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Start
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China Town
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Sinseungbanjeom
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Street Food
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Donghwa Village
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Songwoldong
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Wolmido
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Orakai
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Sinbokgwan
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Central Park
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Akino Kitchen
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Museums
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Finish
Jajangmyeon is Korean-style Chinese cuisine made in China Town that you cannot find in China. A Chinese named U Hee-gwang opened the restaurant called Gonghwachun in 1905 and invented this cuisine called Jajangmyeon for workers at Incheon port to eat quickly at a responsible price. I would regret not eating the original Jajangmyeon in China Town, the origin of Jajangmyeon loved by EVERY KOREAN. But most people think that Gonghwachun is the origin of Korean-style Jajangmyeon but it’s half true. Because today’s Gonghwachun in Incheon China Town is not the same as the one from Japanese colonial era. So we headed to Sinseungbanjeom to look for the original. I’ll talk about it in detail soon.
As I said earlier, the original Jajangmyeon was made in Gonghwachun and you can find the big building called Gonghwachun in China Town, Incheon. So many tourists go there thinking it’s the one but the original Gonghwachun restaurant has changed its name to Sinseungbanjeom. The truth is that the President Park Jeong-hee started to limit property rights of foreigners in the 1970s and after that, a lot of Chinese people lost the basis of livelihood and left Korea. (The original) Gonghwachun could not stand it anymore and closed the restaurant in 1985 and then one Korean registered the exclusive use of Gonghwachun name in 1998 and opened the restaurant. That means current Gonghwachun is just a regular Chinese restaurant that has an exclusive use of Gonghwachun.
And even on its website, it tries to sneakily connect its existance to the original restaurant’s history but it is completely different one just using the same name. And Sinseungbanjeom is where the grand daughter of U Hee-gwang, who invented Jajangmyeon, runs business to keep the original taste. It’s located on the right of the 1st pailoo, the front door of China Town. So we got excited to how the original Jajangmyeon tastes like after it’s passed down through three generations so we got inside.
It was quiet since it’s before lunch time. It’s redecorated in a modern style that looks neat and sophisticated inside.
The original Gonghwachun simply explains the truth without sticking it to people about current Gonghwachun pretending to be the original and making a lot of money. Well, it’s not practically illegal to register the label after a few decades of closing but I think there’s a problem with pretending the original that’s been running over 100 years.
Well, we’re here so we HAVE TO try Jajangmyeon(Samseon Ganjajang) and ordered another Samseon Jjamppong(spicy seafood noodle soup). 
It looks like normal Danmuji(pickled radish), onions and Chunjang. What’s special here is this black sauce called Chunjang. Most Chinese restaurants buy this stuff at the market but here, the chef makes it that tastes salty at first but has flavory after taste. 
Ta-da~ Finally the original Jajangmyeon of 100 years of history, Samseon Ganjajang, was served. 
Check out the noodles first, they’re much thinner than the regular ones. Most of them contain chemical gluten to keep the noodles fresh so they’re chewy even after some time but this one is thin and soft yet not overly chewy. And the half-fried egg that so many people talk about. Many people find this unique since it’s not so common in Seoul/Gyeonggi areas although I am quite used to it since I used to live in Gyeongsang-do.
And Jajang sauce fried with sliced onions, meat and Chunjang that was made in this restaurant. It’s known to have 100 years of history but it looks like normal Jajang sauce. 
I had to taste it before I mix it and the strong and flavory scent came from my nose. And its unique sour taste spread in my mouth and then it became clean and aromatic. Normal Jajang sauce tastes too sweet because of sugar but this one has frieid onion flavor yet no sweetness of sugar. Plus, it’s quite salty for preservation but the after taste is very neat. 
I thought it had more sauce than the noodles but I couldn’t leave it so I put them all together. Salty sauce with half-fried egg tasted perfect for me. It’s just a normal fried-egg and I guess they figured this out all along.
Jajangmyeon at Sinseungbanjeom with thin and soft noodles and aromatic and bittersweet Chunjang tasted very great for me. But you might be disappointed because the first taste is not so strong like the one with artificial seasonings and less sweet, which might disappoint kids.
Next to Jajangmyeon, Samseon Jjambbong is popular at Sinseungbanjeom. You cannot see in the picture because of soup but it had more seafood than noodles in red soup. 
Well, you gotta taste the soup when it comes to Jjambbong! I tried one sip and it was spicy, neat and tasted of fried seafood. 
The noodles in Jjambbong were also thin and soft. They have the tastes of original ingredients since they’re thin and the noodles tasted good. People find Chinese food greasy after some trials but dishes at Sinseungbanjeom do not contain artificial seasonings so we enjoyed a very nice meal.
Address : 11-32, Bukseong-dong 2-ga, Jung-gu, Incheon (인천광역시 중구 북성동 2가 11-32번지)
Telephone : 032-762-9467
Operating Hours and Holidays : Everyday 11:30~21:00, Closed on 2nd and 4th Wednesdays
