Dongtan BBQ with nurungji and skin-trimmed ogyeopsal: Gogigaondang

Every weekend it's the same struggle — where to take the kids, what to pick for today's menu. Now that the kids are a bit older, our dining options have widened a little, but their number-one pick that never gets old is still pork haha

I found a Dongtan pork place that's great for the whole family and nails taste, health, and quality all at once — already word-of-mouth famous among Dongtan locals as a spot for family meals and company dinners. Let me introduce Gogigaondang :)

Where is Gogigaondang Dongtan Branch? Ogyeopsal in Bansong-dong, Hwaseong

Gogigaondang Dongtan Branch is a cauldron-lid ogyeopsal specialist in Bansong-dong, Hwaseong. Parking is available in front, but heads up — it fills up even on weekdays past 6pm.

This area is known for hidden gems, and apparently Gogigaondang is becoming a hot spot for company dinners these days!!!

Great for dinner, but they also have a lunch special menu for office workers, so I'd love to come back for the duruchigi (spicy stir-fried pork) sometime :)

Side dishes: homegrown wrap greens and kimchi made with Korean napa cabbage

Gogigaondang's side dishes center on fresh homegrown vegetables and kimchi made with domestic napa cabbage. Origin is something that quietly nags at me when eating out — with all the Chinese kimchi issues lately, I find myself checking the origin label the second kimchi hits the table.

I heard Gogigaondang carefully selects only their own homegrown fresh vegetables for everything from wrap greens down to the small side ingredients! And the kimchi isn't Chinese-made either — it's made in-house with domestic napa cabbage and ingredients, which is apparently well known... Trying it, the side dishes and kimchi were genuinely healthy and delicious, and my kimchi-loving husband, after trying the different kinds, said "wow, I want to come back just for this kimchi" and really cleaned his plate.

Crisp yet perfectly fermented kimchi thrown right onto the cauldron-lid grill and cooked in the pork fat — the taste made me gasp out loud... Reassuring for the kids and right up the adults' alley too, so I loved it starting from the side dishes.

Grade-1 sow ogyeopsal with the skin trimmed so kids can eat it

Gogigaondang's signature dish is the chewy ogyeopsal (five-layer pork belly), made with grade-1 sow meat. Can't skip talking about the meat at a meat restaurant, right?

Gogigaondang uses grade-1 sow meat, and the quality of the meat itself is no joke. The fat-to-lean ratio is on point and there's zero gamey smell, just a savory aroma drifting everywhere — we arrived around 5:30pm on a weekday, right after my husband got off work, and the place was already packed. The second the meat arrived, I understood exactly why everyone rushes here right after work haha

Gogigaondang's signature dish, the chewy ogyeopsal!!!

Adults can handle ogyeopsal fine, but I worried the thick skin might be tough for the kids, so I asked the owner — he said trimming off just the tough part for kids makes it easy to chew, so we ordered the ogyeopsal!!!!! Isn't that lean-to-fat ratio a work of art :)

The owner grills the ogyeopsal at your table

Another reason to visit Gogigaondang: the owner grills the meat himself. I like grilling meat but never know the right timing, so I burn it often — having him grill it meant no worrying about burning, and I could just wait comfortably.

He cuts it to size — at first the portion looked small, but as it cooked and he kept cutting it up, the amount seemed to grow, which made me happy :)

Just as the owner said, with the thick skin part left off, the meat was so chewy yet tender! The kids literally couldn't stop shoveling it in with their chopsticks haha Dipped in the myeoljeot (salted anchovy sauce) and wasabi they had ready, it was pure fantasy... It's so hard to get to a grill-it-yourself meat place after having kids, but I already want to go back!!!

Nurungji the kids polished off half of

The kids also love nurungji (scorched rice soup) with plenty of broth, so we ordered one instead of rice at Gogigaondang — and wow... my second one slurped up half of that whole big bowl by himself.

Put a piece of meat on top of the warm, savory nurungji and a whole bowl disappears in no time.

Three servings, then one more: four servings cleared

We started light with 3 servings, but couldn't resist the sizzling visuals and the melt-in-your-mouth taste, so we added 1 more serving and cleanly finished 4 total ^^

The whole meal my husband kept saying "let's come back here with mom and dad!!" and praising the meat over and over. The meat quality is great, the vegetables are fresh and healthy, and the homemade side dishes are so good it kept making me think of our parents!

There are so many meat restaurants around these days, but after eating here I can see exactly why Gogigaondang is so talked-about as the Bansong-dong meat spot. Especially fitting for a Dongtan favorite specializing in cauldron-lid samgyeopsal, piling kimchi, bean sprouts, and garlic onto the big cauldron lid for a fun grilling experience.

Is Gogigaondang good for family meals and group dinners?

Gogigaondang Dongtan Branch nails both a healthy table and great taste, so it would work perfectly not just for family meals but also for company dinners or group gatherings.

The interior was clean and the staff took great care of us throughout, so we had a comfortable, happy time the whole meal :)

Next time I want to bring my parents and in-laws and order even more generously ^^ If you're looking for a great meat restaurant in Dongtan that's good to bring kids to, with fresh ingredients and domestic kimchi waiting for you, definitely stop by Gogigaondang! You'll fall for the side dishes first, then the meat, then the taste — if you're craving Dongtan samgyeopsal, come to Gogigaondang :)