Gopchang BBQ in Mapo, Seoul with pickled chili wraps: Saenggopchangjip

I had training to attend in Sangam, but I couldn't just go home after, of course. So I stopped by Saenggopchangjip Sangam (생곱창집 상암직영점), a gopchang (grilled beef intestine) spot.

I liked this place in so many ways. The gopchang is delicious, naturally, the owner grills it for you, the fresh wrap style is new to me, and they even sell non-alcoholic beer. So much to love! Let me introduce this Sangam gopchang restaurant.

Where is Saenggopchangjip Sangam, and where do you park?

Saenggopchangjip Sangam is at 15 Maebongsan-ro 2-gil, Mapo-gu, Seoul, a 4-minute walk from Digital Media City Station Exit 9. Parking is free for 90 minutes.

The yellow sign pops right out at you!! Parking is covered for 90 minutes, and extra time costs ₩2,000 per 60 minutes, up to ₩10,000. Regular cars use the mechanical parking lot, and since SUVs can't use it, they use the neighboring villa's parking lot instead~~!! (The villa lot is not available on weekends and holidays.)

Hours are Mon-Fri 15:00-23:00 (last order 22:00) and Saturday 15:00-22:00 (last order 21:00). They say corkage (for a fee), group seating, wheelchair access, reservations, and local currency, Zero Pay and mobile payments are all available.

Inside Saenggopchangjip Sangam: atmosphere and menu

The inside of Saenggopchangjip Sangam was comfortable. I went a little before six on a weekday, so there were empty seats, but around the time people got off work it filled up!! haha

hahahahaha this is what caught my eye the most, haha

Don't hold back / Even if you starve now / You won't lose weight

Hit with the cold hard truth, sob. Yes, boss, I'll eat well and go home, sob.

There are also really a lot of celebrity autographs. Since it's near DMC MBC, I guess lots of celebrities stop by.

What I ordered: mixed gopchang for 2, fried rice and non-alcoholic beer

I ordered 2 mixed gopchang platters (200g, ₩27,000 each) and fried rice (₩5,000). At a gopchang place, the mixed platter is the right call, isn't it?

Honestly, I love it so much these days when a place sells non-alcoholic beer, sob. Saenggopchangjip sells it. I ordered one right away, haha. You can look at the menu like this

Korean and English menus are also ready at the seats. They say the gopchang here has ZERO meat tenderizer, NO boiling, and is hand-trimmed in-house!! I got so curious about the taste..

How do you eat gopchang in cabbage wraps at Saenggopchangjip?

Saenggopchangjip Sangam recommends putting gopchang on cabbage and eating it with pickled chili and ssamjang (seasoned soybean paste). Gopchang on cabbage? Ssamjang on gopchang? I love new challenges like this.

• Prepare the cabbage.
• Dip the gopchang in salt-and-oil sauce and place it on the cabbage.
• Add the house-made pickled chili too.
• Top with a little ssamjang and eat.

Please try it just as they recommend, haha. I also liked it this way with the fried rice, haha

Also, for team dinners of 4 or more, they give 1 free bottle of slush soju~~ Nice touch, boss~~

Saenggopchangjip side dishes: chives, cabbage, pickled chili and green onion kimchi

At Saenggopchangjip Sangam, along with chives, a must for gopchang, came an unusual combo of cabbage and pickled chili. Usually you put raw cheongyang chili (spicy green chili) in a dipping sauce, but eating it with pickled chili like this was fresh and good too.

And I really love eating green onion kimchi with gopchang, and Saenggopchangjip serves that too.... The side dish sense alone is crazy. Lightly grilled green onion kimchi with gopchang is delicious too, you know..? Definitely try it, hehe

How does the Saenggopchangjip mixed gopchang taste?

The mixed platter at Saenggopchangjip comes with a variety of cuts, including gopchang (small intestine), makchang (abomasum), daechang (large intestine) and heart, and the owner grills it for you. And here comes the dazzling boss platter! All you have to do is eat comfortably, haha.

They even pile on the chives, sob. As expected, chives are the root combo for gopchang💚💚

Beef heart (yeomtong): tender without any meat tenderizer

Heart always cooks fast, which I love.. It isn't tough, it's tender. They didn't use tenderizer, and I wondered if it's allowed to be this tender.

Cabbage wraps with ssamjang or sesame oil dip: which is better?

Having tried the cabbage and pickled chili wraps, I see why Saenggopchangjip tells you to eat it this way... The sweet cabbage brings out the texture, and the tangy, spicy pickled chili cuts right through the greasiness, so no heaviness at all...

I tried it with ssamjang and also just dipped in the oil sauce, and I'd still recommend just the oil sauce, haha. The ssamjang seems to mask the flavor of the gopchang a bit. The pickled chili handles the greasiness, so I didn't really need ssamjang, personally, haha.

Makchang and gopchang: chewy and packed with filling

I really love makchang, sob. The makchang at Saenggopchangjip is crazy good, so springy and chewy.

The owner grills it and tells you when to eat, so you just eat as told, sob. The older I get, the more annoying it is to grill and eat myself.. Meat grilled by someone else, gopchang grilled by someone else, tastes the best...

Can you see the gopchang full of gop (the creamy fat filling)..? It's really packed to the brim. So rich, wow, I thought this would taste amazing even as a hot pot (jeongol).

The richness bursts in your mouth the more you chew, such a taste you keep thinking about, sob

Daechang: plump, bursting with fat and barely shrinks

And the daechang? Usually the oil rushes out of daechang and it shrinks a lot, but the daechang at Saenggopchangjip, what the..? The oil bursts out. The oil really bursts out. It didn't shrink much either. I'm a daechang lover, and when it's cooked like this, how could I not love it...

If you're serious about gopchang, please go to Saenggopchangjip, sob. It's a real gopchang gem in Sangam, sob.

Is the ₩5,000 fried rice at Saenggopchangjip worth ordering?

The fried rice at Saenggopchangjip is ₩5,000 and it's a must, not an option. At first I thought it was pricey, but the portion is huge, it has a decent amount of kimchi so it's tasty, and it has cheese in it, so think of it as cheese fried rice and it's not expensive.

If you leave a bit of gopchang, they stir-fry it in together, and the taste is heaven.. Please be sure to order the fried rice!!

Final verdict on Saenggopchangjip Sangam

Cleaned out completely...

• The taste of fresh gopchang hand-trimmed every day❤️
• No tenderizer
• Gopchang packed with gop, and plump daechang, really recommended
• Fresh combo of cabbage + pickled chili
• Non-alcoholic beer available
• Ordering the fried rice is a must

Don't hold back / Even if you starve now / You won't lose weight

I followed that well before I left..