Gwangmyeong Korean BBQ lunch with special sauce: Seoseo Galbi

Pork ribs near Gwangmyeong Market for my husband’s birthday lunch

That day, my husband and I went out for lunch at a barbecue restaurant around Gwangmyeong Sageori. It was his birthday... For my birthdays, we always go for Outback, VIPS, or a seafood buffet or something like that, but my husband’s absolute favorite food is pork ribs!!!!!! Ribs. Not beef ribs, but pork ribs! Haha. So we searched for a barbecue restaurant near Gwangmyeong Market and came here. Just a heads-up: it is not on the roadside but down an alley from the main road, so it may be hard to find.

The exterior of Gwangmyeong Seoseo Galbi! It looked as if two or three cars could park in front, and we parked right away. It opens at noon, and since we arrived right at 12:00 on a weekday, parking was no problem.

A spacious, clean dining room

Inside Gwangmyeong Seoseo Galbi! There appeared to be around 15 tables. The seating was roomier than I expected, divided between square and round tables. Even though it is a barbecue restaurant, the floors and tables were kept so clean that nothing felt greasy or slippery.

Pork ribs and self-serve side dishes

The Gwangmyeong Seoseo Galbi menu! Simple! Fresh beef ribs, Seoseo Galbi, and pork ribs! There are three kinds of meat. I read in another blog post that the Seoseo Galbi is slightly minced, so it is much more tender, while the pork ribs have more texture. There is also naengmyeon (cold buckwheat noodles) as a side or after-meal dish.

Another big plus! A self-serve side-dish bar, which I love!!!!! It was neatly set up, and there was even yangnyeom gejang (raw crab marinated in spicy sauce)!!!! At even pricey barbecue places, marinated crab refills are often limited to once or cost extra, but this place is seriously generous. Haha.

Our order that day! Two servings of pork ribs—₩16,000 × 2 = ₩32,000—and one bowl of rice = ₩1,000. The plan was to order one more serving and naengmyeon if the pork ribs were good; if they were not, we would add one serving of Seoseo Galbi, order naengmyeon, and call it a day. But... spoiler alert: this place was so, so good! My husband and I can usually eat lots of carbs, but we rarely manage more than three servings of meat... Then, after two servings of pork ribs here, my husband’s eyes got huge and he ordered three more servings..... He kept saying it was so delicious.... Hahaha. I was too full to eat naengmyeon. In the end, our full order was!! Five servings of pork ribs—₩16,000 × 5 = ₩32,000, one bowl of rice = ₩1,000, total = ₩80,000.

The basic side dishes! The sides here were already insane. I cannot eat crab, but as soon as the marinated crab came out, my husband added a bowl of rice and cleared three plates. And that jijin kimchi? Pan-seared kimchi? I kept refilling it and wanted to take some home.ㅠㅠ There was marinated crab, pickled onions, lettuce, scallion salad, salad, garlic, ssamjang (seasoned soybean paste), and not stir-fried kimchi... but pan-seared kimchi... I do not know what to call it, anyway it was so good I wanted to take it home.

Our two servings of ribs!

They brought over the charcoal right away! We put the meat straight on. My husband and I were hungry, so we ordered one bowl of rice and split it, then my husband quickly polished off his rice with the marinated crab and that pan-seared kimchi.

Charcoal-grilled pork ribs: turn them often

These are marinated ribs cooked over charcoal, so you need to turn them often to keep them from burning. They do not grill the meat for you here, so if you look away for even a moment, it can burn.

My husband happily eating the marinated crab~ I cannot eat crab, so I have no idea what it tastes like, but he said the seasoning was absolutely spot-on.

Ribs dunked in the special sauce

Once the meat was cooked, they said we could eat it, so we did. Normally I eat marinated ribs with lots of ssamjang, but they told us to try this special sauce, and it was so delicious. It was not salty, so it was good even dunked all the way in. It was sweet and nutty, seemingly based on rib marinade with something extra added; the umami exploded and it seemed to bring out the flavor of the ribs even more. The meat was thick too, and full of juices, which I loved.

I also made lettuce wraps several times. The lettuce was not soft and flimsy but had a little character and texture, which was nice, and vegetables such as the lettuce, garlic, and salad were all so fresh. For wraps, it was delicious with garlic, ssamjang, and pickled onions on top.

While eating the ribs, my husband got excited... and ordered three more servings. Usually, three servings is the most we ever eat. That is because we always order rice and naengmyeon too... We both love carbs, so even when it comes to meat, three servings is our limit, but there was no stopping my excited husband. He just kept eating and saying how delicious it was.

This is the ugeojitang (hearty soup with outer cabbage leaves) that came with the meal. It was complimentary, but it even had meat in it. It was savory and delicious; while my husband ate rice with marinated crab, I mixed rice into this soup.

Finishing every bit of the second round of ribs

Round two!!!!! It was delicious to dunk the ribs deeply in that magical sauce from earlier, then pile on the scallion bits. It was sweet and full of umami even just over plain white rice, with absolutely no pork smell and nothing tough about it. We got completely hooked on the pork ribs, so we did not get to try the Seoseo Galbi or fresh beef ribs, but honestly these rank among the top three ribs I have eaten in my life!!

The traces of my husband diligently picking apart the marinated crab... haha. So this is the photo after we cleared everything!!!!! We came for my husband’s birthday and truly, truly had such a delicious meal!!!