Dongtan Station daechang hot pot: how much broth to save, Horangigul

Whenever I'm craving Japanese food near Dongtan Station, Horangigul Dongtan is where I end up! It's in the food court of the Lotte Department Store at Dongtan Station, so it's easy to reach, and the menu is so varied that it works for a meal or a drink, any time haha. I've been here many times already, and it's one of my favorite Japanese spots near Dongtan Station~ This time I'll go through what I ate and the atmosphere.

Where is Horangigul Dongtan, and how long is the wait?

Horangigul is in the B1 Food Avenue of Lotte Department Store Dongtan. It's on the side, off the central food court.

It's popular enough that there's a long wait even on weekday evenings! On weekends you sometimes have to wait one to two hours as a baseline. I recommend putting your name down early! (I went at an awkward weekday time, right when break time ended, and was the first one in, yet the tables filled up quickly after a short while.)

There are quite a lot of tables inside. The tables are spaced widely and are generally big, so it's pleasant and comfortable to eat. Japanese-style, the spoons and chopsticks and small plates were already set at the seat.

Horangigul menu: hot pot, rice bowls, and noodle or risotto add-ons

Every table has a T-order tablet, so ordering is easy, which I liked. The signature dishes are the hot pots, like daechang (beef small intestine) hot pot and gopchang (offal) hot pot, and the rice bowls (donburi) that go with them are famous too.

For hot pot add-ons, the noodles are fresh udon / jjamppong noodles / tteok noodles (rice cake noodles), and the rice isn't fried rice but risotto: egg risotto / cheese risotto / Tuum-ba risotto! There's also a kids' cutlet as a side, plus okonomiyaki (savory Japanese pancake) and gyoza (dumplings) and so many other things that looked good. They'd be great as drinking snacks too, not just for a meal.

How much broth should you leave at Horangigul for noodles or risotto?

If you want either noodles or risotto with your hot pot, leave 1/3 of the broth; if you want both noodles and risotto, leave 1/2. Extra broth is apparently hard to get. This "how to enjoy Horangigul" guide is posted at every table.

• Want noodles or risotto → leave 1/3 of the broth
• Want noodles and risotto → leave 1/2 of the broth
• Extra broth is hard to get

The broth is so good that it's easy to forget while you're eating like mad, so please remember it! (Risotto is a must.. ❤️)

The side dishes are yuja danmuji (citron pickled radish) and garlic stems. The sauces are a yuja soy sauce and a sesame sauce.

How to eat Horangigul's daechang hot pot for two

We ordered the daechang hot pot for two! (I wanted a rice bowl too, but I held myself back...) It comes out after a short wait, already cooked, and the staff explained that you only need to boil it another 1–2 minutes!

They told us to start with the vegetables. There's a great variety: garlic chives, bean sprouts, fried tofu, fish balls, tofu and more, so they're perfect to eat while the meat finishes cooking. They went well with both the sesame sauce and the yuja soy sauce, and I was already satisfied with just the vegetables, which made me even more excited for the tripe and the broth!

What does Horangigul's daechang hot pot broth taste like?

I took one spoonful of the broth and was genuinely stunned.. This isn't my first visit, so I already remembered it being delicious,, but eating it after a while, it tasted even better!! I kind of regret not having soju that day.. One sip of the broth and you instantly think of soju, that's the taste.

The quality is different from the daechang and gopchang hot pots you usually get by delivery. The vegetables and the tripe are both generous, so it feels like you can eat and eat without ever reaching the end.

Temperature is everything with broth, and I loved that you can keep it boiling to the end. We'd thought about having both noodles and risotto, but the broth was so good that, greedy for more of it, we decided to leave just 1/3 and have only the risotto! The portion is also big, so both noodles and risotto would have been too much.

The daechang had no smell at all and went really well with the broth. It's the kind of taste even people who can't eat daechang can handle. (In fact, people who can't eat daechang really enjoy this gopchang hot pot!)

How is Horangigul's egg risotto made at the table?

After some thought, we ordered the egg risotto to finish! When you order risotto at Horangigul, a staff member comes and leaves just the right amount of broth and ingredients in the pot, and puts the rest into a separate bowl for you. (It's sad when they take away what's left, so this sweetness of setting it aside for you..👍) Then they make the risotto right in front of you.

Honestly, at first I was like, wait, does risotto even go with hot pot? But after one bite you'll never forget it. This taste... you'll marvel at how someone came up with risotto here.

Can you see it getting thicker and thicker? It's cooked over fairly high heat, so the staff said to stir it now and then after they finish making it. Looking at it again, my mouth is watering...! I remember enjoying it so much that I think I'll take a friend again soon. It's a place where you can taste Western, Korean and Japanese food all in one dish.

Horangigul's jumbo gyudong set from a previous visit

This is the jumbo gyudong (beef rice bowl) set I had last time! The bowl's seasoning was really good. The meat portion was so generous that I actually ran short of rice. The daechang rice bowl looked great too, so I'll definitely try it next time.

The set isn't just the rice bowl: it also comes with salad + udon + shrimp tempura + an egg, so I thought it was really good value!

What to order at Horangigul Dongtan for your group size

With two people it's hard to eat both hot pot and rice bowls, but with three or more, I really, really recommend ordering hot pot and rice bowls together. Oh, and adding risotto or noodles to the hot pot is a must..! You'll feel right away why the wait at Horangigul is so long.

My goal is to go once more within August.... I should make it happen! I fully recommend it to anyone looking for something to eat at Lotte Department Store, or a good restaurant near Dongtan Station!