Briquette kimchi fried rice at a Yangjae BBQ spot: Gamdol Yeontan Jip

After a satisfying picnic at Yangjae Citizen's Forest, I headed straight to Gamdol Yeontan Jip, a charcoal-grill Korean BBQ restaurant in Yangjae, to refuel on protein ~ 🔥

This isn't just a place with great meat — the whole vibe, right down to the side dishes, is on point, so let me walk you through it in detail 😎

Where is Gamdol Yeontan Jip Yangjae Citizen's Forest Branch, and is there parking?

Gamdol Yeontan Jip Yangjae Citizen's Forest Branch is a 5-minute walk from Yangjae Citizen's Forest Station Exit 3️⃣. There's space for 3-4 cars right in front, so it's easy to visit by car too 🚘

What is the atmosphere like inside Gamdol Yeontan Jip?

The moment I walked into Gamdol Yeontan Jip, what caught my eye was the totally vintage, retro atmosphere — it reminded me of my grandma's place.

From the water bottles to a Del Monte orange juice vibe, and even hetgae (oriental raisin tree) tea 🫢 It wasn't half-decorated in an awkward way — every detail, from the spoons to the table, the water bottles, the interior props, was fully committed to that old-school charcoal-briquette era feel, and it was so cute.

One side has a long connected table that feels cozy like a private room, so it looked like a great spot for a group dinner in Yangjae!

What's on the menu at Gamdol Yeontan Jip?

There's a solid lineup: gochujang charcoal bulgogi, charcoal coarse-salt pork belly, teungmoksal skewers, seolhwa-kkodeulsal (a specialty cut), and a range of drinking-food charcoal-grilled dishes like seasoned kkomjangeo (small eel), honeycomb tripe, charcoal boneless chicken feet, odolppyeo galbi (cartilage rib), and grilled dried filefish. There are also filling meal options like fried rice, flat bibim noodles, soft tofu stew, doenjang stew, and steamed egg.

You can conveniently order from your table via kiosk 👍🏻

Banchan side dishes served with the meat

A bit contrary to the retro vibe, apparently the owner is a graduate of Le Cordon Bleu, one of the world's top three culinary schools 🫢

Maybe that's why every single side dish felt carefully thought out.

The four dishes ordered at Gamdol Yeontan Jip

• ✔️ Two servings of teungmoksal (premium pork neck) skewers
• ✔️ Charcoal-grilled pork belly with coarse salt
• ✔️ The one-of-a-kind flat bibim noodles
• ✔️ Briquette-shaped fried rice cube

From meat to sides, we ordered thoroughly.

The meat is aged for 1,440 minutes in a handmade clay jar, and it comes out served in this cute little jar. You could tell it was well-aged just from how gorgeous the color looked!

Jureuljuri teungmoksal (premium pork neck)

I ordered it almost hypnotized by the claim that it's made with selected top-grade Korean pork and is the best teungmoksal of your life .. and it was a very satisfying choice.

As advertised for people who love thick-cut meat, even though it's a thick cut of pork neck, it had a springy texture with no dryness at all.

A bite with the world's only basil ssamjang (seasoned soybean paste) .. every combination with ssamjang, pickles, kimchi, sesame oil was a hit, so I ate thoroughly satisfied from the first bite to the last.

Kkakttuk kimchi fried rice shaped like a coal briquette

Since it's Gamdol Yeontan Jip, I really wanted to try the briquette-shaped fried rice cube. It's an adorable briquette-shaped kimchi fried rice with cheese, fernbrake, flying fish roe, and a fried egg — and personally, this dish was as good as the meat .. ⭐️⭐️⭐️

The crunchy diced kkakdugi (radish kimchi) in the kimchi fried rice was such a hit!! Eating it with the cheese crisped up at the bottom was delicious too.

Eating this together with the meat like this is the best combo .. 👍🏻

The one-and-only original flat bibim noodles

Normally I would've just eaten fried rice, but the eye-catching 'world's only original flat bibim noodles' — a dish I'd never heard of before — made me curious, so I couldn't help but order it.

The noodles are so thin you could practically slurp them like a drink, and thanks to the starch from the noodles, the sweet and tangy sauce clung to the thin strands beautifully — it was fun wrapping the meat with cabbage alongside it 😋

(I snapped a photo of the grill plate being swapped out because it made me laugh ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ)

Charcoal-grilled pork belly with coarse salt

The second meat was juicy pork belly with coarse salt — I was actually worried it'd be too salty since real coarse salt was sprinkled on it, but it had a perfect ratio of lean meat to fat ..

Thanks to the charcoal that kept working hard without losing heat till the end, the pork belly turned out golden brown and full of that charcoal-grilled flavor!!

You know how charcoal briquettes are said to be risky if you've seen 'Kkeomjeong Gomushin' (a Korean cartoon), but of course Gamdol Yeontan Jip uses patented clean charcoal briquettes!! You can enjoy that charcoal flavor comfortably without having to manage the fire.

Since we'd eaten meat, we finished things off refreshingly with a plum slushie to help digestion 🍏

Final verdict after clearing every plate

What can I say — the meat was already delicious, and the owner, who's clearly serious about meat, ages it too, so the meat itself is 💯. Besides the meat, there's a great variety of sides like chicken feet, cartilage, stew, and bibim noodles, so it'd work well for a meal, a group dinner, or just a light drinking session 😋 If you're near Yangjae Citizen's Forest and craving aged meat, I highly recommend it ~