Chuncheon Makguksu Museum

The Chuncheon Makguksu Museum is dedicated to makguksu, the cold buckwheat noodles that are Chuncheon's signature dish. On the ground floor you learn about buckwheat and the history of the noodles; upstairs you knead your own dough, press it through a traditional noodle press and eat the result on the spot. It sits in Sinbuk-eup on the way from central Chuncheon to Soyang Dam, so the two make an easy half day together.

A building shaped like a noodle press

Even the architecture is about noodles: it was designed after a noodle press, which squeezes dough into strands, and the iron cauldron of boiling water beneath it. The ground-floor gallery displays the tools once used to husk and grind buckwheat, such as a treadle mortar and millstones, along with old noodle-making machines. Panels explain where buckwheat comes from, its varieties and dishes, the origins of Chuncheon makguksu and how it is cooked.

Why Chuncheon became the makguksu city

Several stories explain the dish's roots. One says that in the Joseon era Chuncheon collected buckwheat grown in mountain counties such as Yanggu, Hwacheon and Inje before shipping it to Hanyang (Seoul), so the town was full of mills and people made buckwheat noodles beside them. Another links the first makguksu restaurants to farmers who moved down from the hills after the slash-and-burn fields were cleared in the 1960s. In the late 1970s, rising incomes and tourism made makguksu the city's signature dish. Interestingly, it was originally a winter food: buckwheat is harvested in autumn and the noodles were pressed during the quiet farming months.

Make your own noodles

In the upstairs workshop you mix buckwheat flour into dough, load it into a traditional noodle press and push down hard until the strands come out. The noodles are then boiled and you taste them straight away. Children love the moment the noodles start streaming out of the press; adults get to try buckwheat noodles at their freshest. The museum was set up to promote local food culture and to build makguksu into a regional speciality.

What is makguksu?

Makguksu is a Gangwon noodle dish: buckwheat noodles served in chilled kimchi broth or cold stock, or tossed in a spicy sauce. The name is commonly explained as "noodles pressed and eaten right away". Because buckwheat dough has little gluten and breaks easily, people developed presses that force the dough down hard so that the strands drop straight into boiling water. Pushing the press yourself in the workshop shows why such a heavy tool was needed. Groups of 30 or more get reduced admission, and guided commentary is available in Korean.

Tripto tips

• Time needed: about 30 minutes for the exhibition, a little over an hour with the workshop.
• Opening hours: exhibition hall 10:00–17:00, workshop 10:30–16:30. Closed on Mondays and over the Seollal and Chuseok holidays.
• Admission: KRW 1,000 for adults, KRW 700 for teenagers and soldiers, KRW 500 for children. The noodle-making workshop costs KRW 5,000.
• Booking: workshops are booked by phone only (+82-33-244-8869), in Korean. Call ahead at weekends or when groups are likely.
• Getting there: about 8 km north-east of Chuncheon Station, roughly 15 minutes by taxi. Parking is free. Soyang Dam is close by and pairs well with a visit.