Gopchang grill in Guro, Seoul with squid jjamppong ramyeon: Gimga-ne

I was meeting a friend near Guro and finally made it to Gimga-ne Gopchang Gui Daerim Station Main Branch, famous as a Daerim Station gopchang (grilled beef intestine) spot!

How to get to Gimga-ne Gopchang Gui near Daerim Station

Gimga-ne Gopchang Gui Daerim Station Main Branch is about a 3-minute walk from Daerim Station Exit 1! If you're coming by bus, there are stops near Daerim Station and Guroli Park, and there's a public parking lot nearby too, so it's convenient if you're driving~

What the storefront looks like

There were a few gopchang restaurants nearby, but this one looked like the biggest!!

A cute Jjanggu (Crayon Shin-chan) figure was there to welcome us haha

Old-school dining room, and why Koreans eat beef gopchang

Gimga-ne Gopchang Gui Daerim Station Main Branch had that classic old-school (nopo) vibe of a Daerim Station gopchang joint. Am I the only one who thinks gopchang tastes better in this kind of atmosphere? Hahaha

And one thing I always notice is that good restaurants always have these '@@'s health benefits' signs posted somewhere haha. The benefits of beef gopchang, apparently! High protein, low cholesterol... that's actually pretty great, right~ dieting though, ahem...

What's on the menu at Gimga-ne Gopchang Gui

Here's the menu at Gimga-ne Gopchang Gui Daerim Station Main Branch. Grilled dishes are the main event, with ramyeon and fried rice as sides.

Side dishes, plus free raw liver and cheonyeop

Once you order, they set the table up like this.

Spicy cheongyang peppers, garlic, and a carrot ssamjang (dipping paste) came out alongside.

Fresh raw liver and beef tripe came out as complimentary sides! I'd never tried either before, so this was my first time — it was such a novel experience~!

We ordered the mixed gopchang platter, and it came with two sauces. One was a soy-based sauce with chili and chili flakes for a clean, refreshing kick, and the other was sesame oil with pepper and salt. Both worked really well in their own way haha.

Mixed grilled gopchang for two, pre-grilled and served right away

We ordered the mixed gopchang platter for two, and it came out already pre-grilled from the start, ready to eat immediately.

Since it's a mixed grill, it came with a nice variety — daechang, gopchang, heart, tripe, potato, chives, onion, and more, which was exactly what I wanted!

They said Gimga-ne sources domestic beef gopchang fresh every day from the Doksan-dong cattle market. The restaurant trims off excess fat, washes, prepares, and ages it in-house. What I appreciated most was that they grill it for you — gopchang tends to splatter oil everywhere when you grill it yourself, but since an expert grilled it perfectly here, I could just relax and eat.

They told us to try the heart first — soft and nutty, with a really appealing flavor, so that's what I ate first, and it was so savory and delicious. Grilled gopchang dishes like this can easily have a strong smell, but it was surprisingly free of any funky odor.

The gopchang wasn't the type that bursts open right away — it was packed full inside, and the daechang was plump with that satisfying pop when you bit in.

And of course the tripe had that chewy texture I love — it's already my favorite, so being able to enjoy it all at once in the mixed platter was great! If you want to try a bunch of different cuts at once, I highly recommend the mixed grill.

Self-serve Hangang ramyeon: where to find the squid jjamppong

One interesting detail was that the ramyeon side was self-serve Hangang ramyeon!

This is a genuine tip — it's not just shin ramyeon out front. If you look further inside, there's squid jjamppong ramyeon too haha. I only looked at the front row and grabbed shin ramyeon, but if you want the squid jjamppong, make sure to check further in!

Hangang ramyeon, which I'd only ever had by the Han River, gets automatically cooked for you here, so there's no hassle at all~

Especially after eating something as rich as gopchang and daechang, having ramyeon to reset your palate midway made it taste even better. I was going to go for fried rice but chose ramyeon instead — such a good call!

Is Gimga-ne Gopchang Gui worth a trip to Guro?

Gimga-ne Gopchang Gui has held its spot near Daerim Station for over 10 years, and maybe that's why customers kept coming in even during the Chuseok holiday! The place has a large capacity, but if you're coming with a group, it'd be smart to reserve ahead via Naver or by phone. It had been a while since I had gopchang with zero funky smell, so good that I ended up ordering beer to go with it~!