Gwanseo region, and in those records we found the name Seogwan along with traces of the noodle culture we want to carry on. A name that had remained in an old record has been brought back out as the sign over a naengmyeon house today.

The Name Sets Our Direction

Seogwan is not only a business name. It is also one standard by which we make our food.

100% buckwheat noodles made from Jeju buckwheat milled and cut the same day, a clear broth drawn deeply from Hanwoo (Korean beef), and Seonju Humyeon (a drink first, then noodles), where drinks and food come first and naengmyeon closes the meal. Rather than copying the old noodle culture of Pyeongan as it was, carrying the thinking and the methods held inside it forward with today's ingredients and techniques is what we mean by tradition.

What we look for is not reproducing the old exactly, and not mounting past food as a specimen. It is finding grounds in old records and food culture, then adding today's good ingredients and cooking to set a table that tastes good now. So our menu holds old names together with today's methods. Goldong Naengmyeon, which starts from the record of Goldongmyeon, Seogwan Myeonsang, which reads the noodle table setting of Joseon in a modern way, and the eating culture of Seonju Humyeon all look in the same direction.

Seogwan is a name that holds where Seogwanmyeonog started from and where it is heading.