Geomdan, Incheon restaurant bar with a 6-dish chef's choice: Matgim

Geomdan's course-dining bar omakase, Matgim. From smoky seared napa cabbage to melt-in-your-mouth steak, a satisfying course menu for ₩35,000!

Matgim in Geomdan: a 35,000-won chef's choice course bar

Matgim is a course-dining bar on Seogot-ro in Geomdan, Incheon. Their signature 'matgim charim' (chef's choice course) is ₩35,000 per person, and the portions were generous and delicious! (Visit date: September 9, 2026, 7pm)

While eating, I already thought I'd definitely come back with my boyfriend next time — and pay for it myself!! (My sister said she wants to bring her boyfriend too, it was that good — I'm drooling just thinking about it)

A perfect spot for anyone who wants to enjoy hearty bar food with a drink! Here's my honest review of Matgim, a true Geomdan gem, starting with location and parking info.

Where Matgim is, plus parking and reservations

• Location: 788 Seogot-ro, 1st floor, Unit 129, Geomdan-gu, Incheon, South Korea
• Parking: Available in the building's underground lot, free for 2 hours
• Hours: 18:00–24:00
• Last order: 23:00
• Closed: Every Tuesday
• Reservations: Via Catch Table (bookable in 1-hour slots)
• Other: Corkage available, non-alcoholic drinks available, no-kids zone

The handwritten sign at the entrance is so cute,,

Bar seats with a view of the cooking: inside Matgim

Matgim has bar seats and a 4-person table. I sat at the bar counter and watched the cooking happen live! It's an open kitchen, so it was fun watching the food get prepared haha

Looking around, I could really tell the owner has great taste,,

The lighting is used well, and the posters on the walls are pretty! You could tell everything was decorated with care, down to the smallest details — the owner must be quite handy too. I didn't get a photo of it myself, but there's a photo zone, perfect for taking a memorial shot!📸

What's on Matgim's chef's choice menu, and the six dishes I had

The matgim charim course comes in two options: ₩35,000 per person (5–6 dishes) and ₩50,000 per person (7–8 dishes). We ordered the ₩35,000 course.

On the day we visited, the lineup was: fig tofu cream cheese, seared napa cabbage, tripe tacos, the daily pasta, pork tenderloin steak, and plum granita! From vegetables to tacos, pasta, meat, and dessert — six dishes in a row made for quite a varied lineup. This was the menu on the day I visited, so please check the current lineup when you go! (You can check via Catch Table)

Already had dinner? The 10,000-won snack option at Matgim

One more thing I really wanted to mention about Matgim! If you've already eaten dinner, you can also just come for a light snack and drinks!! (How did they even think of that?!?!)

You can adjust the price and food composition based on how full you already are — for ₩10,000 per person, they'll prepare 1–2 dishes paired to match your drink. You know those times when you want one more drink after dinner but ordering a big spread feels like too much? This would be great as a second or third stop of the night! They said it's available on weekends too, so it's worth calling ahead to check 👍🏻

There's also a corner set aside for wine.

A tip for ordering drinks here! 🍷 The September menu pairs especially well with red wine~~ (I asked the owner). Since wine is their specialty, if you're ordering a drink, a glass of red wine could be a great pairing! (Non-alcoholic drinks are available too, so even non-drinkers can enjoy the place comfortably!)

Starting with fig tofu cream cheese

The first dish of the course was fig tofu cream cheese. I especially loved the bright, tangy flavor of the sauce. One bite and my appetite kicked into gear — a great way to start the course. My sister and I kept spooning up just the sauce lol. Starting off on a good note, I was already looking forward to what was coming next,,

Matgim highball and strawberry mint ade

For drinks, we ordered the Matgim highball and strawberry mint ade. The highball had a dry finish, while the strawberry mint ade was quite sweet and refreshing! With a clear sweetness balanced by tanginess, it's a flavor people who like sweet drinks would enjoy. (A flavor I wanted to steal sips of ㅠㅠ)

Smoky seared napa cabbage at Matgim

The seared napa cabbage was a dish I genuinely loved! Topped with bacon and scallions and served with Caesar sauce, though it was a bit more tangy and runny than the Caesar sauce I usually think of. What I loved most was the strong smoky flavor. One bite, delicious. Another bite, delicious. Even after several bites, it tasted as good as the first lol. A dish that made me realize cabbage could taste this good!

Tripe tacos in a soybean paste sauce

Next up was the tripe tacos, made with a soybean-paste base with chili salsa and tomato salsa. Biting in, the meat filling was so generous — a totally different flavor from the seared cabbage before it, so each new course brought its own kind of excitement.

Squeezing the lime that came with it added a brightness that made the cilantro aroma really come through.

My hands got messy eating the tripe tacos, and the thoughtful owner noticed and brought over more wet wipes,,

The daily pasta: truffle conchiglie

The day's pasta happened to be truffle pasta!

The texture of the shell-shaped conchiglie noodles was especially great!! Each chewy noodle was packed full of thick, rich truffle sauce, and with mushrooms and bacon(?) mixed in too, the texture was fun to eat and scooping up the extra sauce with a spoon was pure bliss。。 The truffle aroma spread rich and strong but without feeling heavy, so I scraped up every last bit of leftover sauce!

I really want to ask the owner the secret to making something this thick and rich without getting sick of it…!

The problem was, by this point I was starting to feel like I might burst ㅠㅠㅠ The owner apparently has the 'virtue'(?) of not being great at portion control, designing the course with people who love a hearty spread of food and drinks in mind. I'm usually the type who gets hungry after omakase and needs tteokbokki afterward, but here I couldn't even dream of it — it was surprising there was still a steak left to come…

The pork tenderloin steak my sister mistook for beef

Normally when I'm this full, nothing tastes good, but I really enjoyed the pork tenderloin steak even while stuffed!!! It was sous-vide pork served with a chimichurri sauce made with chopped Italian parsley, cauliflower purée, whole grain mustard, and gungchae (a leafy green vegetable).

I was most shocked by how tender the meat was. It was so different from the pork texture I knew, that even while eating it I kept thinking, wait, this is pork?!?! A genuinely shocking flavor.

My sister apparently thought it was beef the entire time lol. On the way home when I told her it was pork, her eyes went wide — "How does that taste like pork?" lol

Dessert to finish: plum granita

To finish, plum granita! The tartness of the plum paired well with Shine Muscat jelly, and it cleansed the palate nicely after all that pasta and steak.

Even while saying I was full, there's always room for a refreshing dessert.

For anyone driving, here's a photo of the parking lot. Matgim's building has its own parking lot, and you get 2 hours free!

Is Matgim worth a return trip in Geomdan?

After finishing several dishes on the ₩35,000 course, both my sister and I left feeling really satisfied. The seared napa cabbage that tasted as good as the first bite every time, the chewy pasta, the pork tenderloin steak my sister mistook for beef — it was all so good we kept talking about the food on the way home.

If you're looking for a spot in Geomdan that lets you enjoy a variety of dishes as a course, Matgim is worth keeping in mind. 🫶🏻