In our recent trip to Toronto, Ontario (Canada), a reddit post described Myeongdong Gyoza Kalguksu as the most “punch-you-in-the-mouth flavor.” With a review like that, how can you not make the trip to Koreatown and stop by? (The Bloor and Bathurst area has a great representation of Korean restaurants).
First of all, let’s deconstruct this three part name. Myeondong is a central commercial district in Seoul, South Korea, and can also mean “bright village.” Gyoza is a Japanese word for dumpling, the Korean word would be “mandu.” Finally, kalguksu is a knife-cut wheat noodle dish that’s very popular in Toronto, in a guk (mostly clear, sometimes anchovy-kelp or beef bone) broth.
For starters, the kimchi banchan was amazing. It had a great balance of spice, garlic, and ginger, with a slight level of fermentation that elevated this to some of the best kimchi we’ve had. A-plus. And given that “mandu” was literally a focus of the restaurant we needed to try it. These dumplings were stuffed to the gills with pork, onion, and green onion in a blissful combination that was savory and a great way to start the meal.
The sets gave the option to have both bossam (a boiled pork belly or shoulder) and kalguksu, their signature dish. The bossam (featured image) was chewy and flavorful, and served with napa cabbage, spicy daikon radish, ssamjang (dipping sauce), and jalapenos/garlic slices to make wraps. I had ordered a side of rice (came as purple rice!) to complete my bossam tacos. The dish did not disappoint. And coupled with the kalguksu, which featured knife-cut, also chewy noodles, a bit of bulgogi, and zucchini/carrots/scallions in a slow-cooked broth (that I also ate with the rice), it was a well-balanced meal.
My dining partner opted for the wang ppyeo (big braised bone) kalguksu, which was their signature guk broth with a generous portion of pork bone and veggies. Consuming the knife-cut noodles (which are wheat and glutinous), they evaluated that it really is a dish worth naming a restaurant over.
Exploring the rest of the menu, Myeongdong Gyoza Kalguksu offers in their signatures a jjang tteokbokki (black bean sauce rice cakes) and jjol teokbokki (cold noodles rice cakes), larger portion of bossam and a garlic bossam, the wang ppyeo over stir-fried noodles, seafood kalguksu, pork and rice soups, seafood pancake, and spicy pork ribs. Their noodle selection is impressive, with bibimguksu (bibimbap with noodles), cold buckwheat noodles, spicy buckwheat noodles, kimchi noodles, dogani (joint broth) noodles, kalguksu with mandu, and yukgaejang (beef) noodles. Following up, there is pork and beef bulgogis, rice cake guk and manduguk, a selection of bibimbaps, and dogani with rice and yukgaejang with rice. The sets also include bulgogi with sides, bulgogi with kalguksu, spicy pork with sides, and spicy pork with kalguksu. Overall, it’s a well-rounded menu playing to their strengths of mandu and noodles in an amazing guk broth.
In terms of the boast about flavor, I’d say the place definitely has it. There’s a lot of love that goes into these guk broths (over 12 hours, according to the server), and everything was cooked to its exceptional peak, with little wait time. In terms of must-go-to’s in Toronto, if you’re into kalguksu, this place should make the list.
