Weekday date-night gopchang hot pot at Dongtan Station: Horangigul

I was looking for a hearty, rich broth near Dongtan Station and ended up at Horangigul, famous for its gopchang (beef small intestine) hot pot. It's already well known in Beomgye, Anyang, and since this one is inside Lotte Department Store, I rushed over and had a lovely hot pot date. I'll give you my honest thoughts, from the gopchang-daechang hot pot to the finishing risotto :) (the risotto was insanely good, haha)

Where is Horangigul Dongtan?

Horangigul Dongtan is on the B1 floor of Lotte Department Store Dongtan, close to Dongtan Station, so it works well as a meeting spot too. The place is already a famous queue-worthy restaurant at Beomgye Station in Anyang, and here you can enjoy it comfortably inside a department store! Highly recommended if you're looking for food near Dongtan Station or in Lotte Department Store.

Is Horangigul at Lotte Dongtan good for a date?

It's a department store food court restaurant, but it was clean overall and the tables were spaced nicely, so it was a good spot for a date. It was surprisingly busy for a weekday evening, too.

One more thing worth remembering: they have baby chairs. It seems like a good place to eat if you come to Lotte Department Store with a baby.

What's on the Horangigul menu?

The most famous dish at Horangigul is of course the gopchang-daechang hot pot, and the main hot pots are beef gopchang-daechang hot pot, daechang (large intestine) hot pot and gopchang hot pot. It's nice that fans of gopchang and daechang can pick to their taste. Besides hot pot, there are also grilled daechang/gopchang set meals and Japanese rice bowls like the gyudong (beef rice bowl) set, so it would be good for lunch too!

Here's what we ordered at Horangigul.

• Beef gopchang-daechang hot pot for 2
• Cheese risotto
• Takoyaki

How did the beef gopchang-daechang hot pot taste?

The first thing to arrive was the beef gopchang-daechang hot pot, served boiling hot in a jar-style pot! The pot was packed with gopchang, daechang and lots of other ingredients, and the rich aroma was really something!!!!

Every table at Horangigul Dongtan has its own induction burner, so you can keep the hot pot warm the whole meal, which is another plus.

The ingredients in the hot pot were generous. A ladle full of gopchang and daechang, ahh~~ so good~~ There were also lots of bean sprouts, so the broth tasted clean rather than heavy.

Is there any gamey smell in the gopchang and daechang?

What's certain is that the ingredients were prepared properly, so I enjoyed the hot pot without any gamey smell at all. The gopchang kept its chewy texture, and the daechang's signature nutty richness didn't feel greasy. A really well-balanced flavor, haha

The hot pot also came with extra toppings like fried tofu pouches (yubu) and fish balls, so it was fun picking at them one by one.

Takoyaki at a gopchang hot pot place?

You might wonder why takoyaki, but Horangigul has it on the side menu. It was soft outside and moist inside, and we ate it lightly before the hot pot, which worked nicely as an appetizer ^^ It's best right when it comes out, all nice and warm.

Finish with cheese risotto instead of fried rice

The thing I'd personally recommend most from Horangigul's course is the dessert risotto!!!!!!!!!! I've seen fried rice at hot pot places, but risotto? You order it while some of the hot pot broth is still left, and it was a real treat. There are several kinds of risotto, but I'd recommend the cheese risotto.

The rich broth from the gopchang and daechang, plus cheese and rice, turns into something much smoother and nuttier. It has a different charm from the spicy hot pot we started with, so I could enjoy it to the very end. The portion is generous too, and I really felt I'd had a proper meal.

Is Horangigul at Dongtan Station worth going back to?

Horangigul in Lotte Department Store Dongtan was a gopchang hot pot place with an appealing broth that's rich yet clean, and a generous gopchang and daechang combo. It was famous for its queues in Beomgye, so I had some expectations, and yes, it really was tasty. Hot pot to risotto, that's the routine, let's go~~