Motsunabe hot pot and pork bowl set at Horangigul, Hwaseong department

The basement food court at Lotte Dongtan, for when you want both soup and rice bowl

Horangigul at Lotte Dongtan, a review of the pork bowl set and spicy gopchang-daechang hot pot.

Every time we come to Lotte Dongtan we end up wondering what to eat in the basement food court, and this time neither of us could give up soup or rice bowl, so to satisfy both my and Nunu's cravings we headed straight for Horangigul in the basement of Lotte Dongtan!

The address is B1, Lotte Department Store Dongtan, 160 Dongtan-yeok-ro, Dongtan-gu (connected to GTX-A Dongtan Station). Hours are Mon–Thu 10:30–20:00, Fri–Sun 10:30–20:30.

Horangigul is Korea's first restaurant specializing in hanwoo daechang (beef intestine) hot pot :) They serve a spicy Korean-style take on motsunabe, a dish they learned in Japan. The original Anyang branch even made it onto the Blue Ribbon list, so we decided to properly try the Dongtan branch too...!

Menu and prices at Horangigul, Lotte Department Store Dongtan

Horangigul menu board at Lotte Department Store Dongtan

• Beef gopchang-daechang hot pot ₩19,500
• Beef gopchang hot pot ₩17,500
• Hanwoo daechang hot pot ₩16,500
• Original gyudon set ₩14,900
• Grilled pork bowl (butadon) set ₩14,900
• Mentaiko mayo gyudon ₩15,900
• Katsudon ₩16,900
• Grilled daechang-gopchang set ₩18,900

We ordered the grilled pork bowl set and Horangigul's spicy gopchang+daechang hot pot. It was so nice that the motsunabe can be ordered for one person haha ㅎㅎ If you just order the hot pot alone, rice isn't included, so ordering it with a rice bowl completes a full table setting ❤

Waiting and the restaurant atmosphere

You should plan for a wait on weekends as a given, but since both Catch Table and TableLing are usable, you can wait comfortably without much of a delay 💦 They also carefully explain how to order this way too!

For a department store food court spot, the inside has an izakaya feel. Since it's a standalone shop rather than a typical food-court stall, dining feels more comfortable too! There's an Asahi draft beer machine and the tables are split into 2-tops and 4-tops, giving it a proper Japanese-restaurant vibe.

Ah ㅠ isn't the visual just insane ㅠㅠㅠ It had such a cute, home-style Japanese set-meal feel! And getting to eat a home-style meal alongside motsunabe too — the composition is basically a steal 😂

The basic side dishes are simple: garlic stems and yuzu pickled radish. Once the hot pot arrives, yuzu soy sauce and sesame sauce come with it too. The set meals come with a variety of side dishes instead, which was so, so good to eat together with the rice haha ㅎㅎ

Grilled pork bowl set: a meal that comes with mini udon

The pork bowl (butadon) set came out first! Served in a bento box, it wasn't just a plain meat rice bowl on its own — it came with mini udon, rolled egg, fried shrimp, and seasoned vegetables too. It's a full set-meal composition, great as a hearty lunch when you're feeling peckish while shopping at the department store~~~

This is not that basic udon a sushi place just tosses in for free. Of all the udon broths I've had, it's been a while since one tasted this un-store-bought — both the broth and the noodles genuinely tasted handmade. The broth was truly clean, and thanks to the springy, chewy noodles, it made me want to order the udon alone as its own dish. I'm serious, you have to try it ‼

The fried shrimp and rolled egg were great as sides, but honestly, why are these so good? This isn't side-dish-level flavor?! Perfect to eat as a snack/side while waiting for the hot pot to cook 🥰

The meat wasn't a thick sliced tonkatsu-style cut but rather a grilled pork shoulder (dwaeji-mokssim) style butadon.

The flavor was salty with a smoky char, and the seasoning soaked into the rice so well that it tasted completely different from Korean-style soy-marinated bulgogi. So it just ends up being even more delicious, doesn't it...........?

Popping the soft-boiled yolk and mixing it in makes it even more savory haha ㅎㅎ The outside has a slight char flavor while the inside stays soft, so the rice bowl alone is plenty filling as a main dish haha ㅎㅎ

The combo of soft-boiled egg + side dishes + butadon is just love. A hearty flavor that makes you want it again.

Spicy gopchang-daechang hot pot: how spicy is level 4?

One advantage of Horangigul's motsunabe at Lotte Dongtan is that with an induction burner at every table, the hot pot simmers away right in front of you so you can eat it piping hot till the very end.

There are 4 spice levels. Mild is like regular ramyeon, medium is less spicy than Shin Ramyun, spicy is about on par with Shin Ramyun, and extra spicy is closer to Buldak fire noodles. We picked spicy, and if you like spicy food this is totally the right choice ㅋㅋㅋㅋ Genuinely fiery in a good way, not the slightest bit greasy. I was torn about going medium since I wanted the broth spicy from the start, but choosing spicy shattered my prejudice that motsunabe is greasy ;

It came with a variety of ingredients like tofu, fried tofu pouches, and fish balls, and even for a single serving it was generously packed ( •̀ ω •́ )✧ It arrives almost fully cooked so just 2–3 more minutes of simmering and it's ready to eat. Since we went spicy, the broth was fiery right away. Not sweat-pouring buldak-level, more like a satisfying spicy kick that tingles the nose while going down smoothly, and it soaked into all the various add-ins so it was seriously delicious haha ㅎㅎ The way the fried tofu and tofu soaked up the broth was great, so there was fun in picking through everything~ The dipping sauce mattered more than expected too. Dipping the tofu and fried tofu pouches in yuzu soy sauce gives it a refreshing shabu-shabu-like feel!

There was so much vegetable — bean sprouts, mung bean sprouts, napa cabbage, green onion, and chives — that it felt healthy too >~< Horangigul's motsunabe gets even tastier thanks to this vegetable stock. Eating the gopchang and daechang together with the vegetables rounds out the texture and makes it even more delicious.

The gopchang was chewy and the daechang released a savory fat as you chewed it,,, satisfaction was genuinely high knowing this much gopchang and daechang comes at this price ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ Even people who are picky about gopchang would immediately understand it's approachable if they try the broth first, since there's no funky smell at all haha ㅎㅎ

Tip: leave some broth if you want noodles or risotto

For reference, the broth is made fresh from vegetable stock on the spot, so you can't get a refill. So if you're planning to have risotto afterward, leave about a third of the broth if you're just adding noodles, or half if you want both noodles and risotto. Making sure to leave broth is essential 🔥

So we had the basic risotto, and it was a somewhat porridge-like risotto style, so next time I'm planning to leave broth for the cheese risotto instead haha ㅎㅎ The plain risotto is tasty too, but it seems like adding the nutty flavor of cheese would definitely make it even better φ(゜▽゜*)♪

Wrap-up

Horangigul at Lotte Department Store Dongtan is a place I highly recommend when you're craving a hearty Japanese-style meal while shopping~! The pork bowl set is filling with its smoky char, and the spicy gopchang+daechang hot pot is fiery with no funky smell, so it could work as hangover food too?! If you find yourself craving gopchang hot pot near Dongtan Station, I strongly recommend Horangigul's motsunabe 😎