Songpa Korean BBQ where staff flip your gopchang on a timer: Jinseong

I went to Jinseong Hanwoo Gopchang, a beef gopchang (grilled beef intestine) spot in Bangi-dong. It's already a well-known name on the Bangi-dong food alley, so just a heads-up that you should expect a wait. Today I'll walk you through the wait time, menu, and prices at Jinseong Hanwoo Gopchang.

Where is Jinseong Hanwoo Gopchang Bangi Direct Branch, and what does it look like?

Jinseong Hanwoo Gopchang sits on the Bangi-dong food alley, known locally as Bangi Matgol. The white exterior with the shop name written large made it fairly easy to spot once we got close.

How long is the wait if you arrive at 6pm?

If there's a wait, you write your name on the chalkboard set up outside the store, and there are chairs to rest on while you wait. Evenings get busy, so just know you might have to wait if you come during peak hours. We arrived at 6pm and waited about 30 minutes.

• Address: 19 Olympic-ro 32-gil, Songpa-gu, Seoul, South Korea
• Closing time posted at the time of our visit: midnight

A sign at the entrance stated the store is open until midnight.

Jinseong Hanwoo Gopchang menu prices

According to the menu, the first order has to be at least 2 servings. Both gopchang and daechang (beef large intestine) are listed at 220g per serving.

• Beef gopchang 220g: ₩19,000
• Beef daechang 220g: ₩19,000
• Beef makchang (beef abomasum) 220g: ₩20,000
• Kkakdugi yangbap: ₩9,000
• Anchovy noodles (myeolchi guksu): ₩6,000

Every menu item lists its exact weight, which made it easy to gauge portion sizes when ordering. If there are two or more of you, try mixing it up with both gopchang and daechang.

Side dishes and the mijeolma dipping sauce

The basic side dishes were kimchi varieties, chives, and a soy sauce with onion and chili mixed in. It was a simple spread built around dishes that pair well with gopchang.

The table also had instructions for pairing pickled minari (water dropwort) and garlic sauce with the gopchang. It was nice to see you could enjoy the gopchang with vegetables and sauces in more than one way.

A steamed egg dish in a stone pot also came out. It was a good basic side to eat while waiting for the gopchang to cook, or in between bites of grilled gopchang.

Gopchang grilled by staff with a timer on the table

The gopchang was placed on a round grill pan along with chives, onion, rice cake, and kimchi. It was first cooked in long strips, then cut into bite-sized pieces and grilled further.

Once the gopchang was on the grill, a staff member set a timer down on our table.

When the set time was up, they came back to flip the gopchang or cut it into bite-sized pieces. It was impressive that they weren't just flipping randomly, but checking the grilling time with the timer instead.

You could see the surface of the gopchang gradually turning golden brown as it cooked. The rice cake and vegetables on the grill also got to cook in the fat rendered from the gopchang.

Adding chives or onion and dipping into the prepared sauce let us enjoy it in a bunch of different combinations.

Finishing with kkakdugi yangbap

After the gopchang, we ordered kkakdugi yangbap. It came out from the kitchen already stir-fried with rice, kkakdugi (diced radish kimchi), seaweed flakes, and seasoning.

We mixed in the chives from the basic side dishes too, and it added a nice sharp kick that made it even tastier.

Is Jinseong Hanwoo Gopchang in Bangi-dong worth the wait?

Trying it for myself, I understood why this place has such a reputation as a beef gopchang spot in Bangi-dong. We parked at Lotte World Tower in Jamsil and walked over to the restaurant. Just expect a wait during popular hours. It was tasty enough that the wait didn't feel wasted at all, and I'd love to come back to this Bangi-dong gopchang spot again.