Dongdaegu lamb skewers and kimchi-style cold okmyeon: Yangbokjeom

Where is Yangbokjeom Dongdaegu Station Branch, and is there parking?

Yangbokjeom Dongdaegu Station Branch (양복점 동대구역점) is 548m from Dongdaegu Station Exit 2, about a 10–15 minute walk. Yangbokjeom is a lamb skewer place that has been popping up more and more lately, and I saw there was a branch near Dongdaegu Station, so I went. The exterior is flashy and impressive (?) haha.

There is no dedicated parking lot, so you need to use paid parking nearby. There are several public paid lots within 500m, and the one across from the iM Bank Sincheon 4-dong branch is apparently the popular choice. (Parking: ₩1,300 for the first 30 minutes, ₩600 per additional 10 minutes, max ₩13,000)

What is the atmosphere like inside?

The interior is clean, with a slightly Chinese-style retro feel. I went on a weekend after 8pm and the place was packed, so I couldn't take proper photos of the inside. Lamb skewer restaurants usually give off an old Chinatown-style, long-running Chinese joint vibe?? but Yangbokjeom is clean, clean, clean, which I liked.

How many skewers are in one serving of lamb at Yangbokjeom?

One serving at Yangbokjeom is 8 skewers. Other lamb skewer places give 10 per serving, but Yangbokjeom's total is 210g, so the quality and weight of each skewer is apparently better. When you've been eating lamb skewers for a while, even pulling the meat off the skewer gets annoying, so this is actually a plus.

Yangbokjeom Dongdaegu Station Branch events

If you order before 6pm, all drinks are 1+1, meaning you get one extra. Nice, right? And the Naver receipt review event gives ₩3,000 off, and not per table but per person,,!! Seems totally great haha. Can you stack them? haha

How well-done should lamb skewers be cooked?

Apparently lamb, like beef, only needs to be cooked until the red is gone,,,!!!! Cooking it about 80–90% is the most tender and tasty, and cooking it a full 100% can make it tough. I thought lamb had to be cooked all the way through like chicken or pork, but I found out at Yangbokjeom that it doesn't. I've eaten so many lamb skewers, why am I only learning this now? hahahaha

Yangbokjeom menu and prices

Here are the signature items at Yangbokjeom Dongdaegu Station Branch. All lamb dishes are 210g, 8 pieces per serving.

• Yangbokjeom lamb ribs (flower ribs) ₩26,000
• Yangbokjeom jumbo skewers ₩18,000
• Lamb sirloin skewers ₩23,000
• Black guobaorou (Chinese sweet-and-sour pork) ₩22,000
• Okmyeon (corn noodles) ₩8,000

Side dishes and table sauces

The side dishes are salted peanuts, yuja-flavored pickled radish, zha cai (Chinese pickled mustard stem)? or is it spelled another way? and pickled chili. Each table has pink salt, zira (cumin seasoning), chalyo (촬료, a chili-based seasoning), and curry powder for the meat. Oh,, I love that red lamb skewer seasoning, and today I learned for the first time that it's called chalyo haha. Many places don't have curry powder, so I liked that Yangbokjeom does.

Which sauce combo works best for the lamb skewers?

This day we ordered 2 servings of lamb skewers, black guobaorou, and cold okmyeon.

The skewers came out first, and since it's 8 skewers instead of 10, each one looks plump?

Grilling (my roommate's job)

Ta-da. Skipping the salt, I dipped in the other three sauces separately. My ranking: chalyo > zira >>>> then curry powder. I ate with chalyo alone or chalyo + zira, while my roommate mixes chalyo:zira:curry powder at 2:1:1 haha. They have their own flavor philosophy haha. It's tasty enough, but the curry flavor was a bit strong for me, so I preferred it without the curry powder. (For the record, I'm someone who normally dislikes curry.)

You put finished skewers in the skewer bucket. It was cute that both the sauces and the skewer bucket have name tags.

What does Yangbokjeom's black guobaorou taste like?

Yangbokjeom's black guobaorou is a nutty, crispy guobaorou made with a secret Yangbokjeom ingredient, and it's slightly spicy. Unusually, the menu has both 'black guobaorou' and plain 'guobaorou', so I agonized over the order. Guobaorou is tender pork in a batter, crispy outside and chewy inside, like a glutinous-rice tangsuyuk (Korean sweet-and-sour pork). Honestly, plain guobaorou is more my taste, but I wanted to try something unique to Yangbokjeom, and black guobaorou is the signature dish.. so I ordered that.

I was shocked at first sight haha. A pile of granite-like lumps?? of meat on top of some bright red sauce.. and when I cut it with scissors, the white inside showed, which looked kind of funny.

The black guobaorou sauce is spicy + tangy. It's not like tteokkkochi (rice cake skewers) and not like jjolmyeon (chewy spicy noodles), and I don't know how to describe it.. but it wasn't bad. It was actually good because it was new. It was definitely not the clichéd guobaorou flavor.

The meat was thinner than I expected, and the chewy layer between the batter and the meat, potato starch? or glutinous rice? probably potato starch.. there wasn't a lot of it. I usually love an extra-chewy texture, so that was a little disappointing, but it was never dry or hard, and the lower part soaked in sauce was actually just right. My roommate liked this exact thickness and level of fry. Everyone's preference differs, but there was definitely a sweet spot for both of us.

What kind of noodles is Yangbokjeom's cold okmyeon?

Yangbokjeom's cold okmyeon is corn noodles in a chilled broth, and when I tried it, it felt almost like kimchi-mal-guksu (noodles in cold kimchi broth). I ordered it as a last palate cleanser, and it's cold (naeng) corn (oksu) noodles (myeon), so naeng-ok-myeon haha.

The menu description says 'chewy corn noodles in cold broth!', so I figured it was literally naengmyeon (cold noodles) made of corn.. but look closely and there's something bright red.. and cabbage, zucchini and so on?

When I moved the egg aside and mixed, it got even stranger,,,!!! What is this? Some kind of cold jjamppong (spicy seafood noodle soup)? I kept mixing. Then I found kimchi! Is this kimchi-mal-guksu?! haha. In the end the cold okmyeon's identity couldn't be figured out by looks, and I found it by tasting. After lamb skewers, guobaorou, eggplant and other Chinese-style fried food, it was the a-bso-lutely perfect way to finish. And it has an unusual flavor that's hard to find at other restaurants, which made it even better haha.

Is there a wait at Yangbokjeom Dongdaegu Station Branch?

There seems to be quite a long wait on Friday and Saturday evenings. I went on a Sunday after 8pm, so there was no wait, but the place stayed packed the whole time.

Drawbacks and overall verdict

The one letdown at Yangbokjeom Dongdaegu Station Branch was that drinks come in paper cups. I wondered how it would be with glass cups. The Earth is hurting,,!!

Otherwise I was satisfied with everything, and it was a super delicious weekend evening haha. The special menu items, how they tasted, the cleanliness and friendliness of the place, and even the interior were all to my liking! Maybe because it's popular with other people too, they expanded the restaurant, and I can see why. Next time I get a chance for drinks with friends, I'll visit again.