Korean BBQ near Korea University Anam Hospital: Gimgol Yeontanjip

My wife and I went looking for meat after her appointment at Korea University Anam Hospital, and that's how we found Gimgol Yeontanjip Bomun Station Branch!

A 6pm reservation at Gimgol Yeontanjip — is there a wait?

We had booked a 6pm reservation at Gimgol Yeontanjip Bomun Station Branch, and there was no wait at all!

Plenty of guests were already seated inside, and it looked like walk-ins arriving a little later would have had to wait!

We were seated by the owner. There are about 10 tables inside, and since the meat is grilled over charcoal, reviews rave about how great the smoky flavor is!

What's on the self-serve bar? Don't skip the green onion salad

In the center of Gimgol Yeontanjip Bomun Station Branch is a self-serve bar with various sauces, small plates, and dipping dishes.

Lettuce, perilla leaves, kimchi, green onion salad — take as much as you'll eat. And you absolutely have to try the green onion salad, it's genuinely delicious!

The ordering sequence the owner recommends

Gimgol Yeontanjip Bomun Station Branch doesn't have a huge menu — the best places rarely do, right? While we were deciding what to order, the owner suggested eating the plain grilled meats before the seasoned ones, and recommended pairing them with flat bibim noodles as a side.

• Charcoal king-salt samgyeopsal
• Teukmoksal skewers
• Gochujang charcoal bulgogi
• Flat bibim noodles

Three sauces: the mill-pressed sesame oil dip wins

Once we ordered, the side dishes were set out. Gimgol Yeontanjip Bomun Station Branch has three sauces: ssamjang, basil ssamjang, and oil sauce. The best of the three was the oil sauce — the owner said it's pressed fresh at a local oil mill, and tasting it, it was incredibly deep and full of flavor!

The green onion salad sauce we grabbed from the self-serve bar was the real kicker — definitely try it!

How to grill the king-salt samgyeopsal and teukmoksal skewers

The owner put the meat on first! The samgyeopsal came pre-salted, so we didn't need to season it separately, and for the teukmoksal the owner emphasized that if you grill it too well-done it gets dry — cook it through but pull it off at about 80% while it still has some tension in it.

We dipped the samgyeopsal in the oil sauce first, and wow — so good! The pork itself was high quality and savory, and paired with the mill-pressed oil sauce, the flavor was on another level. One of the top 3 samgyeopsal I've ever had!

We also had a piece of the pork neck with basil ssamjang — really chewy and juicy. One bite and I understood exactly why they tell you to stop at 80%!

We ate it with some grilled scallions too.

Then wrapped up another generous lettuce wrap and kept eating haha.

How to eat the flat bibim noodles

Next came the flat bibim noodles, topped with a big pile of vegetables!

The flat bibim noodles have this wide, flat noodle shape!

The owner told us to spread out the noodles and wrap them around the vegetables and meat that came with it. Eating it that way felt like a totally new kind of wrap I'd never had at a BBQ restaurant before — fresh and clean, cutting right through the greasiness of the meat!

Gochujang charcoal bulgogi, served in its own crock

While we were still going strong, we ordered the gochujang charcoal bulgogi too. It came out served in a crock — the first time I'd seen that — and the staff mixed it up before setting it on the grill.

The portion was huge too! Since it's seasoned meat, the pro tip is to keep stirring it as it grills so it doesn't burn!

Charcoal-grilled bulgogi is best enjoyed in a rustic, no-frills way! And the smoky flavor is insane — grilling it over charcoal really infuses that char flavor into the sauce, and it was so good that even full, I kept eating haha. Wrapping up a big bite after big bite!

Finishing with a plum or omija slushie

And finally, the perfect finish — slushies! There are two kinds, plum and omija (schisandra berry), so scoop out whichever suits your taste as a palate cleanser to close out the meal.

Beyond the quality of the meat, Gimgol Yeontanjip Bomun Station Branch lets you enjoy the meal almost like a proper course. The space is spacious and the owner is friendly, so it's a great BBQ restaurant for a satisfying, delicious meal — recommended!

Business hours are daily from 15:00 to 24:00.