Korean BBQ for group dinners in Yeongdeungpo: Choryang Saenggalbi

Today I'm at a fresh short rib spot near Yeongdeungpo-gu Office Station! You know the food alley around Yeongdeungpo-gu Office is packed with good restaurants, so I go there pretty often. I noticed this place, Choryang Saenggalbi (초량생갈비), had newly opened on one of my past trips, and since it was already busy with great reviews, I decided to check it out haha.

Where is Choryang Saenggalbi, and do you need a reservation?

Choryang Saenggalbi is a Korean BBQ restaurant tucked inside the Yeongdeungpo-gu Office Station food alley, on Gukhoe-daero 34-gil. Luckily, I made a reservation for around 6:30pm on a weekday and got seated with no wait at all. A little while later, though, several groups were waiting. If you've got a get-together planned, I'd definitely recommend booking ahead!

Choryang Saenggalbi menu board and set menus

The menu is laid out like this, and having set menus made it easy to just pick and go! The type of grill plate also changes depending on which grilled dish you order, and that was clearly marked too haha. We went with Set A!

Free corkage conditions at Choryang Saenggalbi

Choryang Saenggalbi offers free corkage, but there are conditions attached (conditional, I guess?). Here's what the posted sign said.

• Free corkage (conditional?)
• Minimum order of ₩25,000 per person
• 2-hour time limit
• No store-bought alcohol allowed

Where to put coats and bags

There's a storage space right under the seats where you can stash your bags. Barbecue restaurants tend to let the smell soak into everything, so having individual storage like this was really nice haha.

Side dishes: green onion kimchi and shredded radish

Choryang Saenggalbi's basic side dish spread was great. There's the essential dipping sauce for the meat, shredded green onion, and the real standout was the green onion kimchi... it was amazing eaten together with the meat. And that white side dish is radish strips, kind of like ssammu (pickled radish wraps) — it felt refreshing after eating meat.

What comes in Set A: assorted meat, kimchi stew, cheese egg custard

Here's the assorted meat lineup that comes with Set A. Getting the set meant we could try a variety of cuts — the plan was to taste them all and order more of whichever was best!

The kimchi jjigae (kimchi stew) that comes with the set was seriously the highlight — I practically scraped the bowl clean. The broth was really rich, with tender pork inside. It wasn't super spicy though, so it was easy to keep eating. There's some wait time while the meat gets grilled at first, so I passed the time eating rice with the kimchi stew... ♥

And then there's the cheese egg custard that also comes with the set! The portion was generous too. The kimchi stew and egg custard combo alone was enough to finish a whole bowl of rice. If you look at the last GIF, can you see the steam? It's a hot dish, but the inside stays cool enough that it's comfortable to eat, which I liked.

Staff grill the meat and explain every cut

One of the best things about Choryang Saenggalbi is that they grill the meat for you! These days it seems like more and more BBQ places offer this service. It lets you fully focus on the meal itself. And honestly, meat grilled by a pro probably tastes better too, haha.

They grill the meat and cut it into bite-sized pieces for you like this! They also explain which cut is which and which sauce to dip it in, so you can enjoy it even more. We kept tasting different cuts trying to figure out which one we liked best --

At first, they told us to top the grilled fresh short rib with some jeotgal (salted seafood) — and this was truly the highlight. I kept eating it this way the whole time ••❤️. It had a bit of a 'short rib innards jeotgal' kind of feel.

Free drink for a Naver receipt review

There was a Naver review event where you could get a free drink for leaving a receipt review. Since everyone else was having a drink after work, I went with a cold Zero Coke. Zero Coke still has liquid fructose in it, but somehow it just feels right when you're eating something greasy...

Best bite at Choryang Saenggalbi: fresh short rib, ordered again

In the end, we ordered one more portion of fresh short rib... my absolute top pick! The other cuts were tasty too, but there was something about the chew and the distinctive flavor of fresh short rib that got me, so I added another portion. Maybe that was a bit too greedy. I was so stuffed it hurt.

Here's the full order breakdown! We really ate well and ended up stuffed. I love fresh short rib in general, and I genuinely recommend Choryang Saenggalbi. Everything came together beautifully — not just the meat, but the side dishes and sauces too (our seat was a little tucked away in a corner, which made it easy to talk). Plus, the bathroom was really clean, which I loved! (Nothing but praise here, haha.) And so I keep gaining weight...