Free wine for waiting at a Mokdong gopchang restaurant: Omokgyo

Today I've got a Mokdong food review for you /ᐠ - ̫ -マ♥ The place I'm introducing in this post is "Omokgyo Gopchang," located in Mokdong, Yangcheon-gu, Seoul!

Omokgyo Gopchang Mokdong Main Branch

Omokgyo Gopchang is a gopchang (grilled beef intestine) spot near Omokgyo Station, just a 3-minute walk from Exit 2?! A few months ago my partner and I ate so much gopchang we got sick of it for a while, but wouldn't you know it — the craving cooldown was over again. So I went looking for a truly good gopchang place, and turns out there's one not far from my partner's place that even celebrities go to. And it has garlic gopchang, with the garlic we love so much,, there was no way I couldn't go lol. We went straight there as soon as my partner got off work (⸝⸝- ̫ -⸝⸝)ෆ⃛

Where is Omokgyo Gopchang? 3 minutes from Omokgyo Station Exit 2

The exterior of Omokgyo Gopchang looks like this. It's tucked into an alley so it's nice and quiet. Actually this was my first time going to Omokgyo Station, and it wasn't crowded at all, which was great ~(‾▿‾~) Might have to set aside a day to explore more Omokgyo restaurants haha

Here's the inside. It was bigger and had more seating than I expected. Would be great for a company dinner or group gathering! And since the weather's nice these days, they had the full-length windows open, giving it a bit of an outdoor-tent feel. We got lucky and sat right next to the open window, and the cool breeze blowing in made me so happy (⸝⸝⸝♡⩊♡⸝⸝⸝)

Why waiting pays off: free drinks, soju and wine by wait time

Luckily there was no wait when we visited, but apparently there's usually quite a line. But the thing about Omokgyo Gopchang is, even if you wait, it's not a loss — because there are rewards based on how long you wait ;;

20+ min wait → a free drink 40+ min wait → a bottle of soju or beer 1hr+ wait → a bottle of red wine

Are you... maybe... hoping to wait...?

There were signed autographs from famous celebrities and clips of the place being featured on TV. That just builds the anticipation even more ~~

Omokgyo Gopchang menu and what two people ordered

Here's how the menu is organized. Besides grilled items, they also had quite a variety of meal dishes. And there's a promotion going on where, if you order both grilled items and hot pot, you can get Jumunjin gol bibim noodles for just ₩100 *,,* We figured we couldn't finish it all so we skipped it, but if you go with a group and order both plus the noodles, that sounds amazing ₊˚‧(๑σ̴̶̷̥́ ₃σ̴̶̷̀)·˚₊

The two of us started off by ordering handmade garlic gopchang (28,900), mixed gopchang (27,900), and soju (5,000)!

There are quite a few promotions running, so make sure to take advantage and grab those perks (∩˃o˂∩)

The side dishes, including sundubu-jjigae

The basic side dishes were sesame oil sauce, spicy special sauce, chive salad, raw liver, beef tripe, shiitake wasabi, pickled onion, scallion kimchi, and potato salad — and the scallion kimchi was seriously insane ;; I could see why they call themselves a garlic gopchang and scallion kimchi specialty restaurant. I'll go into the flavor details below ͈ᴗ̀ ̫ᴗ́ ͈

Sundubu-jjigae (soft tofu stew) also comes as a default side, and it was spicy in just the right way, perfect as a soju side dish. While waiting for the gopchang, just sip on that with the side dishes and a shot of soju lol

Six cuts on the mixed gopchang platter and the fire show

And here comes the star of the show!!! Since we ordered the traditional garlic gopchang plus mixed gopchang combo, a lot came out besides just the gopchang. Bean sprouts, chives, onions, potatoes — plenty of vegetables too, absolutely perfect ( ✧ ̫ ✧ ) For reference, the mixed gopchang is made up of [garlic gopchang + beef gopchang + makchang + daechang + heart + honeycomb tripe] ദ്ദി⸝⸝•̀֊•́⸝⸝)

The staff member did a fire show for us and cut the daechang into bite-sized pieces. The sizzling oil visual was absolutely incredible 𓂂ɞ̴̶̷ ₃ ɞ̴̶̷𓂂

You can't resist gopchang and soju, right? It's basically a crime to eat gopchang without soju lol. Rinsed my mouth clean with soju and got the real eating show started ◝꒰´꒳`∗꒱◟

Heart and honeycomb tripe

House rule is to eat the heart first. Grill it too long and it gets chewy and loses flavor. Popped it in quickly and honestly, so good ㅜ Not chewy at all, super tender ( ́⌒ .̫ ⌒ ̀)ʕ𐭩 Next we had the honeycomb tripe too, and if you're someone who likes the innards in Yangpyeong haejangguk (hangover soup), you'll definitely love this (= my partner)

Makchang, the pork or beef rectum cut

This is makchang, and it was a bit like pig's trotter collagen! A little different from the beef makchang I usually know. It had this smooth kind of texture. Similar to pork skin's texture too, in a way — anyway eating it with the spicy special sauce, it wasn't greasy at all and was delicious ૮⁔•︡ ᴥ •︠⁔ა⊹܀☆

Scallion kimchi grilled right on the pan

We also grilled the scallion kimchi together, and honestly the first bite made me go "wow" out loud ;; It wasn't too sour or too sweet, seasoned just right, with an amazing crunchy texture. No exaggeration, I really wanted to take some home. Owner, please give me the recipe(?) — as if you'd tell me lol

Traditional garlic gopchang stuffed with whole garlic cloves

And now today's headliner: the traditional handmade garlic gopchang. I thought there'd be minced garlic stuffed inside the gopchang, but nope — big whole garlic cloves were in there. Because of that, the look actually reminded me of tteokgalbi (grilled short rib patties) lol

I was surprised by the unfamiliar look at first, then tasted it and — insanely good. The moment it hits your mouth, the garlic melts away and completely wipes out any greasiness from the gopchang. And I couldn't get a photo of it, but there was so much gop (fat) inside the gopchang too, and the combo with the garlic was just crazy,, this really is a legit gopchang restaurant ( ̳- ·̫ - ̳ˆ )◞❤︎

The crispy-grilled daechang was also amazing. Daechang is always good, no question @,@ Since daechang is definitely fattier, the scallion kimchi played a big role in cutting through the greasiness. Oh, and it went really well with the pickled onion too ( ˘͈ ᵕ ˘͈ )ꕤ.˖

Finishing with Omokgyo fried rice at 6,900 won

No matter how full I am, I can't resist fried rice~ We ordered the Omokgyo fried rice (6,900) as an extra. Once the egg starts cooking, they scrape it all up to make it into an egg fried rice, and since it has a lot of egg in it, it reminded me of the fried rice at Deungchon and had a nice nutty flavor. Koreans really do run on rice power!

We cleaned up the fried rice, the side dishes, and the soju completely. Not gonna lie, we did refill the scallion kimchi twice haha

Hangover sticks and the self-service receipt photo booth

When we paid, the owner gave us heotgae (Japanese raisin tree) sticks too. I really appreciate that kind of thoughtfulness ♥︎ ˃̶᷄₎₃₍˂̶᷄ ♥︎ All you drinkers, gather at Omokgyo Gopchang ~~ Next to the entrance they also have wet wipes, hair ties, toothpicks, and even deodorizer set up :: ( › - ‹ ) ::

There was even a receipt photo booth, so I snapped a photo there too lol. A restaurant with both thoughtfulness and fun — I'll give it 100 out of 10 ʕ ྀི ͈ᴗ̀ ̫ᴗ́ ྀི͈ʔ

Two reasons the meal at Omokgyo Gopchang never got heavy

That wraps up my review of the Mokdong restaurant Omokgyo Gopchang! Usually when I eat gopchang, it's delicious at first but I start getting sick of it partway through — but with Omokgyo Gopchang's gopchang, I could genuinely enjoy it deliciously all the way to the end. Thinking carefully about why that is +_+

• The scallion kimchi is on another level
• Whole garlic cloves in the garlic gopchang & fresh gopchang quality

Among the celebrity autographs hanging in the shop, there was one that said something like, "I'd have no regrets dying while eating here." Before eating, I thought that seemed a bit much, but after eating, I totally get where that person was coming from ^^ If you're looking for a truly delicious gopchang restaurant in Seoul, I definitely recommend paying this place a visit ( *᎑ ̫᎑)