Gwacheon duck BBQ couple course with pickled perilla wraps: Deo Chadol

I heard Deo Chadol in Gwacheon is a duck BBQ hotspot that celebrities, starting with the actor Ryu Seung-ryong, have visited, so my husband and I went for dinner one weekday evening!

Where is Deo Chadol in Gwacheon, and where do you park?

• 📍 5 Dwitgol 2-ro, Gwacheon-si, Gyeonggi (1st floor)
• 🚇 148 m on foot from Exit 3 of Seonbawi Station
• ⏰ Daily 11:00-21:30 (weekday break time 15:00-17:00)
• 🚗 Free use of the restaurant's own parking lot

Deo Chadol sits right in front of Exit 3 of Seonbawi Station. It's close to the subway, so it's easy to reach by public transport, and it's only about 5 minutes by car from Seoul Grand Park or Seoul Land, so it would also be great for a meal after a day out in Gwacheon.

For parking, use the restaurant's own free lot, and if it's full, there's also a public lot right in front. That one is paid, though.

We went on a Friday evening and were number 1 on the waitlist. Guests kept coming in while we ate, and it was really crowded late into the evening.

What are Deo Chadol's interior and seating like?

The restaurant is spacious and the tables are on the large side. It was so busy that it was hard to take a photo of the whole place.

With duck you grill all sorts of things and lots of side dishes come out, so a small table can be quietly annoying, right? Deo Chadol's tables have plenty of room, so it was comfortable even for just my husband and me. There's also a separate group room, and we saw lots of groups too.

The customers were a mix of ages, from young couples to our parents' generation. It seemed like a good fit for a family meal or for taking your parents out.

The walls were also covered in signatures from famous celebrities. I hear it was introduced as a restaurant recommended by actor Ryu Seung-ryong on the KBS show Baedal Wassuda.

Deo Chadol couple course: what's included for 55,000 won?

We ordered the Deo Chadol couple course for ₩55,000.

• 200 g duck brisket BBQ (oricha-dol-gui)
• 300 g marinated raw duck (jumulleok)
• Soybean stew (doenjang-jjigae)
• Self-made fried rice for 1

The couple course lets you have both the duck brisket BBQ and the marinated duck in one go, and it comes with soybean stew and fried rice too.

Honestly I grill duck at home a lot, so it's familiar, but duck brisket was a first for me, so that was what I was most excited about. When you hear "chadol," beef brisket (chadolbagi) usually comes to mind first, right? I'd never had duck this way, so I was curious what it would taste like.

How to eat grilled duck brisket with pickled perilla leaves

The duck brisket BBQ comes with water dropwort (minari), mushrooms and onion, and you grill them together with the meat. Lettuce wraps come separately, and you can get more vegetables or side dishes from the self-serve bar.

The duck brisket is really good when you grill it a little crisp. I grilled the thin slices until golden and ate them with pickled perilla leaves (kkaennip jangajji), and that combination was so good.

It's good topped with a piece of grilled garlic, and good dipped in the special sauce too. Even now, writing this review, I remember the taste and my mouth is watering.

How is marinated fresh duck different from duck brisket?

In the couple course, once you've finished the duck brisket, they bring out the marinated raw duck. I'd already enjoyed the brisket so much, but the jumulleok was a totally different feel!

The marinated raw duck comes with rice cakes (tteok), sweet potato and vegetables. If the brisket is about enjoying the duck's own nutty flavor, the jumulleok is seasoned, so the savory depth was much stronger.

When I took a bite of the seasoned meat with the vegetables, I could barely taste the greasiness duck usually has. It was also fun picking out the rice cakes and sweet potato in between.

Finishing with soybean paste stew and DIY fried rice

You can't skip soybean stew when you eat BBQ, right? At other BBQ places the stew is often salty or harsh, but Deo Chadol's let the soybean paste's own flavor come through. It also had plenty of zucchini and tofu, so I could feel the owner's generosity~~

And the finale is the self-made fried rice! I was already full from the brisket and the jumulleok, but I still had room for fried rice. Rice stir-fried in the leftover seasoning, need I say more? My husband and I left really full from just one couple course!