Icheon travel lunch: nuruk-marinated pork galbi for two, Neul Gogi Jip

While planning an Icheon trip, I looked for good restaurants before even thinking about sightseeing, and that's how I found Neul Gogi Jip Icheon Main Branch. Since Icheon is famous for its rice, I felt like I had to eat Korean food here, and it turned out to be a genuinely well-reviewed Icheon restaurant, verified good by multiple sources.

Why Neul Gogi Jip is a Blue Ribbon, Korean Culinary Master pick with easy parking in Icheon

Neul Gogi Jip Icheon Main Branch has a spacious parking lot, making it an easy Icheon BBQ restaurant to visit for a family meal or group gathering. It's a 2026 Blue Ribbon and Korean Culinary Master–certified restaurant, and right from the entrance there's a Blue Ribbon sticker and a Korean Culinary Master nameplate, which got me excited before even walking in.

It's right next to Icheon Bareun Hospital and not far from Icheon landmarks like Seolbong Park and Terme Den, making it a convenient stop while traveling around Icheon.

• Address: 2541 Gyeongchung-daero, Icheon-si, Gyeonggi-do, South Korea
• Hours: Daily 11:00–21:30 / break time 15:30–16:30 / last order 14:30, 20:30
• Closed only on major holiday dates, no break time on public holidays
• Free parking: 30 spots in the dedicated lot in front of the restaurant

The interior was clean, spacious, and comfortable for dining — a great first impression. Visiting at lunchtime, I saw a mix of families eating out and office workers on lunch break, and the mood felt calm and pleasant for a relaxed meal.

A country-of-origin label was clearly displayed right at the entrance, and most ingredients were domestic! In particular, the rice is milled fresh in-store every day using hwangmi (golden) rice, which made the rice itself taste great.

Why we skipped the 24,900-won lunch special for pork galbi for two and soy crab

At Neul Gogi Jip Icheon Main Branch you can order comfortably from your seat via tablet. They brought us water, and I was surprised to find they even make their own bottled water in-house — pretty meticulous.

Until 14:30, there's a lunch special with the restaurant's signature master soy crab and jeyuk-bokkeum (spicy stir-fried pork) for a great-value ₩24,900. But at a BBQ restaurant, pork galbi is always my top priority, so instead of the lunch set I ordered two servings of pork galbi plus a plate of soy crab on the side.

Seven side dishes: what comes with every Neul Gogi Jip table

The basic side dishes that came out with the order were plated with real care, and each one, once tasted, turned out to be made with quality ingredients and had its own distinct character.

We got seasoned crab, japchae (glass noodle stir-fry), sweet pumpkin salad, lotus root, yeolmu kimchi, pickles, and cucumber salad — all made with healthy ingredients and clearly homemade, with real hand-cooked flavor. With so many side dishes to go with it, the Icheon lunch table felt way more abundant.

The sweet pumpkin salad had soybean powder mixed in, and the lotus root was topped with black sesame sauce — little extra touches that elevated the dishes.

Nuruk-marinated pork galbi neck 250g, grilled over charcoal by the staff

Out of the two servings of 250g nuruk-marinated pork galbi neck, about a third went onto the charcoal grill at a time. The pork galbi comes half bone-in and half neck meat.

Pork galbi is good on its own, but it's even better wrapped with lettuce. Along with the 7 side dishes on the table, you help yourself to lettuce wraps from the self-serve bar.

There was a good variety of lettuce, perilla leaves, crown daisy, and more, all kept fresh — just looking at them made me feel healthier. I also grabbed kimchi, garlic, and peppers from the self-serve bar.

The main event of the day — two servings of pork galbi! A staff member grilled it tableside to just the right point, so we could eat comfortably without doing any grilling ourselves. The meat had been aged with nuruk salt, which made the texture tender. The seasoning soaked evenly into the meat, and since it wasn't too strong, the natural flavor of the ribs really came through.

Even the pickled onions had a nice detail — shredded perilla leaves mixed in. Usually I'd eat mostly pickled onions at a BBQ place, but here there were so many other side dishes that the pickled onions ended up taking a back seat.

Master soy crab: Tongyeong hwangge crab marinated in soy sauce

I was already full just from the pork galbi, but since soy crab is the restaurant's signature dish, it would've been a shame to skip. Switching from pork galbi to soy crab felt like starting a whole new meal. The master soy crab plate is made with domestic Tongyeong hwangge (golden crab), and even though it wasn't in season, the crab meat was plump.

Wearing the vinyl gloves provided, I carefully picked the crab meat and ate it with rice. A light press and the meat slid right out, so it wasn't hard to eat at all.

Freshly cooked rice with soy crab was truly a rice thief.

Ingredients for sale and free dessert coffee and ice cream

At Neul Gogi Jip Icheon Main Branch you can also buy ingredients like rice, soy sauce, and fish sauce, with gift wrapping available too, so it'd make a nice gift for friends and family.

After the meal, you can grab dessert coffee and ice cream — the ice cream was good enough that they could probably sell it separately.

There's a lounge area, so you can enjoy your after-meal dessert at a relaxed pace.

Between the pork galbi and soy crab main dishes, and side dishes that were as high-quality as a full Korean set meal, Neul Gogi Jip Icheon Main Branch made me think of my parents right away. If I lived in Icheon, I think I'd come back here often for family meals. Neul Gogi Jip Icheon Main Branch left me with a great memory of Icheon.