Gwangju Songjeong Station pork soup, meat refills: Gaeryeong Gukbap

With a mother's heart ~ boiling both clear gomtang and rich pork gukbap in one pot, Gaeryeong Gukbap is a soup restaurant inside Gwangju Songjeong Station.

I went to Gwangju for a site visit ahead of an event in October. Our meeting spot happened to be Gwangju Songjeong Station.

While looking for somewhere to eat nearby, I found a restaurant inside the station — the train station, not the subway station! Gwangju Songjeong Station has separate exit numbers for the subway and the train station, so it was a little confusing. The name was Gaeryeong Gukbap! A hearty soup is the best thing in the morning.

It looked really clean, maybe because it hadn't been open long.

Where is Gaeryeong Gukbap inside Gwangju Songjeong Station, and can you eat alone?

Gaeryeong Gukbap is a soup restaurant on the 2nd floor of Gwangju Songjeong Station, a spot lots of people pass through.

The interior wasn't huge — there were bar seats along the wall and about 5 tables in the middle. It seemed good for solo dining too. We went as two! Might be tough for a big group.

Gaeryeong Gukbap menu and prices, plus the ttaro-gukbap surcharge

The menu had pork gukbap (soup), gogi-guksu (meat noodles), and clear pork gomtang, and they also sold a gukbap-bossam set that came with tasting-portion boiled pork alongside the gukbap or gogi-guksu. The tasting portion of boiled pork came with pickled radish strips and 8 slices of pork. You could also just order the boiled pork alone, which at ₩12,000 wasn't a big commitment.

For the pork gukbap, you choose whether to have it separate or toryeom-style (pre-mixed with rice); going separate (ttaro) adds ₩1,000. The clear pork gomtang comes in regular and large sizes. What's amazing here is the notice that if you run out, they'll give you more rice, broth, and meat! Rice and broth is already generous, but refilling the meat too is basically angelic.

We ordered one bossam set and one ttaro-gukbap.

• Ttaro-gukbap ₩13,000
• Bossam set ₩17,000
• Total ₩30,000 (for 2)

Self-serve side dish bar and how the food-court-style ordering works

No one brings anything to your table separately — you get the banchan (side dishes) yourself from the self-serve bar. The bar itself was neatly organized.

When your order is ready, you pick it up and eat,

and once you're done, you bring your dishes to the return counter —

it was food-court style. There were bar seats and a few center tables; we sat side by side at the bar.

The bossam set's 8 slices of boiled pork and how the pork gukbap tastes

The Gaeryeong Gukbap bossam set comes with 8 tasting slices of boiled pork

along with pork gukbap,

I was going to add chili paste to the gukbap, but looking at the broth, the seasoning was already spot on, so I just ate it as is without adding anything. My boyfriend says the owner has a 'seasoning ghost' ear (a knack for perfect seasoning), lol — this from a guy who ordered ttaro-gukbap and then mixed it into the rice anyway.

You get the banchan from the self-serve bar —

diced radish kimchi, kimchi, peppers, chives, ssamjang (seasoned soybean paste), and salted shrimp,

and personally, true to a good gukbap restaurant, the kimchi was delicious.

The broth was nice and milky white, and it came with a generous amount of meat too,

an all-around flawless bowl of gukbap.

No off smell at all, and it filled us up nicely.

The tasting boiled pork also came with pickled radish strips, which made it a great little side dish. Piling a bit of radish onto a slice of pork and wrapping it up was absolutely delicious.

Is Gaeryeong Gukbap worth a meal before your train?

What I really liked about Gaeryeong Gukbap's mindset was this: even though it's a soup restaurant inside a station, where you'd expect it to just be a place for people passing through to grab something quick, they refill your rice, broth, and even meat if you run out. That told me they're not just coasting on location. There were one or two mothers cooking in the kitchen, and it felt like their approach was genuinely 'have a hearty meal before you go.'

When you want a hearty meal at the station, whether before boarding a train or after getting off from a long ride, this feels like a really good meal option. Skip the burger and go for a filling bowl of gukbap instead ~