Gapyeong restaurant for kid-friendly soy sauce dakgalbi: Jayeon Dakgalbi

Gapyeong griddle dakgalbi near Nami Island

It is close to the Nami Island ferry terminal, and although Gapyeong has countless dakgalbi places, I want to introduce this amazing value-for-money spot. Dakgalbi usually comes in two types—charcoal-grilled and griddle-cooked—and the place I am posting about today serves only griddle dakgalbi.

Jayeon Dakgalbi information

It is on the second floor at 1007-10 Bukhangangbyeon-ro, Gapyeong-eup, Gapyeong-gun, Gyeonggi-do, and is 500 m from the Nami Island ferry terminal. Hours are 09:00–18:00 on weekdays and 09:00–20:00 on weekends.

Menu and prices

• Dakgalbi: griddle-cooked ₩16,000; soy sauce ₩16,000
• Sides: platter makguksu ₩25,000; makguksu ₩10,000; fried rice ₩4,000; baby rice ₩4,000; potato pancake, acorn jelly, and buckwheat dumplings ₩15,000 each
• Add-ons: cheese ₩5,000; rice cake, sweet potato, and udon ₩4,000 each

We visited for a late lunch, so there were not many cars. The parking lot was soooo spacious. The entire front of the restaurant is parking, and there is parking all the way around the back too... I guess it all fills up during peak hours in high season.

Heading upstairs to the restaurant

You need to take the stairs up to the second-floor restaurant.

"HALAL" is written along the staircase. I think it means they welcome Muslims(?), and perhaps because of that, there were really a lot of foreign visitors inside! The restaurant was honestly much bigger than I expected. Since we had two little troublemakers with us, we took the window table tucked furthest into the corner.

Soy sauce dakgalbi we ordered with the kids

Ta-da, here is what we ordered: two servings of soy sauce dakgalbi, makguksu (buckwheat noodles), and baby rice—and we added cheese later too! The basic side dishes arrived as soon as we ordered.

Young radish kimchi, bean sprouts, shredded radish salad, and wraps. The bean sprouts and shredded radish!! They were not spicy, so they were the kids' favorite side dishes. We have been to so many dakgalbi places, but most have side dishes centered on spicy sauces... Just having this many mild side dishes is the best for people raising kids.

You can take any side dishes you need from the self-service corner. I think we refilled only the bean sprouts more than twice... haha.

Ta-da, the soy sauce dakgalbi arrived right away. When I think of dakgalbi, I usually only eat the red, spicy kind, so this was really unfamiliar. Our children are still young and cannot eat spicy food, so we had no choice ㅠ.ㅠ I did not have high expectations, but?? It was so delicious... Truly that perfect sweet-and-salty balance, and it was really good topped with cheese.

Baby rice and non-spicy makguksu

Next came the baby rice. It was seasoned rice with seaweed and tuna, pleasantly salty, and the kids ate it so well. I ordered it because I worried they might not eat the dakgalbi, but they ate the dakgalbi so well...^^ Next up was makguksu!

You tend to think makguksu will be spicy, but it really was not. How mild was it? Mild enough for our kids to eat.

Haha, it was their first makguksu ever! Wow, it did have red pepper powder in it, but it was not spicy, so I think anyone of any age could eat it. The kids honestly ate about half the makguksu... haha. They kept picking up the rice cakes and meat on their own, saying it was delicious...

Haha, we cleaned every last bit off the plates... It was soooo delicious. I really, really recommend it to anyone who thinks, “Dakgalbi? It is spicy, so I cannot go with my child,” or, “It is spicy, so I should have charcoal-grilled dakgalbi instead of griddle dakgalbi.” I never knew the kids would eat griddle dakgalbi this well. I was so satisfied that I am already thinking we need to come back soon. Looking for great dakgalbi near Nami Island, or deciding on a Gapyeong dakgalbi place? Without a doubt, Jayeon Dakgalbi!