Goseong kid-friendly galbi restaurant, 250g ₩18,000: Yongchon Gogi-jip

There's a place we ate really well at while traveling with our kids in Goseong, so I wanted to introduce it.

It's Yongchon Gogi-jip (용촌고기집) in Goseong. It's about a 5-minute drive from Kensington Seorak Beach, so we went for dinner with the kids :)

• Address: 20-3 Yongwon-ro, Toseong-myeon, Goseong-gun, Gangwon-do
• Hours: Mon–Thu 12:00–21:00 / Fri–Sun 11:00–21:00
• Break time: 15:00–17:00
• Closed: Wednesdays
• Parking: Large parking lot

A Goseong pork galbi restaurant in quiet countryside

Yongchon Gogi-jip is 5 minutes by car from Kensington Seorak Beach, so we visited on a weekday evening. After 5 hours of playing at Cheonjin Beach with the kids and finishing up with a sauna at Kensington Seorak Beach, we went for dinner. It was the perfect timing to feed the kids after the sauna and before heading back to our lodging!

We'd heard it was famous for hand-trimmed pork galbi, so we went in with high expectations. The kids had been playing at the beach all day and were seriously hungry. We'd meant to arrive right at 5pm when break time ends, but the sauna ran a little late, so we got there around 5:20.

But... there were 3 parties ahead of us! About 7 parties were already inside eating. We thought three parties would clear out quickly, but we ended up waiting almost an hour. Once people sit down at a BBQ place, meals take a while, so turnover isn't exactly fast haha.

Yongchon Gogi-jip occupies the ground floor of a two-story house, giving it the feel of a local spot that's been in business at the same location for a long time.

The parking lot is pretty spacious, so parking was easy. And with the quiet fields and countryside scenery around, it was nice to take a slow walk with the kids while waiting.

The crepe myrtle flowers blooming in front of the restaurant kept catching my eye while we waited. Still, an hour was a little tough haha.

Inside Yongchon Gogi-jip: house-style hall and two private rooms

Finally, we got in! The interior of Yongchon Gogi-jip is a house-style layout with vinyl flooring where you keep your shoes on. It's not flashy or trendy, but overall it was kept very clean.

The inside was bigger than expected, and there were about 2 private rooms available, making it good for family meals or larger groups too. Baby chairs were also on hand, so it seemed fine to visit with kids.

Hand-butterflied galbi: 250g for ₩18,000

The menu is exactly what you'd expect at a BBQ place! Hand-trimmed pork galbi (plain/marinated) 250g at ₩18,000, plain pork belly 200g at ₩18,000. There's also kimchi jjigae, doenjang sulbap, steamed egg, and pollock hoe naengmyeon (raw pollock cold noodles). Given how expensive eating out has gotten these days, the price for the amount of meat is really good, isn't it? It's rare to find marinated galbi at ₩18,000 for 250g these days haha. As soon as we sat down, we ordered 4 servings of marinated galbi and 2 bowls of rice without hesitation.

After ordering, the basic side dishes came out along with the charcoal.

Green onion kimchi, seasoned green onions, perilla leaf pickles, baek-kimchi (white, non-spicy kimchi), and pickled onions — every one of them went well with the meat. What I especially liked was the baek-kimchi! I'm not sure if they gave it to us specifically because we came with kids, but it wasn't spicy at all and had a clean, mild taste, so the kids ate it really well too. At a lot of BBQ places, most side dishes are spicy or strongly seasoned so there's nothing for kids to eat. But here, having this mild baek-kimchi was great as a side for the kids' rice. And of course the green onion kimchi, seasoned green onions, and perilla pickles pair perfectly with pork galbi. Also, a steamed egg comes as a default with the meal. Getting a free steamed egg when visiting with kids is such a nice touch!

Even the charcoal arrives spotless

While waiting for the meat, the charcoal came out and — what is this? The charcoal was so clean and neat looking haha.

I've almost never thought this about charcoal at a BBQ place before, but even the charcoal felt tidy here. And then, finally, the marinated galbi arrived!

Yongchon Gogi-jip is apparently famous for hand-trimming the pork galbi themselves. These days most BBQ places don't trim the pork galbi by hand, right?

Trimming it by hand means you can remove unnecessary fat and adjust for the meat's thickness and condition, which apparently makes the grilled result much more tender and better able to bring out the meat's natural flavor.

Sure enough, when the meat came out, you could tell right away the seasoning was well soaked in. But instead of the sticky, sweet smell typical of heavily marinated galbi, it looked really clean and fresh.

And most of all, the fat-trimming was really well done. Our first kid is the type who picks off every bit of fat stuck to galbi before eating it, but here there was almost no fat left to pick off, so she just ate it all as is. She'd been genuinely upset from how hungry she was.

After one bite of meat, she said, "Mom, it was worth the wait," and started devouring it haha. I tried a piece too and had to admit — this is good!! I honestly wasn't that hungry going in. But the meat was genuinely delicious!

Marinated galbi that is neither sweet nor salty

When you think of marinated galbi, sweet and salty usually comes to mind first. But Yongchon Gogi-jip's marinated galbi isn't sweet or salty. It's very clean-tasting, while the seasoning still soaks in deep into the meat. So it doesn't feel like the seasoning is covering up the meat — it's more like galbi your mom made at home with good ingredients, seasoned without being overpowering, and somehow that's exactly what makes it so good haha.

Sometimes I worry that feeding kids too much marinated galbi means feeding them something overly sweet and salty, but here the seasoning wasn't overpowering, which I liked. Plus the meat was really tender. Since the seasoning itself wasn't strong, the taste changed depending on which side dish you ate it with.

Eaten with the green onion kimchi, it adds a tangy, sharp kick,

it's delicious with the seasoned green onions too,

and wrapped in perilla leaf pickles, also delicious.,

It's good with bibim naengmyeon too! Honestly... however you eat it, it's delicious haha. So we added 2 more servings of marinated galbi! And another bowl of rice too. We really ate hard as a family haha. Needless to say, the kids who'd played at the beach for 5 hours ate well, and even I, who wasn't that hungry, kept reaching for more meat — I think that says it all about the taste.

Don't skip the meat on the rib bone

Yongchon Gogi-jip's galbi had quite a lot of meat left on the rib bones. Near the end, we grilled the bone parts crispy at the edge of the grill, and that was seriously the best part! The seasoning had soaked all the way into the meat around the bone, and grilling it crispy brought out more of the charcoal aroma and the savory flavor. It was chewy yet tender with a deep meaty taste, so we picked those rib bones clean.

Worth a return trip to Goseong

This visit was through a blog campaign application. Whenever I apply for these campaigns, I do some research beforehand to find good places. I already had a feeling this place would be good, but honestly, Yongchon Gogi-jip made me think I'd come back again even without a campaign!! If we travel to Goseong again, we're putting it on our must-revisit list of Goseong restaurants haha. This time we only had marinated galbi, but next time I'd like to arrive a bit earlier and try the plain galbi too, not just the marinated one ^^

The food was genuinely satisfying, but if there's one downside, it's the wait. We arrived around 5:20pm and waited an hour, and customers kept coming in even while we were eating. Quite a few people who came in after us couldn't even get on the waitlist and had to turn back.

Since they close relatively early in the evening, I'd recommend going before 6pm if possible, ideally right when break time ends. We're thinking of timing it for the opening next time haha.

Why Yongchon Gogi-jip works with kids

About a 5-minute drive from Kensington Seorak Beach. There's a large parking lot and baby chairs are ready, plus mild side dishes and steamed egg that kids can eat, and most of all the pork galbi itself is tender and not overpowering — overall a great Goseong BBQ restaurant to visit with kids.

Since the pork galbi is hand-trimmed, the fat-trimming is clean, the seasoning is neither too sweet nor too salty while still soaking deep into the meat, and the price isn't a burden either, so overall it was really great! And even though they were busy, the owner was really kind, which made the meal even more pleasant. If you're looking for good galbi in Goseong, I recommend Yongchon Gogi-jip!! Just be prepared for a wait though haha. We're planning to visit again on our next Goseong trip. :)