It’s 2025. It’s 2025, and as a Korean, it’s hard to celebrate the New Year, whether it’s the Lunar New Year or the Chinese New Year, without tteokguk. If you can’t spend the New Year at home with your family and friends, why not eat out? Here are four restaurants in Seoul that have long been loved by many.
1. Saebom Tteokgukguksu
When you think of a tteokguk restaurant, you usually think of a mandukguk restaurant selling tteokguk together, but this place puts tteokguk on the menu. It boasts a colorful lineup of abalone, matsutake matsutake, matsutake oyster, perilla beef, shrimp, and chicken tteokguk.
📍24, Samunan-ro, Jung-gu (Naver map)
2. Gaeseong Dumpling Palace
Gaeseong Dumpling Palace has been in business for three generations. From 2017 to 2024, it was selected as a Michelin Guide Bib Gourmand for eight consecutive years. There are tteokguk and mandukguk with sputum rice cakes, as well as chewy jorangi tteokguk.
📍11-3, Insadong 10-gil, Jongno-gu (Naver map)
3. Jahason Mandu
Jaha Son Dumpling is tucked away in a Western-style house next to a window in Buam-dong. It was also selected in the 2024 Michelin Guide. The tteokmandukguk is served neatly like a picture, and the clear soup is delicious. Afterward, take your warmed body up to Yundong Jujuin Hill next door and make a New Year’s wish overlooking Seoul.
📍12, Baekseokdong-gil, Jongno-gu (Naver map)
4. Milan Noodle Soup
Famous for its shabu shabu, steamed cod leg, and kalguk, this restaurant’s unexpected signature dish is perilla tteokguk. The soup is made with perilla seeds and simmered for a long time!
📍4, Gapporo 28-gil, Gangnam-gu (Naver map)