By Kwon Mee-yoo
Staff reporter
“Jajangmyeon,” or noodles with black bean sauce, is a popular Korean-style Chinese dish. It is a popular choice for ordinary people because of its cheap price and is available for convenient delivery almost 24 hours a day. But pricewise, the meal is not as economical as people think and there is a wide gap in price depending on where it is served.
Seoul City surveyed 2,630 Chinese restaurants in the city and found that the Chinese restaurant at the Grand Hyatt Seoul in Yongsan District sells the most expensive jajangmyeon, priced at 12,500 won ($10.42).
In close second place, a restaurant in Yeoksam-dong, Gangnam district and a restaurant in Lotte Hotel World in Songpa district sell a bowl of black bean noodles at 12,000 won. Next in line, there are some 60 other stores that sell jajangmyeon for more than 6,000 won, which can be considered as 'high-end' jajangmyeon.
“Though jajangmyeon sold at hotel restaurants is expensive, we provide the best service and high quality ingredients, which is all reflected in the price,” a hotel spokesperson said. “You can’t simply compare the price with other restaurants.”
On the other hand, there are still low-priced jajangmyeon to be had. The cheapest one is only 2,000 won, sold at 40 different Chinese restaurants mostly north of the Han River, around one sixth of the number of the most expensive ones.
The average price of jajangmyeon is 3,800 won ㅡ the priciest region was Gangnam-gu, with an average price of 4,500 won compared to the lowest average in Dobong-gu at 3,400 won.
Detailed price information is available at the city's website mulga.seoul.go.kr. It provides price information of some 85,000 business including restaurants, coffee shops, laundries and many more retail and service shops.