After-work pork skin, ramyeon and Korean BBQ in Dalseo, Daegu: Gankeun

Today I visited a great-value spot where you can eat unlimited meat plus ramyeon (instant noodles). It's a chain, but the branch I went to is Gankeun Galbi Seongseo Branch. It's near Seongseo E-mart, so people living in the nearby apartments could easily walk there. I came straight from work, so I drove.

Gankeun Galbi Seongseo Branch

• 📍 71 Igok-dongno, Dalseo-gu, Daegu
• ⏰ Daily 12 PM - 11:30 PM
• 🅿️ Dedicated 1st-floor parking lot (about 12 spaces)

Finding the parking lot and entrance

The 2nd floor of the building is the Gankeun Galbi Seongseo Branch restaurant, and the 1st floor is the parking lot. The lot has a barrier gate that opens automatically when you drive in; when you leave, you either get a token or a staff member opens it for you.

The lot fits about 10-12 cars. There's a 2M height limit, so keep that in mind.

There's a staircase from the parking lot, and if you go up half a flight, there's a door straight to the outside — that's the way to go. Or you can exit near the barrier gate and take the stairs up to the entrance from there. It says '2nd floor,' so we assumed we had to go up a full flight from the ground floor and ended up going too far and getting a bit lost, haha. (Just go up half a flight, and as soon as you see the door to the outside, go through it — the entrance is on the left. Just a heads up, haha!)

The vibe and seating

Walking in, there was a standing sign up front, and a staff member was clearing a table so it seemed like they'd just stepped away. As we moved toward a seat, the staff member spotted us and immediately showed us to a table.

There are tables near the self-serve bar and tables near the windows. When we visited, the window seats were all full, so we figured a table near the self-serve bar would be more convenient and sat there.

Choosing an all-you-can-eat option

You order directly at the table, but the types of meat included in the all-you-can-eat option differ by price tier, so look carefully before ordering. We wanted pork rib and pork belly, so we ordered the pork rib-belly all-you-can-eat. If you also want makchang (grilled beef intestines) or beef short rib, go for one of the upgraded tiers. There are also separate prices for ages 5-10 (preschool) and 36 months-4 years. If you don't want the all-you-can-eat, à la carte items are available too, so feel free to visit even without a big group (meat orders require a minimum of 3 servings).

• Pork rib-belly all-you-can-eat - ₩21,900 × 2 people
• Dessert naengmyeon - ₩6,500

What's on the self-serve bar

Once you order, you can start using the self-serve bar right away — lettuce for wraps, pickled vegetables, onion sauce, various pickled side dishes, shredded green onion, kimchi, garlic, sauces, and more, all take-as-much-as-you-like.

You grab the meat yourself here too. Since we ordered the pork rib-belly all-you-can-eat, we could take everything except makchang. For people who chose the tier including beef short rib, it looked like staff bring that out for you.

Next to the meat there were various seasonings — flower salt, pink salt, soybean powder, curry powder, and pepper. I skipped the pink salt and pepper and took the rest, haha.

There were also fried items — potato croquettes, pork cutlet, and fried kimmari (seaweed-wrapped glass noodle rolls) — with ketchup next to them, so grab some if you're having the potato croquettes.

Next to that were tteokbokki (spicy rice cakes) and fried chicken. The chicken is bone-in yangnyeom (seasoned) chicken, haha. Did you all know that the chicken at all-you-can-eat places is surprisingly delicious, haha.

And in one corner of the self-serve station there's also a rice cooker, so you can have unlimited rice too. The kiosk seemed to have rice listed as something to order, but you can just help yourself. I didn't get a photo, but there was also a pot of seaweed soup next to the potato croquettes. It was piping hot and rich-tasting — so good with rice, and honestly a full meal on its own, haha.

Ramyeon and drinks are also unlimited

And as I mentioned at the start, Gankeun Galbi Seongseo Branch also has unlimited ramyeon, haha. There were two kinds available, chapaghetti and Jin Ramen. Facing the ramyeon machine, if you turn right, there's raw egg, extra rice cake, and green onion to add to your noodles, plus king oyster mushrooms and bracken fern to grill with the meat. Next to the green onion there was also potato salad and fruit — you just scoop the potato salad, and while the fruit can be eaten plain, there's a bingsu (shaved ice) machine right behind if you want to top it with that instead.

There was a coffee machine, water dispenser, soda machine, and fruit juice too, and drinks are unlimited as well. There are six kinds of soda, so plenty to choose from. Cups are in the heated sterilizer next to the coffee machine (water cups and drink cups).

And next to that is the bingsu I mentioned earlier — with red beans and rice cakes for topping, a nice way to finish clean. There's also ice cream in front of the kids' playroom if you want that instead (we were both too full and had to leave without trying either, ugh).

A playroom great for coming with kids

And here's another reason Gankeun Galbi Seongseo Branch is great — there's a kids' zone, i.e. a playroom, which makes it a fantastic spot for families dining with children.

Inside the playroom, the beige and brown tones give it a cozy feel, it's kept clean, and it's spacious enough for kids to play comfortably, haha. That said, parents should still supervise their young ones to make sure safety rules are followed.

The meal begins

After looking around the whole place, before starting the actual meal, we brought over sauces, pickled sides, and side dishes — since the sauces are meant to be shared, we just scooped one of each and set them in the middle.

The seaweed soup I mentioned earlier was cooked really rich, and it seemed great for pouring over rice for kids too. I love seaweed soup to begin with, so I finished a whole bowl.

Pork rib-belly all-you-can-eat, ₩21,900 × 2 people. With the side dishes, sauces, and meat all brought over, the table was completely full. While we were grabbing food from the self-serve bar, the staff member had already put in the charcoal and set up the grill plate for us.

Pork belly thickness and taste

We took two pieces of pork belly to start. Can you see the thickness? All the pork belly was cut about this thick, and I find that thickness locks in the juices and makes the meat softer and more delicious when grilled.

We almost forgot about the side dishes we'd brought over, haha. Mushrooms and bracken fern are great grilled alongside pork belly too, so I laid them gently on the side.

That bright pink-red color, a good ratio of meat to fat, browning up nicely~

The pork belly was genuinely, genuinely great. Biting in, the fat was crisp while the juices stayed locked inside, the meat itself was moist, chewy, and springy — I was surprised you could get this quality at an all-you-can-eat place. The first piece I dipped in ssamjang (dipping sauce),

and for the second I dipped it in soybean powder and curry powder, and oh! The curry powder really worked well, haha. I'd recommend a light dab of salt plus curry powder as a combo, haha. Of course, the meat itself needs to be good for any dip to taste good, but since the meat here was good, everything tasted great no matter what I dipped it in.

For a lettuce wrap, I piled on a big piece of meat and some garlic that had been grilling nicely on one side of the plate, along with gungchae (a pickled vegetable) and pickled radish, and took a big bite. The lettuce was soft, the gungchae and pickled radish were crisp, and the meat was chewy — all coming together for a satisfying mouthful.

We also tried every combination possible with shredded green onion, bracken fern, and mushrooms alongside the pork belly.

Pork ribs and the surprise star, pork skin

Next up, pork ribs plus pork skin. Since pork skin was sitting right next to the pork ribs, we grabbed 3 pieces just to see what it was like.

Each piece of pork rib is large, so putting two on the grill filled it right up, haha. They're scored with knife cuts so the seasoning really soaks into the meat. Because of the seasoning, it burns quickly too, so you need to check and flip it often to get it cooked just right.

You can see how moist and well-seasoned it got once grilled. The meat is softer than the pork belly — if the pork belly was chewy and springy, the pork rib was moist and tender. The seasoning wasn't overpowering either, so it paired nicely with the side dishes without being too salty.

And then the surprise star, pork skin, haha. I already love pork skin, but it's genuinely hard to find a good place for it — it's tricky to grill. But on this grill it didn't burn easily or pop and jump around, so it was easy to cook, and since it was also scored with cuts, the seasoning really soaked in. Dipping it just in soybean powder, you get that classic pork skin texture, chewy chewy. Highly recommend the pork skin — definitely eat it with soybean powder.

Both potato dishes — one potato salad, one potato croquette. As a lover of root vegetables, choosing between the two was impossible, so I happily ate plenty of both. The croquette was delicious and the potato salad was exactly my taste too.

My husband wanted more pork rib, and while getting some he noticed beef heart marinated in sauce right next to it, so we grabbed a little. Honestly, if I had to pick, I'd say pork skin over beef heart, haha. The pork skin was so good that even though the beef heart was tasty too, I'd probably eat more of the skin given the choice.

Of course the beef heart was chewy and well-seasoned too, so try both grilled and go with whichever you prefer. Isn't that the beauty of all-you-can-eat — trying different things and choosing what to eat more of!

Finishing with chapaghetti and dessert naengmyeon

Once you've eaten your fill, ramyeon feels like the true finishing touch. Since ribs with chapaghetti sounded amazing, we went with chapaghetti! The instructions are posted, so follow them and press the button — but before pressing, put the pot on first, add the noodles and seasoning packet, then press the button. And don't walk away — you need to stir it with the tongs beside it so the bottom doesn't stick and it cooks up nicely.

Once it's done boiling, there are oven mitts on top for carrying it safely back to your table, and then you return it. I added green onion to my chapaghetti and sprinkled red pepper flakes on top.

While I was cooking the noodles, my husband, dividing up the labor, had the pork ribs perfectly grilled. Ribs with chapaghetti is a delicious combo too! And ribs pair well with naengmyeon (cold noodles) too, right? So we ordered that as well, haha.

Dessert naengmyeon - ₩6,500. There's only a ₩500 difference between the dessert size and the regular size, and the dessert portion is actually quite generous (barely smaller than the full-size version), so ordering it as a dessert is more than enough. Instead of egg, it comes with quail eggs, and the broth arrives with a slushy ice layer, super refreshing.

They give you mustard and vinegar to season it, so we first enjoyed the naengmyeon cold and refreshing on its own, then paired it with the pork ribs to finish the meal. I ordered it because I wanted something cold and refreshing, but if you just want broth, cooking up some Jin Ramen without ordering extra would be enough too.

Overall impressions

On the way out, near the entrance there's also a claw machine and jellies for sale — worth knowing. And when leaving, make sure to mention parking, since they may give you a token or a staff member may open the gate for you directly — be sure to say something on your way out.

We visited on a weekday evening, but being near an apartment complex, quite a few office workers stopping by after work and families coming for dinner showed up. It's also easy to bring kids thanks to the playroom, and most importantly, despite being all-you-can-eat, the meat quality never felt lacking or the flavor underwhelming — we left satisfied with the quality of the meal. The dedicated parking lot is also spacious, making it convenient to drive there. For anyone living nearby, this seems like a great spot to visit whenever you're craving meat.