Magoknaru Seoul gopchang grill with cheese egg fried rice: Hwang Gop

Hi everyone! There's a dish I have to eat on a regular cycle, and that's grilled gopchang (beef intestines)... The funny thing is, the very next day my best friend from work asked me to go get gopchang with her. I guess our cravings sync up... it was so weird. Do you guys have a dish like that too~?

Hours 16:00–24:00 / Last order 23:00

Where is Hwang Gop Magoknaru Branch, and what is the tent-bar vibe like?

Hwang Gop Magoknaru Branch is right behind the building if you walk out Exit 2 of Magoknaru Station! The weather was nice so they had the doors wide open — it gave off a nice open-air tent-bar feel.

Inside, the round tables came with chairs that double as storage for coats and bags, which was convenient. Sometimes you go to a place without that and don't know where to put your bag — no need to worry about that here. One side was covered in vinyl sheeting, which gave it a local, lived-in feel.

Hwang Gop menu and what we ordered

The Hwang Gop menu is basically split into grilled gopchang and gopchang hot pot. I'll have to try the hot pot next time. Every table has a tablet, which made ordering easy. Here's what we got:

• Hwang Gop assorted platter (for 2) ₩46,000
• Chamisul soju ₩5,000 × 2
• Cider ₩2,000
• Egg fried rice ₩4,000 × 2
• Cheese add-on ₩2,000

The free mukguksu and hanwoo beef yukhoe at Hwang Gop

Hwang Gop gives you a complimentary mookguksu (jelly noodle salad) floating with ice, plus yukhoe (beef tartare) made with Korean hanwoo beef. The mookguksu was cool and tangy — I kept spooning more of it. The yukhoe... no words needed, ㅠㅠ the seasoning was exactly the kind that gets your appetite going. I'd never seen a gopchang restaurant give out yukhoe for free before, and it was great — cracking open the drinks with yukhoe as the starter! Side dishes included scallion kimchi, wild garlic leaves, and pickled onions.

Our small plates came with a salt-oil dipping sauce and a cheongyang chili soy sauce. That soy sauce with the gopchang dipped in it was so good, they really went together... there's more cheongyang chili at the self-serve bar so eat as much as you like! You can grab any side dishes you're running low on from the self-serve bar yourself, no need to feel awkward about it.

How to enjoy Hwang Gop gopchang the right way

I always make sure to read tips like these, so here goes.

• Start with the appetizers first
• Sit back and wait — the staff will grill the meat for you
• Don't hesitate to grab extra side dishes from the self-serve bar
• Fried rice isn't optional, it's a must
• If the gopchang looks like it might burn, turn the heat down or off

What's in the Hwang Gop assorted platter grilled by staff?

We chatted while waiting, and it wasn't long before the assorted gopchang platter showed up~! It comes pre-seared, so you only need to cook it a little more. The heart and the meat and vegetables looked ready to eat as soon as they wilted down a bit.

The staff kept turning the gopchang until it was fully cooked, so you just have to wait patiently. Just a little more, hang on... they turned everything over with skilled hands. The platter was packed with gopchang (small intestine), daechang (large intestine), makchang (rectum), heart, meat, enoki mushrooms, oyster mushrooms, chives, onion, potato, and more — it was generous, and each part had a different texture, so it was fun picking through and eating different bites. My order of preference is gopchang - heart - daechang - makchang, haha.

Scallion kimchi on the grill and chadolbaegi (beef brisket)

I also had them throw scallion kimchi on the grill as an add-on, and I recommend this... it's already seasoned since it's kimchi, but grilling the scallions really takes it up a notch, you know? ㅠㅠ Sweet and tangy, it was perfect for cutting through the richness.

This was the first time I'd seen chadolbagi (thinly sliced beef brisket) included with gopchang — eating it before the gopchang really coats everything with a nice layer of fat, and it was so good. Even looking back at the photo now makes me drool. Dip it deep in the soy sauce and eat.

The gopchang itself was packed with gop (intestinal fat) and had just the right amount of fat on it — just genuinely delicious gopchang, haha. Eat it together with the chives, mushrooms, onion, scallion kimchi, and everything else...

Finishing with cheese egg fried rice at Hwang Gop

It'd be a shame not to finish with fried rice. Even just the gopchang filled us up pretty well, but we ordered two servings of fried rice anyway to eat as a drinking snack. We only added cheese to one of them, haha. The fried rice had a strong gochujang flavor to it and tasted different from other places I've had — really distinct! I kept reaching for more, perfect as a side to drinks.

• A local gopchang restaurant in Magok with full open-air tent-bar vibes
• Recommending Hwang Gop as the place for delicious gopchang in Magoknaru〰️