Taejeon-dong lamb skewer restaurant in Gwangju, Gyeonggi: Sinbaegok

Where is Sinbaegok Lamb Skewers Taejeon Branch and what are the hours?

Today I'm reviewing a lamb skewer spot in Taejeon-dong, Gwangju, Gyeonggi — Sinbaegok Lamb Skewers Taejeon Branch!

Location: 2nd floor, Woori Building, 8-4 Taebong-ro, Gwangju-si, Gyeonggi-do, South Korea. Closed Mondays, open Tue–Sat 14:00–01:00, Sunday 12:00–22:00.

On the Naver reservation page it says mapo tofu is provided free with reservations of 4 or more, so if there are 4+ of you it's worth booking through there — total win. There's also a 10% discount coupon for soldiers and a seaweed soup coupon for birthdays, just so you know.

Parking is available in front and behind the building (about 6 spots), and it says if you park at the Taejeon grocery mart and take a photo, you get 1 hour of parking support.

But the front and back of this building are pretty much always full of cars... so it's better to just go straight to the grocery mart or park in the alleys nearby, there are plenty of spots there! I always park in the alley haha. Once you get to the building, you'll see it right there on the 2nd floor.

Is there a wait, and what are the partitioned seats like?

When you get to the 2nd floor entrance, there are notices posted about parking and waiting. It says they give you something extra if you wait.

I once came on a weekday evening and the wait was over an hour... but on weekends, even though it was crowded, there was luckily no wait every time I visited! No need to worry too much.

It was too crowded to take interior photos, but there's a partition at each table, which is a nice bonus since you get a somewhat separated space to enjoy.

What can you swap in the budget couple set?

Here's the menu. There are several set menus, and I went with the budget couple set.

Besides lamb skewers, there are plenty of other delicious-looking Chinese dishes too, so browsing the menu you'll end up wanting a lot of things.

In the set, you can change the lamb skewers to a single type, and the cucumber salad included in the set can be swapped for either warm noodle soup or egg fried rice. I don't really eat side dishes, so I go for fried rice when I want rice or warm noodles otherwise — this time I chose the egg fried rice.

Here's what's on offer for alcohol, in case that's useful.

The self-serve cumin bar and the side dishes

There's a self-serve bar on one side with cumin powder and various sauces (seasonings? that sort of thing), plus kimchi, peanuts, pickled radish? — those kinds of side dishes.

Here's how the basic side dishes come out.

Original vs seasoned lamb skewers: the marbled fat is the point

Ta-da! The original and seasoned lamb skewers arrived. That fat marbled in between — genuinely so good. That's the whole point.

Personally the original is so delicious that I often just order 20 of the original haha...

Egg fried rice, warm noodles and guobaorou (sweet and sour pork)

The egg fried rice I swapped for! Very solid, decent flavor. Not too heavily seasoned.

I also brought a photo of the warm noodle soup from a previous visit. It's mild, a bit spicy, and delicious!!!

The guobaorou (sweet and sour pork) is a forever love, no matter when I eat it.

Grilling the skewers yourself: any gamey smell?

Alright, time to grill it up~?

Spinning round and round, grilling up nicely.

The color is so good, right? Haha. No gamey smell at all.

Can you see the fat in the middle of the photo above or at the end of the photo below? That fat is what makes it feel softer and brings out more flavor. The balance is really great.

Restrooms and the verdict on Sinbaegok Lamb Skewers Taejeon Branch

And for those of you who care about restrooms, no need to worry here. It's super clean and fully stocked with cotton swabs, hair ties, dental floss, a hair dryer — everything. Perfect.

I'm not saying this because of the blog — I genuinely think this is the best lamb skewer place out of all the ones I've been to, and it's basically the only one I go to now! The 2nd location is downtown in Gyeongan-dong, and a friend I go with there said the taste is identical to the original branch, so if you're looking for a good lamb skewer place in Gwangju, Gyeonggi, definitely check out whichever one is closer to you!