Takeout dakgalbi near Namiseom, Gapyeong for a pension dinner: Hanok

Traveling to Gapyeong with my wife, mother-in-law, and baby daughter, we were trying to figure out what to eat for dinner at the pension when we came across Hanok Dakgalbi in Gapyeong.

When you order takeout, they give you what feels like 3 servings for the price of 2, so it's great value and famous for being delicious, so we decided to take it home to the pension. Bottom line: next time we come to Gapyeong for a family trip or with friends and stay at a pension, I'm getting takeout from here again.

Parking and entrance — a ramp even a stroller can use

I was surprised that Hanok Dakgalbi Gapyeong has its own parking lot as big as a schoolyard.

I wondered how popular a restaurant has to be to need a lot like this, and sure enough, even visiting on a weekday around 3pm there were quite a lot of people. On weekends this lot is probably packed. Since Namiseom is close to Gapyeong Station, more and more travelers are coming without cars too.

There are two entrances — you can go up the stairs, or right next to them there's a ramp that even strollers can use, which makes it perfect for families.

The takeout was so good that I'm already thinking about bringing my baby back to Namiseom next time. I can't wait until our 15-month-old is a bit older so she can eat dakgalbi with me. By then I'll probably be older too, haha.

Inside the restaurant and the window seats

Since we got takeout, we didn't actually eat inside, but the restaurant looked quite spacious, and the window seats with a view of the Namiseom river looked especially nice. It made me wonder if I should have eaten in instead.

It was a weekday, 3pm, an awkward time to eat, and yet there were still quite a lot of customers, which made me realize just how popular this place really is. Most restaurants would have a break time with no customers around then, but Hanok Dakgalbi Gapyeong doesn't do that.

Choosing the spice level — original, mild enough for kids

You can adjust the spiciness, but since it was for the kids too, we ordered the original, which is mild. It's the sweet-and-spicy dakgalbi flavor that pretty much everyone likes.

350g per serving for takeout — enough for 3 people with 2 servings?

The great thing about takeout is that while a dine-in serving is 200g, takeout gives you 350g. So 2 servings of takeout comes to 700g, which is more than even 3 servings eaten in the restaurant.

So the three of us in my family ordered 2 servings of takeout, and we ate very well and got very full. I'm a big eater, and even I could barely finish it by the end, so don't worry about it not being enough.

After we got back to the pension and played to our hearts' content, we opened the takeout bag to find an insulated bag with one big ice pack inside. Even after several hours, it was still nicely chilled.

How to cook it at the pension

You can just throw everything into a pan and stir while it cooks, but I cooked the meat a bit first before adding the vegetables.

At the end, top it with perilla leaves and it's done!

At first you wonder when this is ever going to cook, but as you keep stirring, the vegetables wilt down and you can see the sauce gradually soaking in as it cooks.

We bought some wrap vegetables at the mart and set a really generous spread at the pension.

Beer was a must, and we even cooked rice, so it was a really delicious meal. We'd been swimming and playing, so being hungry made it taste even better.

Coming to a pension naturally makes you more industrious, haha. It's mostly chicken thigh meat, so it's really tender and great, and there's quite a lot of tteoksari (rice cake sticks) in it too — the kind with a hole in the middle so the sauce soaks right in.

My mother-in-law was eating and asked if this was really only 2 servings — she said the portion was enormous and delicious.

Would I recommend it as a pension dinner in Gapyeong?

If you're wondering what to eat at your accommodation on a Gapyeong trip, I'd recommend Hanok Dakgalbi Gapyeong. It's not spicy, it's easy to cook, and it's great value, so there's no reason not to pick it. I'm probably going to suggest getting dakgalbi takeout when I come to a Gapyeong pension with friends this winter.