Friday night Korean BBQ in Yangjae: 4 galbi cuts for three, Gukgojip

What kind of Korean BBQ restaurant is Gukgojip near Yangjae Station?

Gukgojip (국고집) is a Korean BBQ restaurant about a 5-minute walk from Yangjae Station exits 3 and 4. It's a big place that uses both the 1st floor and basement level 1. I went on a Friday evening and ate a ton of meat.

They're open from lunch through dinner: gukbap (rice soup) at lunch and meat at dinner, which I guess is where the name "Gukgojip" comes from (guk = soup, go = meat).

Atmosphere and seating: is Gukgojip good for a group dinner?

The 1st floor looks just like a classic BBQ joint, and it was pretty crowded on Friday evening. The ground floor was full, so we were guided down to basement level 1.

The basement feels quite spacious with lots of large tables, and it seemed like many people come for company dinners around Yangjae. Sure enough, a few big groups of more than 8 people came in after we sat down.

Gukgojip menu and prices

The meat menu is simple but solid: pork galbi, seasoned galbi, pork belly, gabrisal (pork shoulder-end cut), fresh beef galbi-sal (boneless beef rib meat) and seasoned beef galbi-sal. The fresh beef galbi-sal is 180g for ₩21,000, which is a pretty good value for beef.

The family has run Gukgojip for three generations, and at lunch they serve a range of meals starting with Andong gukbap (Andong-style rice soup).

The meat menu: pork galbi, seasoned galbi, pork belly, gabrisal, fresh beef galbi-sal and seasoned galbi-sal. Simple and solid. The fresh beef galbi-sal is 180g for ₩21,000, which is a pretty good value for beef.

There are also various meals, desserts, alcohol and soft drinks.

What side dishes come with the meal at Gukgojip?

When you sit down, you get lettuce, pickled radish and 4 kinds of dipping sauce, and each person also gets onions and a sauce of their own. Of the side dishes, the green onion kimchi (pa-kimchi) was the most memorable.

The sides set out when you sit down: lettuce, pickled radish and 4 kinds of dipping sauce.

The green onion kimchi was seriously so, so good. It was so good I kept eating it. It goes perfectly with the meat too.

Each person gets their own onions and sauce, which go well with the meat.

They also seem to give kongbiji-jjigae (soybean pulp stew) as a free extra. I added one bowl of rice and mixed it in.

What did three people order, and how much?

Three of us went to Gukgojip and ate 4 kinds of meat, 7 portions in total, plus Hanwoo bone broth ramyeon as a finisher. All 4 kinds tasted good, so we were satisfied, and we ate until we were stuffed.

• Fresh beef galbi-sal x2 (180g, ₩21,000)
• Seasoned beef galbi-sal x2 (180g, ₩22,000)
• Handmade fresh galbi x2 (200g, ₩19,000)
• Boneless seasoned galbi x1 (250g, ₩17,000)
• Hanwoo bone broth ramyeon (₩5,000)
• Rice (₩1,000)
• Soft drink (₩2,000)

How does the fresh beef galbi-sal taste?

Gukgojip's fresh beef galbi-sal is 180g per portion, and they pack the two portions in generously. It looks like good-quality fresh beef rib meat. I liked that you can just grill it over charcoal and eat comfortably.

They bring charcoal, and at first I wondered if the heat was weak, but it really wasn't. Good.

You grill the meat yourself. Meat has gotten pricey in the Gangnam area these days and lots of places grill it for you, but Gukgojip is self-grilling, and with the portion sizes and prices it feels like great value, which I felt was a real plus.

Eating the well-cooked beef galbi-sal. It's not tough at all, and the more you chew, the more you get that nutty richness galbi-sal is known for. It would be great with drinks too.

Dipped in the soy-sauce-style dipping sauce, it's amazing.

How is the seasoned beef galbi-sal different from the fresh one?

The seasoned beef galbi-sal is loaded with garlic. The marinade is a not-too-strong sweet-salty one with a garlicky kick, a different charm from the fresh galbi-sal. The catch is that the flames flare up much more than with the fresh cut, so you have to keep flipping it diligently.

Maybe it was the marinade, or maybe it's a fattier cut, but the fire flared up a lot, so I channeled my childhood memories of eating galmaegisal (pork skirt meat) and moved around like crazy to grill it.

So how was the well-grilled seasoned beef galbi-sal? Delicious. The not-too-strong sweet-salty marinade had soaked in nicely, and the charm is different from the fresh galbi-sal. The garlicky kick was great.

Is the Hanwoo bone broth ramyeon worth ordering?

The Hanwoo bone broth ramyeon (Korean beef bone broth instant noodles) is a ₩5,000 dessert-course dish and comes in an earthenware pot. It's really appealing and I'd recommend it, and at ₩5,000 it felt like good value.

It's loaded with toppings like green onion and beef. The broth seems to be made with bone broth, and the noodles are very thin, and the whole thing tastes like a yukgaejang (spicy beef soup) cup noodle. It's the first time I've had a BBQ restaurant ramyeon that tasted like yukgaejang! Satisfying.

The handmade fresh galbi looks like pork belly. Is it really galbi?

The handmade fresh galbi is fresh galbi from female pigs, a whopping 400g for 2 portions, and it looks exactly like pork belly. I asked if it's really the pork rib part, and they told me it's a big chunk with the rib bone attached.

The bone-in part is indeed the tastier part. The pork belly side is good too, so I was just happy.

For the pork, they swapped the grill plate.

The meat is as thick as boiled pork slices (suyuk). Thick meat is really great, but I think it's best enjoyed by people who have grilled quite a bit of meat before.

The big chunks include a long rib bone underneath. Grill it well and it's fun to gnaw off the bone, too.

The well-grilled pork was honestly incredibly good. It's chewy-tender, not tough or dry, and the juices gush out with every bite. Just delicious. A different charm from beef. I loved it.

How are the portion and taste of the boneless seasoned galbi (pork galbi)?

The boneless seasoned galbi is pork galbi at 250g per portion, so the amount is enormous. The marinade is sweeter-saltier and more intense than the seasoned beef galbi-sal, the kind of flavor that makes you crave rice or naengmyeon (cold noodles).

I was curious, so I ordered all 4 kinds differently, and each one tasted different, which was great. The pork galbi has a different feel again from the seasoned beef galbi.

Back to the mesh grill plate to grill diligently~ The fire weakened a little, but we were already full, so slow, gentle cooking suited us fine.

The pork galbi is totally my taste. The seasoning is sweeter and saltier than the seasoned beef galbi, and I loved that more intense, clingy marinade flavor. Makes you want rice or naengmyeon, right?

By a rough calculation, the meat the three of us ate that day weighed 1,370g by itself. We really did eat a lot. Stuffed to bursting~

On the way out after paying, there was a cat in front of the restaurant, and it was so cute.

Overall verdict: is Gukgojip good for a group dinner in Yangjae?

Gukgojip has generous portions, a big space and lots of seats, so it looks good for a group dinner in Yangjae. The one catch is that you grill the meat yourself. I ate my fill of meat.

Where is Gukgojip, and what about parking?

Gukgojip is in Yangjae-dong, Gangnam-gu, Seoul, a 5-minute walk from Yangjae Station exits 3 and 4. There doesn't seem to be an official parking lot, so I'd call ahead to ask.