Family gopchang feast for 4 in Incheon at 74,900 won: Yeonsu Gopchang

※ This restaurant covered part of the cost of the meal. I paid the remainder myself and wrote this after eating there.

The kids spoke up first: "We want gopchang!"

This weekend's family dinner was at Yeonsu Gopchang (연수곱창), a gopchang (grilled or stir-fried beef small intestine) restaurant in Yeonsu-dong, Incheon. Now that the kids are older, the things they want to eat have gotten a lot more varied. I used to be the one choosing where we ate most days, but these days the kids bring up what they want first.

This weekend, one sentence settled dinner right away: "We want gopchang!" And that's how we ended up at Yeonsu Gopchang, a well-known spot in Yeonsu-dong.

What are the atmosphere and self-serve corner like at Yeonsu Gopchang?

Yeonsu Gopchang is fairly close to Yeonsu Station, so the location looks good if you're hunting for a place to eat around the station. Out front, the menu photos and prices are shown in big print, and inside, the space was roomier than I expected. The tables weren't crammed together either, so it felt comfortable for a family meal.

On one side there's a self-serve corner where you can help yourself to perilla leaves, side dishes, sauces and more, as much as you need.

The ₩74,900 Special Table set: what's in it?

What we ordered at Yeonsu Gopchang was the Special Table set (상다리 부러지는 스페셜 한상, literally "the table legs will break") for ₩74,900. It's recommended for 4 or more people, and everything below comes out together.

• Open-flame vegetable gopchang stir-fry
• Salt-grilled makchang (beef abomasum)
• Seasoned grilled makchang
• Gopchang hot pot in an earthenware bowl
• Cheese bomb steamed egg
• Sesame oil four-color fried rice

With kids, a set like this is handy for trying lots of things. While we waited, the first thing to arrive was a kettle holding big skewers of fish cake.

We pulled out the fish cakes one by one with the warm broth and added sundae (blood sausage) and liver on the side. The table was already pretty full before the main dishes even showed up. Soon after, the vegetable gopchang stir-fry and the makchang arrived, filling a whole pan.

The open-flame vegetable gopchang stir-fry and salt-grilled and seasoned makchang

The open-flame vegetable gopchang stir-fry at Yeonsu Gopchang was well seasoned, the salt-grilled makchang tasted clean and mild, and the seasoned grilled makchang had a bit richer flavor. Switching between three flavors at one table made my mouth very happy.

They also gave us a tip: dip the salt-grilled makchang in the sauce with perilla seed powder and it's amazing. There was a generous pile of garlic chives in the middle too. Gopchang and makchang with garlic chives are a match made in heaven, no question!!

The kids' favorite: cheese bomb steamed egg

The dish the kids loved most in the Special Table set was the cheese bomb steamed egg (gyeran-jjim). When I scooped it with a spoon, the cheese stretched out long, that's how much was piled on. Savory cheese on fluffy steamed egg suited the kids' tastes perfectly.

The spicy gopchang hot pot

The gopchang hot pot (jeongol) in an earthenware bowl was packed with gopchang and vegetables. The broth was on the spicy side, a totally different taste from the stir-fry and makchang we'd eaten before. My husband gave the hot pot a thumbs up.

Finishing with sesame oil four-color fried rice

The last dish of the Special Table is the sesame oil four-color fried rice. It first comes out with rice, seaweed flakes, garlic chives, egg and so on arranged in separate colors, and once you stir-fry everything together, a nutty aroma rises up.

I saved a few pieces of gopchang and ate them with the fried rice, which added a chewy bite and filled my mouth with rich flavor. Even though I was pretty full, I couldn't stop eating the fried rice until it was gone~~

How was the Special Table set for a family meal?

If you want to eat lots of dishes at once, the Special Table set at Yeonsu Gopchang was pretty generous. As the kids grow, what we eat together keeps changing. We've moved on from familiar things like spaghetti and fried chicken; now they sometimes ask for gopchang first, and trying new dishes has become fun.

Thanks to the gopchang the kids picked, this weekend dinner covered everything from open-flame gopchang stir-fry to makchang, hot pot, cheese egg custard and fried rice, a whole table full.

Parking and the review event at Yeonsu Gopchang

If you drive to Yeonsu Gopchang, use the Matgoeul-gil public parking lot in Yeonsu-dong, and the restaurant covers 2 hours of free parking!! The lot isn't far from the restaurant, so walking over after parking was easy.

If you join the Naver review event, you can get a giant lemon black tea sparkling drink. It's made with homemade lemon syrup, and the taste is a step above what you'd get at a café.

Yeonsu Gopchang Yeonsu Main Branch: location and hours

• Address: 13-5 Sammal-ro 21beon-gil, Yeonsu-gu, Incheon, South Korea (1st floor)
• Location: about 648 m from Exit 1 of Yeonsu Station (Suin-Bundang Line)
• Hours: Mon–Sat 16:00–01:00, last order 00:00
• Closed: regular closure on the 5th Sunday of each month (the last Sunday of the month may change because of a deep clean of the restaurant, so it's best to check before visiting)
• Parking: Matgoeul-gil public parking lot nearby in Yeonsu-dong