Gijang restaurant walk-in evening beef tteokgalbi: Dongam Tteokgalbi

I went to Gijang, a spot near Busan, and I was craving Korean food so badly that I visited Dongam Tteokgalbi!

Dongam Tteokgalbi is right near Lotte Outlet and IKEA in Dongbusan, so it's an easy walk. We came on foot, but there's also free parking inside the building, so driving would be convenient too haha!

🏠 Address | 160 Gijanghaean-ro, 3rd floor, Gijang-eup, Gijang-gun, Busan 📍Hours | Weekdays 11:00 - 21:00 *Break time 15:00 - 16:30 Weekends 11:00 - 21:00 *No break time on weekends 🚙 Parking | In-building parking (free)

The vibe — a Korean restaurant with jars and paintings

As soon as you walk in, the classic Korean interior catches your eye. And here's a nice touch — there are outlets in the waiting area!

The place is clean, and it's actually fun to look around at the jars and paintings on display, ones I'd never seen before (made me suddenly wonder how much they cost haha).

A window seat on a Saturday evening

We were seated by the window, and maybe because the weather was nice, we could even see Lotte World, the view was really pretty haha ( ˶ᵔ ᵕ ᵔ˶ ). By Saturday evening, most of the tables were packed! This place is as popular as I'd heard.

What's on the self-serve bar?

Dongam Tteokgalbi has this self-serve corner, and the spread is more than plentiful. Maybe because of the jars on display, filling your plate feels extra fun, it's a bit like being at a buffet haha.

Ta-da.

Ta-da. Ta-da. Ta-da. Feels like it'll take forever to eat all of this.. ^^

There's even fluffy, crumbly black sesame(?) tofu! The self-serve corner has everything.

After picking and choosing, here's my side dish pick from the self-serve corner haha. Among them, the acorn jelly salad was really tasty, hehe. While we were bringing back sides, the main dishes finally arrived!!

Dongam Tteokgalbi's menu and prices

Dongam Tteokgalbi's menu is as follows,

• Signature Hanwoo tteokgalbi ₩22,000
• Kids tteokgalbi set ₩10,000
• Dongam tteokgalbi ₩15,000
• Cheese tteokgalbi set ₩18,000
• Cream cheongyang chili tteokgalbi set ₩18,000

We ordered the signature Hanwoo tteokgalbi and the cheese tteokgalbi set.

How to eat the hotpot rice

First, you scoop out about two bowls of rice from the hotpot, then tell the staff and they'll pour in water for you. True to a spot near Lotte Outlet Gijang, the hotpot rice had that nutty, toasty flavor and was delicious ദ്ദി˶˃ ᵕ ˂˶). You can just grab a ladle from the self-serve corner!!

How was the Hanwoo tteokgalbi and cheese tteokgalbi?

I tried the Hanwoo tteokgalbi (Korean beef patty) I'd been looking forward to first. It's definitely much softer than the store-bought kind 😋 The more you chew, the more you taste that rich Hanwoo flavor, and dipping it in soy sauce was just right. It's not overly sweet either, so it'd be perfect to order for a family gathering!

If your palate is like a kid's, I'd recommend the cheese tteokgalbi set! The tteokgalbi topped with cheese and corn is savory-sweet and genuinely delicious ( ๑ᵔ⤙ᵔ๑). Even though I'd eaten lunch a bit early, I ended up completely stuffed ✌️

There's already so much to eat at the self-serve bar, and on top of that, plenty of dishes come as the basic table setting too. The portions were seriously..~~~ so generous it took forever to finish haha.

Personally I kept reaching for the doenjang jjigae (soybean paste stew), mixed into rice it's the absolute best haha. There were even two crabs 🦀 in it, so you can share nicely.

Dessert and hygiene

Finished off with old-school Korean snacks!! My taste buds are basically a grandma's so I love these kinds of snacks (๑´ڡ`๑). Even the dessert was perfect!!👍

Oh, and one thing that was great about hygiene here — the utensils were individually wrapped one by one, so it felt clean, and the bathroom even had hair ties ready!

It's been a while since I ended a lovely evening at a place with such good taste, generous portions, and a clean setting. The accessibility is really great too, so next time I'll stop by Lotte Mall and bring my family along!