Gupabal Station Korean BBQ, gat kimchi refilled 4 times: Donmihyang

Here's my honest review of Donmihyang, a Jingwan-dong BBQ spot that has officially become our couple's regular place..🩷 Not just the meat, but the soybean paste stew, the gat kimchi and even the plain side dishes were all insane!!

Donmihyang Gupabal Branch: location, hours, parking and reservations

Donmihyang Gupabal Branch (돈미향 구파발본점) is a 5-minute walk from Exit 1 of Gupabal Station, in the Eunpyeong New Town Kkum Egreen shopping complex, and parking is free for 2 hours in the complex car park. Hours and booking details are below.

• Location: 1st floor of the Eunpyeong New Town Kkum Egreen shopping complex
• Hours: Mon–Fri 16:00–23:00, Sat–Sun 15:00–23:00
• Parking available (2 hours free in the shopping complex car park)
• Reservations: Naver Reservation

Is there a wait at Donmihyang on a weekend evening?

I went to Donmihyang around 6 PM on a weekend and luckily there was no wait, haha

At Donmihyang, a Gupabal favorite, they lay charcoal on top of pebbles to build the fire!! The meat should pick up that charcoal aroma nicely, so I already knew it would be delicious..🤤

Donmihyang menu and what we ordered

Here's the menu at Donmihyang, a great BBQ place in Gupabal!! We went light(?) with 2 portions of pork neck, 1 portion of whole-cut pork belly and a beef brisket soybean paste stew (doenjang-jjigae)!

If you just leave a review, Donmihyang gives you fried pork skin or steamed egg for free..!! No wonder everyone around us was eating steamed egg (maybe this place is great for steamed egg too..✨️)

Are Donmihyang's side dishes free to refill?

This is the basic side dish spread at Donmihyang, and both the myeongi namul (pickled wild greens) and the gat kimchi (mustard leaf kimchi) are free to refill! Lots of other restaurants charge for this, so being able to eat comfortably at Donmihyang was so nice ☺️

Donmihyang's gat kimchi (mustard leaf kimchi), refilled 4 times

Especially this gat kimchi!! I honestly wonder if the owner of Donmihyang is from Jeolla... it tastes like Jeolla-style gat kimchi!! (meaning it's really, really good) We refilled it about 4 times, hahaha. A total rice thief~~

Also, there's sesame oil next to the table! Pour it onto the salt dish and you've got a sesame oil salt dip, haha

They even kindly wrote recommended combinations on the wall, so we followed them and ate like champs, hahaha

Donmihyang pork belly and pork neck: portion size and price

Donmihyang counts one portion as 160g for ₩16,000. Other BBQ places count 150g as one portion, so 160g for just ₩16,000 is the best value!!

The meat is finally here~~ The thick chunk behind the pork belly is the pork neck, hahaha. At Donmihyang, a Jingwan-dong favorite, the pork neck comes as one single chunk sized to the number of portions you order! That means you get to meet properly juicy meat✨️

They also bring garlic, tteok (rice cake) and something wrapped in mysterious foil~!

The foil-wrapped thing is mushrooms!! The foil keeps them moist, so they were twice as tasty 😚

Does Donmihyang grill the meat for you?

At Donmihyang the staff grill both the meat and the vegetables, so all we had to do was open wide like baby birds!! I could focus on eating, which was really nice ><

How Donmihyang's pork belly and pork neck taste

The mix of lean meat and fat in Donmihyang's pork belly was perfect!! And the meat must be good quality, because it gets nuttier the more you chew..🩷 It's moderately thick too, so eaten with myeongi namul or gat kimchi it's just unbelievably good T_T

The pork neck is also grilled as one chunk and then cut, so it's full of juice!! Not dry at all, just tender ><

Is Donmihyang's beef brisket soybean paste stew worth ordering?

If you come to Donmihyang, please, please try the beef brisket soybean paste stew!! It's the dish that made my husband's eyes go round, hahaha. A whole pot's worth, and the flavor is the textbook BBQ-restaurant doenjang-jjigae. Really delicious 🔥🔥

See how packed it is with ingredients?! The meat inside is really generous and plentiful too 🤤

5 portions of meat and 5 bowls of rice for two at Donmihyang

And then we ordered more pork belly... we totally lost all restraint!! Pork neck requires an order of 2 portions or more, so we added just 1 portion of pork belly, and later added 1 more... (meaning we ended up eating 5 portions between the two of us)

Proof that we went wild, hahaha: 5 bowls of rice, all cleaned out!! The meat is so good, and the side dishes are good too, so the rice just disappears T_T

If you're looking for a great place near Gupabal Station or in Jingwan-dong, Donmihyang is the one!! Come prepared to empty your wallet..🔥