Date night Korean BBQ at Mapo Station: brisket to makchang, Gui Madang

A Korean BBQ spot near Mapo Station that's great for pork belly dinners: Mapo Gui Madang Yonggang Direct Branch (마포구이마당 용강직영점). It's open Mon-Sun 16:00-22:30, with last order at 22:00. Parking is possible, and Zero Pay is accepted.

For our last weekend date before a trip to Japan, we went to a neighborhood BBQ place near the gym and ate a bit of everything, from chadolbaegi (thin-sliced beef brisket) to pork belly and makchang (pork intestine) :)

Location and parking of Mapo Gui Madang Yonggang Direct Branch

Mapo Gui Madang Yonggang Direct Branch is an 8-minute walk from Mapo Station Exit 1 and a 12-minute walk from Daeheung Station Exit 3. It's in the Yonggang-dong shopping street, Mapo Food Culture Street, near the Starbucks intersection.

⭕ Parking possible. Naver Map says free parking is available, but I couldn't see a separate lot nearby, so if you can park at all, it's probably on the street in front of the restaurant. Or... maybe you can't park at all..?

Exterior

The shop right next to Buffett Ground Mapo branch, on its left, is Mapo Gui Madang.

The trees out front have grown so thick that you can hardly see the sign from a distance. Apparently it's known as one of the top 3 green onion kimchi restaurants in the country! No wonder the green onion kimchi was so good.

Interior and charcoal pre-grilling at Mapo Gui Madang

The inside was quite spacious and clean. Round tables and slightly dim lighting, which I love: it feels like an old-school joint, but spotless!

We sat at a table right by the entrance, and a staff member kept standing off to one side of it. I wondered what they were doing, and it turned out they were pre-grilling meat over charcoal there. The charcoal is Chiaksan (치악산) charcoal.

Menu, prices and what two people paid at Mapo Gui Madang

Two of us had chadolbaegi, frozen pork belly, whole makchang and jjagyechi plus 2 bottles of soju, and the total was ₩63,700. Drooling over the smell of charcoal grilling, we browsed the menu, and with so many kinds of meat we picked a bit of this and that.

• Chadolbaegi, 1 serving: ₩15,000
• Frozen pork belly, 2 servings: ₩19,800
• Whole makchang, 1 serving: ₩13,900
• Jjagyechi: ₩5,000
• Soju, 2 bottles: ₩10,000
• Total: ₩63,700

Side dishes: three kinds of kimchi and green onion kimchi

The basic side dishes include napa cabbage kimchi, white kimchi and green onion kimchi, a whole three kinds of kimchi, which I loved. All three were well fermented and tasty, but the best was definitely the green onion kimchi.

The green onion kimchi is brought in from Jeolla Province, and I found it reassuring that everything is cooked by the chef rather than just reheated from ready-made products.

Wrap vegetables are lettuce only! No perilla leaves, which was a bit of a shame, but the lettuce was fresh, so that was nice.

They brought ssamjang (seasoned soybean paste), garlic, and whole peppercorns for the naengsam (frozen pork belly).

Chadolbaegi and frozen pork belly

We first ordered just 1 serving of chadolbaegi and 2 servings of frozen pork belly, and they came out on separate plates like this.

Chadolbaegi is fatty and gets greasy if you eat a lot, so I deliberately ordered only 1 serving. Kicking things off with chadolbaegi~ ٩(*'へ'*)و

I dipped it in the oil sauce and gave my stomach a little coat of oil before drinking.

We finished the chadolbaegi quickly and started grilling the frozen pork belly right away! Naengsam always needs pepper... but I forget to sprinkle it every single time and end up adding it late, hehe. We grilled the kimchi alongside too.

Jjagyechi with a fully boiled egg

The jjagyechi (₩5,000; rice with cheese and egg) arrived just as the naengsam was cooking. The look of jjagyechi makes my mouth water every time.

I mixed it quickly before the cheese hardened. The jjagyechi here is a little unusual: the egg isn't soft-boiled but comes as a fully boiled egg. I figured it's because they also sell naengmyeon (cold noodles) as a side.

Did you know jjagyechi goes perfectly with green onion kimchi? Add some naengsam on top and take it all in one big bite, and it's even better.

Tips for grilling frozen pork belly well

The heat at Mapo Gui Madang is on the strong side, so it's best to put on a few pieces of naengsam at a time and grill them quickly. The most important thing with BBQ is to keep grilling so the flow never breaks.

I dipped it in the oil sauce, wrapped it with garlic, ssamjang and kimchi, and even tried it in the makchang sauce, and it was all good. The meat is a bit thicker than naengsam at other BBQ places, which I personally liked more. There was no gamey smell at all and the quality was good. A few pieces had bones, so be careful when eating!

After grilling about 3 servings, the grill gets messy. Probably you could ask the staff to wipe it, but we just wiped it with the leftover white kimchi, and it came off easily 'ㅁ'

Charcoal pre-grilled whole makchang: order ahead

The whole makchang, pre-grilled over Chiaksan charcoal!

The whole makchang (₩13,900 per serving) takes a while to come out because it's pre-grilled. If you're going to add whole pork belly or whole makchang, which are charcoal pre-grilled, it's best to order in advance.

I wrapped it with onion and dipped it in the makchang sauce :) The makchang had a nicely chewy texture.

Who is Mapo Gui Madang Yonggang Direct Branch good for?

Mapo Gui Madang Yonggang Direct Branch sells many kinds of meat, so it was a great place to eat a bit of everything at once. The meat quality was good overall, and I liked that the tasty green onion kimchi comes as a side.

They say what sets it apart from other BBQ places is that some menu items are pre-grilled over Chiaksan charcoal, and that the pork belly and whole pork neck use only fresh, good-quality pork raised on corn. It's a good place to drink, so I recommend it for company dinners or evening get-togethers~!

(Whispering) By the way, my personal ranking is chadolbaegi, naengsam, jjagyechi, then whole makchang!