Motgol Station BBQ, Busan: wire-grilled pork neck galbi, Gim Geumja

Want to enjoy domestic Korean pork at a price that won't hurt, and really fill up?! Let me introduce Gim Geumja Sutbul Galbi Daeyeon Branch (김금자숯불갈비 대연점) in Daeyeon-dong, Busan.

Gim Geumja Sutbul Galbi Daeyeon Branch: opening hours and parking

Gim Geumja Sutbul Galbi Daeyeon Branch is open 16:00–01:00 on weekdays and 11:30–01:00 on weekends. For parking, you can use the Nam-gu Office parking lot.

How to get to Gim Geumja Sutbul Galbi from Motgol Station

From Exit 2 of Motgol Station, walk toward Daeyeon Station. At the intersection you'll see Ijo Galbi, and just before the crosswalk, turn into the alley on the left. The restaurant is right there, so it's easy to find.

The outside has a friendly neighborhood feel with a retro touch added.

Seating and the 16-person private room at Gim Geumja Daeyeon Branch

The inside was bigger than it looked from the street, with seating for 4 up to 8 people. Next to the self-bar there were 4-person tables that felt fairly private, and at the back there's a private room that holds up to 16, so it looked good for family meals as well as company dinners and gatherings.

Every table has a tablet for table ordering, which made checking the menu and ordering easy.

What's at the Gim Geumja self-service bar?

There's a self-bar at one side of the restaurant. It has all kinds of wrap vegetables and side dishes, like lettuce, perilla leaves, chili peppers, onion, garlic, scallion salad, pickled radish for wraps, cabbage and kimchi. There are also seasonings and sauces such as ssamjang (seasoned wrap paste), wasabi, scallion salad and onion sauce, plus water, cups, plates, tongs and scissors, so you can help yourself to as much as you need.

How much did two people pay? Menu and prices

Two of us ordered pork belly galbi, pork neck galbi, yangpun bibimbap (rice bowl mixed in a big metal bowl) and beef belly doenjang stew, and the total came to ₩53,600 including the table setting fee.

• Table setting fee ×2: ₩3,000 (₩1,500 extra per person)
• Pork belly galbi (200g): ₩15,800
• Pork neck galbi (200g): ₩23,200
• Yangpun bibimbap: ₩5,800
• Beef belly doenjang stew: ₩5,800
• Total: ₩53,600

What comes with the basic table setting

As soon as you sit down, the table setting is prepared. It includes cabbage salad, onion sauce and scallion salad, along with wrap vegetables, pickled radish, kimchi and muksabal (cold acorn jelly soup). Ssamjang, wasabi, sesame salt, coarse salt and a special soy sauce also come out, so you can dip things however you like.

How to enjoy the raw pork belly galbi

I ordered the raw pork belly galbi and the seasoned pork neck galbi.

The raw pork belly galbi here is the cut where pork belly, without the skin, is still attached to the rib bones. It's grilled directly over charcoal, so it picks up a faint smoky flavor, and you can really taste the rich juices from the fatty part of the belly.

It goes well with the special soy sauce, but personally I'd most recommend dipping it in sesame salt or coarse salt! The nutty juices and the flavor of the salt come together and bring out even more savoriness.

One piece had a small bone attached, but not enough to really affect the weight, and the bone still had a fair amount of meat on it, so there was even the fun of picking it up and gnawing it by hand.

Seasoned pork neck galbi grilled on a wire grate

After the pork belly galbi, the staff swapped out the grill plate for a new one,

The pork neck galbi is grilled on a wire grate, so you get an even stronger charcoal aroma. On the other hand, because it's marinated, the flames flare up more easily, so you need to watch it a bit more carefully.

The pork neck galbi is scored closely, so the seasoning had soaked in evenly all the way through, and the result was a moist, tender texture.

The pork neck galbi was best eaten with scallion salad. The spicy scallions balanced out the sweet, salty flavor typical of seasoned galbi, so everything worked together nicely.

Meal dishes: yangpun bibimbap and beef belly doenjang stew

For the meal, we ordered the yangpun bibimbap and the beef belly doenjang stew (₩5,800 each). The bibimbap came with two fried eggs, plus seaweed, lettuce, seasoned radish, bean sprouts, carrots and more, generously piled in, so it looks appetizing just to look at.

There's plenty of gochujang (red chili paste) too, so rather than putting it all in at once, I'd suggest putting some on a small plate and adding more as you taste. The vegetables weren't tossed in too much sesame oil or stir-fried, so their own flavors really came through, and I was happy that the whole thing tasted clean and light.

The doenjang stew we ordered with it is, as the name says, packed with beef belly. The broth from the beef was rich and deeply savory, and with tofu, sweet pumpkin and several kinds of mushrooms in it, there's also the fun of picking out the ingredients. The light bibimbap and the rich, savory doenjang stew went well together, and we finished the meal feeling full.

Visitor events at Gim Geumja Sutbul Galbi Daeyeon Branch

• Post a Naver receipt photo review and get free jjondeugi (chewy snack) or dried filefish
• Visit before 18:00 and get 2 free glasses of slushy draft beer

What I liked about Gim Geumja Sutbul Galbi Daeyeon Branch

A charcoal pork galbi restaurant where you can enjoy domestic pork and a range of meal dishes at a good price: Gim Geumja Sutbul Galbi Daeyeon Branch

• It's near Motgol Station, so it's easy to get to.
• You can enjoy domestic pork at a good value.
• It has a variety of meal dishes too, so there's plenty to choose from.