Busan restaurant for rib noodles with three bones: Gang Galbitang

A filling, easy-on-the-stomach galbitang meal in Seomyeon

My husband and I were out in Seomyeon and wanted something filling but easy on the stomach, so we had a delicious meal at Gang Galbitang Seomyeon!!

As you would expect from a great galbitang (beef short-rib soup) spot that simmers its soup every morning with honest ingredients, a delicious aroma greeted us as soon as we walked in—and it was packed with diners.

Gang Galbitang Seomyeon had a polished feel with wood-toned tables and brick décor. There were wall-side and L-shaped seats that are great for dining alone, plus two- and four-person tables in the middle dining room. There were actually lots of older guests eating solo, too.

Gang Galbitang Seomyeon takes pride in making every part of the process in-house and freshly simmering its soup each morning.

The TV inside shows videos of the morning prep, and it is so thorough~~ Gang Galbitang Seomyeon drew everyone from young people to older diners, and the tables on both sides of us had foreign guests eating there too. If even international visitors come here, you know it is the real deal~~

A menu from galbitang to meal kits

Galbitang is the signature menu item, and alongside the regular version there is spicy galbitang. There are also galbi noodles, galbi gukbap (rice soup with beef ribs), spicy galbi gukbap, and arongsatae suyuk (sliced boiled beef shank).

It is such a popular place that they also sell take-home meal kits. Plenty of people were dining in, but I also saw quite a few picking up meal kits. The uncooked kits can be frozen for three months: the regular 1,100 g kit is ₩13,000, while the special 1,350 g kit with extra brisket is ₩16,000.

You can conveniently order both dine-in food and takeaway through the kiosk.

There is a self-service bar, so you can help yourself to extra side dishes if you need them.

• Galbi noodles: ₩13,500
• Galbitang: ₩14,000
• Basic side dishes: chorogi (Chinese artichoke), kkakdugi (cubed radish kimchi), chili peppers, garlic, and dipping sauce for the meat

Signature galbi noodles with three rib bones

Galbi noodles

These are Gang Galbitang Seomyeon's signature galbi noodles: galbitang with special noodles delivered directly from Jeju and chewy rib bones.

Those rib bones are huge, right? Haha. The galbi noodles come with three rib bones like these, so there was a very generous amount of meat. It even had this cute little ginseng on top, which made it feel like a proper nourishing meal!! Details like this really do make a difference.

First, I tried a sip of the broth. Yes, this is it, haha. The broth was so clean and mild, but delicious. It was not overly seasoned, and there was not one unnecessary flavor.

And these are the noodles delivered directly from Jeju, and they were seriously delicious. They were definitely different from ordinary noodles—chewy yet soft, without getting soggy. Although it is a meat noodle dish, it also came with a small bowl of rice, so Gang Galbitang Seomyeon was really generous with the portions! Haha.

There was lots of meat too, so I cut it into easy-to-eat pieces and slurped it up with the noodles—so good. Hehe. There seemed to be more meat than at other places, which was great because I could eat meat with the noodles right to the end.

The signature galbitang, perfect with rice mixed in

Gang Galbitang

This is galbitang, Gang Galbitang Seomyeon's signature dish, freshly simmered every morning.

The galbitang also comes with a little somyeon (thin wheat noodles), so order the galbi noodles if you prefer more noodles, or galbitang if you prefer mixing in rice :-) The difference is whether there are more noodles or more rice. And the galbitang comes with four rib bones. Just so you know!

The galbitang also has dangmyeon (glass noodles), and that is another delicious little treat, haha. Galbitang would feel incomplete without glass noodles.

They give you plenty of rice with the galbitang too. Mix it in properly, top it with kkakdugi, and it is sooo delicious :) I was really curious about the spicy galbitang too, so if I come back to eat again, I want to give that a try then. Hehe.

Photo-review event and how the meal felt

Gang Galbitang Seomyeon is running a photo-review event. Leave a thoughtful photo review and you receive a Korean-made hand cream as a gift, so enjoy your meal and take home some hand cream too. It feels like the perfect review gift for the season when the air gets dry.

I feel like I have more often been disappointed because my mouth did not feel clean after eating galbitang, but Gang Galbitang Seomyeon was so satisfying even afterward—mild and clean, without that seasoning-powder taste!! The broth was amazing, the meat was tender with no unpleasant odor, and the noodles were another special highlight. It is a place that has really stayed with me. When the weather turns cold and I crave a hot bowl of galbitang, I am going back.