Duck BBQ course with grilled cheese add-on in Gwacheon: Deo Chadol

After a great evening walk at Seoul Grand Park in Gwacheon, I suddenly craved something hearty and delicious.

While looking around for somewhere to eat, I heard there was a really famous, genuinely great restaurant nearby, so I went to check it out. Wow, it was a place where people kept coming even as others left.

I could immediately understand why the foot traffic never stopped — this is my review of Gwacheon's 'Deo Chadol,' where the clean, savory flavor was outstanding.

How long is the dinner wait at Deo Chadol in Gwacheon?

At Deo Chadol on Twitgol 2-ro in Gwacheon, there were a whopping 10 teams waiting during dinner time. Still, the turnover was so good that I got seated in under 30 minutes.

A word-of-mouth Gwacheon favorite, worth the wait

Right from the entrance, the place radiated that 'featured on TV' energy!

"Uh oh, what if we have to wait forever?" I thought — but there were barely any drinkers, mostly families dining, so tables opened up quickly.

There were chairs in the waiting area, so it was comfortable to wait. Even though it's a BBQ restaurant, the floors and tables weren't slippery at all and everything was really clean, making for a pleasant meal. I noticed a lot of other families who, like us, had come straight from Seoul Grand Park 🤍

What comes in the Deo Chadol 3-person duck course, and what to add

The Deo Chadol 3-person course consists of grilled duck chadol, fresh duck jumulleok (spicy stir-fried duck), doenjang jjigae (soybean paste stew), and self-fried rice. We also added grillable cheese and buckwheat makguksu.

The ultimate in generosity — the perfect 'Deo Chadol 3-person course'

As soon as we sat down, we ordered easily through the table order kiosk. A receipt review event happened to be running too, so we made sure to take part!

Since I wanted to try a bit of everything, I added grillable cheese and buckwheat makguksu to the Deo Chadol 3-person course.

Grilled duck chadol and melting cheese with no gamy smell

When we put the bright red duck chadol on the sizzling hot grill, there was a satisfying sizzle and a savory aroma filled the air.

We were told to cook it a little more than beef when grilling.

There was truly no trace of that gamy duck smell, and it was so tender it melted the moment it hit my mouth!

Since there's no seasoning on the meat, the side dishes really matter — and every single one was delicious, with even my kid enjoying them for their savory flavor. Eating duck feels like it's doing your body good too.

Lightly grilling the cheese on one side of the pan and eating it with the meat doubles the savoriness — it's honestly a fantastic combination.

Adding cheese is an absolute must — we saved some to enjoy later with the fried rice too.

Deo Chadol's self-bar and house meat sauce

One side of the restaurant has a self-bar where you can neatly serve yourself just the amount you'll eat.

It was great being able to freely refill fresh lettuce wraps and side dishes.

Lay sweet-and-tangy pickled radish on a lettuce leaf, dip a well-grilled piece of meat into the special meat sauce, top with a whole clove of garlic, and wrap it up... perfect. The self-bar vegetables were super fresh, and they even had the pricier kale, which I made sure to grab plenty of.

Fresh duck jumulleok: spicy, sweet and appetite-opening

Just as we were finishing the duck chadol, the fresh duck jumulleok (400g) included in the course arrived!

Duck meat, rice cake, and sweet potato were generously loaded into a spicy-sweet sauce and stir-fried on the griddle — this would honestly be great as a side dish with rice or as a drinking snack too. The sauce soaked in so well it had that addictive flavor that kept my chopsticks coming back.

The sauce tastes familiar, kind of like dakgalbi (spicy stir-fried chicken) — delicious, and not spicy at all. Great for the whole family to enjoy.

There's a lot of duck fat, so it splatters quite a bit while grilling. Definitely wear an apron, and here's a tip — dark clothes are better than white ones. Hahahaha.

Finishing with doenjang jjigae, self-serve fried rice and buckwheat makguksu

The meal is completed with fried rice and a clean finish!

A spoonful of the bubbling, savory doenjang jjigae included in the course was so satisfying. It was packed with tofu, which paired perfectly with the meat.

The stew has a mild base, and it's loaded with vegetables and other ingredients.

And then, the K-dessert no BBQ restaurant can be without — the self-fried rice included in the course!

Frying rice in the leftover duck jumulleok sauce and letting it crisp slightly on the griddle was perfect. Adding some duck meat we'd saved aside, plus finely chopped scallions and garlic, gave it a really savory flavor that made it even more delicious.

And on top of that, slurping down the cold buckwheat makguksu (noodles) we'd added, with icy slush floating in it, left my mouth completely refreshed.

The buckwheat makguksu comes mixed-style, but they give you icy broth alongside it too. So it ended up somewhere between bibim (mixed) and mul (broth) naengmyeon, and it was really delicious.

Marble ice cream for 4,000 won on the way out

After finishing the meal, there was even an ice cream freezer on the way out, so we got a sweet, cool, perfect finish with marble ice cream.

They scoop it from a bulk tub, haha — I'd never seen that before, so the portion is bigger than store-bought. It's ₩4,000, and my kid couldn't resist walking past it, so we ended up buying some. Hahaha.

After a fun time at Seoul Grand Park in Gwacheon, if you're looking to fill up happily on delicious duck, I recommend the clean and tasty 'Deo Chadol' 🤍

Today too, we were healthy, full, and happy.