Dish guide · Soups and stews
Chueotang
추어탕
Loach soup
A hearty soup of pond loach, a small freshwater fish, usually boiled and ground so you don't see the fish. Traditionally eaten for stamina, it comes in regional styles.
What it is
- In most styles the loach is boiled until soft and pushed through a sieve or ground, then cooked with doenjang (soybean paste), napa cabbage and other greens.
- The Gyeongsang style is a light doenjang soup with ground loach and cabbage. The Jeolla style adds perilla seed, and the Seoul style serves the loach whole in a beef-bone broth.
How to eat it
- 1Taste it first, then add the ground chopi (Korean pepper) or chopped chili on the table if you like.
History
- Koreans have long thought of it as a nourishing stamina food, and it's often served at meals for older people.
Allergies and diet
Usually contains
- Loach is a fish, even when it's ground and you can't see it.
- Doenjang is made from soybeans.
Recipes differ between restaurants. If you have an allergy, always ask the staff before you order.
🗣️ Allergy card for the staff
Pick your allergy to see the sentence in Korean.
📍 Where to try it
- 🍲
Sangju Sikdang 상주식당
Soups & stews · Downtown & Seomun Market, Daegu · Since 1957
A chueotang house off Dongseong-ro since 1957, serving just one dish: Gyeongsang-style loach soup with cabbage in a light doenjang broth. It closes every winter.
Try: Chueotang (loach soup)
Locals' pick - 🍲
Yonggeumok 용금옥
Soups & stews · Myeongdong, Seoul · Since 1932
A loach-soup house in a Dadong back alley near City Hall, open since 1932. It serves Seoul-style chutang, a red, peppery soup with whole loaches left in, where most of Korea grinds them. The regulars are office workers and older Seoulites, not tour groups.
Try: Chutang (Seoul-style loach soup)
Locals' pick
Sources
We check every fact against at least two sources and write it in our own words. Last checked: 2026-11-05.