Goseong pork galbi lunch for two, phone-booked: Yongchon Gogi-jip

This is a story about a Goseong favorite near Kensington Resort Seorak Beach — pork galbi and pollock hoe naengmyeon (raw pollock noodles) at Yongchon Gogi-jip.

Lunch at Yongchon Gogi-jip, 2 minutes from Kensington Resort Seorak Beach

Yongchon Gogi-jip is a pork galbi restaurant in Toseong-myeon, Goseong, just 2 minutes by car from Kensington Resort Seorak Beach. On the third day of a trip to Goseong and Sokcho with my wife, we visited Yongchon Gogi-jip, known as a Goseong meat restaurant favorite. The hand-cut pork galbi is excellent — the exterior looks plain, but on weekdays and weekends alike there's always a wait, and lunch or dinner it fills up so much that booking ahead really pays off.

We ordered 2 servings of hand-cut marinated pork galbi and pollock hoe bibim naengmyeon, and it was delicious — not too strong-flavored but oddly craveable, which explains why most of the customers were families. This is a Goseong spot we'd want to visit again on our next trip, so let's dive into Yongchon Gogi-jip.

Yongchon Gogi-jip location, hours and parking in Toseong-myeon

• Location: 20-3 Yongwon-ro, Toseong-myeon, Goseong-gun, Gangwon-do, South Korea
• Hours Mon-Thu 12:00-21:00 (break time 15:00-17:00)
• Hours Fri-Sun 11:00-21:00 (break time 15:00-17:00)
• Closed every Wednesday
• Parking: ample parking in front of the restaurant

Why this couple chose Yongchon Gogi-jip near Kensington Resort Seorak Beach

Whenever I travel to Sokcho and Goseong, whether I'm staying at Kensington Resort Seorak Beach or not, grabbing coffee at the ground-floor café there is one of my travel rituals haha. Naturally I end up hunting for nearby restaurants a lot.

That's how I found Yongchon Gogi-jip, just 2 minutes from Kensington Resort Seorak Beach — while searching for places nearby. Apparently on weekends it's so busy you can barely get through on the phone, a well-known pork galbi restaurant.

We parked in front of the restaurant and went inside. We'd booked for around 12:15 PM by phone the day before but arrived around 11:50 AM. Reviews said there were usually more customers than expected and always a wait, so once we got inside, I felt glad we'd come early.

Inside Yongchon Gogi-jip: the menu and a full house by 12:15

We arrived 10 minutes before the noon opening, and there were already quite a few people seated and ordering ahead of us. Since we'd reserved, we were shown to the inner room.

Since we came a bit earlier than our booked time, our table wasn't set up yet, but tables for the noon reservations were already set.

While we browsed the menu for a moment, every table filled up. Thinking back, that was around 12:15, so if you want lunch here, it's best to call ahead and arrive around noon! We ordered what we'd already decided on right away.

We ordered 2 servings of hand-cut marinated pork galbi 250g at ₩18,000, 2 servings of dessert pollock hoe naengmyeon (water/bibim) at ₩6,000, a drink at ₩2,000, and a bowl of rice. Since we came during the busy lunch opening, it took a little while, but not too long!

Eating two servings of hand-cut pork galbi and pollock-hoe naengmyeon

About 20 minutes after ordering, they brought out the charcoal and side dishes.

Seeing the charcoal, I thought — this place must be good. Why? Because sometimes at charcoal galbi restaurants they heat black charcoal at the table with a gas flame, and by the time it's properly lit you're already done eating the meat, which is disappointing. But here at Yongchon Gogi-jip, they brought out charcoal that was already burned through properly. Then they brought the 2 servings of hand-cut pork galbi.

Hand-cut marinated pork galbi, 250g, ₩18,000 for 2 servings. Definitely not the fake pork galbi made from pork shoulder with a bone attached — this was actual pork galbi bone hand-cut, so the meat and bone were properly joined, which I thought was really good.

The side dishes were pickled perilla leaves, scallion kimchi, shredded scallions with sesame seeds, mul-kimchi (watery kimchi), and cabbage salad. The complimentary steamed egg served midway through the meal was also nice.

First, we put the pork galbi straight on the well-lit charcoal.

Since it's hand-cut pork galbi, there was a slightly rougher texture, but I actually liked that. Personally I really dislike places that call it pork galbi but it's just pork shoulder marinated in sauce ㅠㅠ

Because the charcoal burned strongly, there was less smoke and the meat itself absorbed the charcoal aroma well — as the pork galbi cooked, the smell in the air was fantastic.

After flipping the pork galbi back and forth while it grilled nicely, we cut it into bite-sized pieces

and picked up a piece to try right away.

It's definitely less tender than regular pork shoulder galbi, but real pork galbi has this chewy, savory texture that gets better the more you chew, and I loved it. The fattier parts were much more tender than pork shoulder, while the leaner parts had a cleaner flavor I preferred. Even eating the pork galbi plain without any extra sauce, the seasoning itself was mild yet subtly craveable — really good.

It was also delicious wrapped in lettuce with scallion kimchi and rice, and while the side dishes weren't huge in variety, the fewer kimchi-type dishes they had were all the more flavorful. While we were enjoying a few pieces of pork galbi, the pollock hoe bibim naengmyeon and water naengmyeon my wife and I ordered arrived.

Dessert pollock hoe naengmyeon, water/bibim, ₩6,000 for 2 servings. At this Goseong favorite, the bibim naengmyeon came with a bit more broth mixed in than the usual bibim naengmyeon.

We mixed it well and wrapped a bite with pollock hoe and pork galbi together — the tangy seasoned pollock and the clean, mildly sweet-and-savory pork galbi created so many different flavors in one bite, and it was great.

The naengmyeon itself wasn't too spicy, too salty, or too sweet — just right, and the broth didn't taste artificial at all, which I really liked.

Personally, my favorite combination was wrapping pork galbi with scallion kimchi — the scallion kimchi was really that good ㅠㅠ And here's something surprising: usually when a drink is ₩2,000, most places give you a 355ml stubby can.

But I was surprised to see they were selling a 500ml Coca-Cola — which costs around ₩2,500 even at a convenience store — for just ₩2,000. A bigger cola than expected, haha, really nice. We ate so fast because it was so delicious. Usually a meat meal takes about 1 hour 30 minutes for us, but at Yongchon Gogi-jip we actually finished eating in just 40 minutes — the pork galbi was that good.

Verdict: is Yongchon Gogi-jip worth it for galbi in Goseong or Sokcho?

Sokcho and Goseong have plenty of great seafood restaurants, but good meat restaurants can be harder to find. Yongchon Gogi-jip is about 15 minutes from Sokcho Jungang Market and just 2 minutes from Kensington Resort Seorak Beach.

Personally, I'd rank Yongchon Gogi-jip in the top 3 among Sokcho and Goseong pork galbi restaurants — delicious and wholesome. That's probably why it draws so many family customers, kids and adults alike. We ate so well.