Gongdeok takeout: bone broth rice, yeolmu and beef bibimbap trio

Looking for dinner to take home in Gongdeok, I tried ordering takeout from Horangi Gotgan Gongdeok Branch (호랭이곳간). Instead of picking just one menu item, I ended up ordering three at once: bone broth rice, yeolmu bibimbap, and beef brisket bibimbap.

Once I got home and laid everything out, even though these are all Korean menu items, the mood of each one was quite different — this would be a good spot when a group is eating together and everyone wants something different.

Location and hours of Horangi Gotgan Gongdeok Branch

• Location: 13 Mapo-daero 8-gil, 1F 101, Mapo-gu, Seoul
• Hours: 11:00 - 21:30

It's within easy walking distance of Gongdeok Station, so it's a convenient spot to swing by after work or nearby to grab dinner, like I did.

What's the atmosphere like inside?

Walking in, true to the name Horangi Gotgan ("tiger's storehouse"), a tiger painting catches your eye first. Overall, with wood-tone chairs and red tables, it felt more casual than a typical traditional Korean restaurant.

Self-serve bar

There's also a self-serve bar on one side of the store. It was handy that the basic side dishes — diced radish kimchi and pickled onion — could be topped up there for free.

What I ordered

• Bone broth rice — ₩10,000
• Yeolmu bibimbap — ₩10,000
• Beef brisket bibimbap — ₩10,000

Eating in the store is great too, but this time I wanted to relax at home, so I ordered everything to go.

Both bibimbaps came with a fried egg in the center and vegetables plus each dish's main ingredient arranged around it separately, so even in a takeout container, nothing looked jumbled when I opened the lid.

Yeolmu bibimbap, piled high with young radish greens

I started with the yeolmu bibimbap. A fried egg sat in the center, surrounded by a generous amount of yeolmu, bean sprouts, and various vegetables.

The yeolmu in particular wasn't just a few small pieces scattered in — it had real presence, trailing long with every spoonful of rice.

Hearty with meat: beef brisket bibimbap

Placed side by side, the beef brisket bibimbap was completely different from the yeolmu version.

Like the yeolmu bibimbap, it had a fried egg in the center, but one side was generously filled with beef brisket, so it was immediately clear which bowl was the meat-focused one, even before mixing. Once I mixed the vegetables, bean sprouts, and brisket into the rice, the meat was distributed throughout rather than staying in one spot.

I reheated the bone broth rice at home

Last up was the bone broth rice. I poured the packaged broth into a pot and simmered it once more at home. Once transferred to a pot instead of staying in the takeout container, it really felt like a proper home-cooked meal.

I added rice to the fully reheated bone broth and ate. Fishing out the meat from the broth and laying it on top of the rice showed off the grain of the meat nicely. Rather than just sipping the broth, I preferred letting the rice soak up the broth and eating it together with the meat piled on top, in one bite.

Switching between the two bibimbaps and the warm bone broth soup in between kept things interesting, even though it was all Korean food.

My thoughts on eating it all as takeout

I didn't eat at the restaurant this time — everything was takeout, eaten at home — but I actually liked being able to spread out all three dishes comfortably and compare them. The bibimbaps were ready to eat straight away, while the bone broth rice got reheated hot at home; it was fun how the eating experience differed even though it was all the same takeout Korean food.

If you're looking for a Korean restaurant in Gongdeok that does takeout, or if everyone in your group has different tastes and it's hard to agree on one dish, getting one bone broth rice and splitting different bibimbaps among the group seems like a solid combination.