South Korea · Seoul · ramen guide
Hakuten
A signature bowl from our Seoul guide. See what to order, why this counter stands out, and how to plan the visit.
Tori paitan · Seafood chintan · Korean Iekei
Order this
Iekei ramen with normal salt, oil and noodle firmness
The story behind the bowl
Hakuten was an early force in Seoul's Iekei movement. Its owner developed the style largely through independent study, maintaining a yobimodoshi-style blended pork-and-chicken stock, making textured noodles in-house and smoking the chashu rather than copying the genre superficially.
Before you go: Taste before adding garlic, doubanjiang or vinegar. Spinach and nori are part of the intended Iekei rhythm—use them with soup, noodles and rice rather than treating them as garnish.