Sindang Station gopchang with garlic-minari sauce: Jinseong Hanwoo

Jinseong Hanwoo Gopchang at Sindang Station Exit 7: how long is the weeknight wait?

I went to Jinseong Hanwoo Gopchang Sindang for beef gopchang in Sindang-dong on a weeknight evening. It's right outside Exit 7 of Sindang Station!

I arrived just after 6:30, and since it was a weekday I figured there'd be no wait. But there were already people waiting…!

Still, the line moved fast so I didn't wait as long as I expected. Once seated, I ordered 3 servings of beef gopchang, 1 kkakdugi yangbap, and a zero-sugar cola. I already love gopchang, so I was excited even before the food arrived — haha.

House-made kimchi and mild steamed egg at Jinseong Hanwoo Gopchang

The basic side dishes came out quickly, and I was told the kimchi was house-made.

These days I always end up checking the origin of kimchi at restaurants, so hearing it was made in-house put me at ease.

Steamed egg came along too, and it was mild rather than salty, which made it delicious. I meant to eat just a little before the gopchang arrived, but it was better than expected so I kept eating. I'd basically finished it before the gopchang even showed up — haha.

3 servings of beef gopchang, grilled by the staff

After a bit of a wait, the beef gopchang finally arrived ❤️

Staff grilled the gopchang themselves and cut it into bite-sized pieces.

I love gopchang so much that I'm used to grilling it myself, but having staff do it was definitely more convenient.

With gopchang especially, timing matters a lot — you have to keep watching the grill — so having someone grill it for me meant I could eat the well-cooked pieces right away.

How did the Sindang beef gopchang taste and chew?

I picked up a piece of golden-grilled gopchang and tasted the nutty flavor characteristic of gopchang first, followed by a nicely chewy texture.

If you're a gopchang fan you'll know — grill it too long and it gets tough, undercook it and it's disappointing too. Here it was grilled to just the right point, so I could eat each piece right away.

Watching the gopchang turn golden on the grill and picking it up piece by piece is really the fun of eating gopchang.

I'm normally a serious gopchang eater — not the type to have a few bites and stop — and this time was no different, I ate it properly from start to finish. Gopchang just gets more addictive the more you eat, and I kept reaching for it as it kept coming off the grill.

Garlic-minari pickle sauce: better than the usual chives

And this sauce!!!!! The garlic-minari (water dropwort) pickle sauce deserves a mention too.

I'd never seen this sauce before so I was curious and dipped the gopchang in it — it worked better than I expected. There was a slight spicy kick along with the aroma of minari and garlic together, which cut through the richness of the gopchang.

I usually eat gopchang with chives, but this time dipping it in the garlic-minari sauce was more delicious. Gopchang itself is nutty and rich, but the sauce made the flavor feel cleaner, and the minari aroma paired surprisingly well. Seriously, dip it deep in this sauce!!!

At first I only meant to try it once, but I kept going back to dip in this sauce. Bite of gopchang, dip in sauce, bite plain again — I got hooked on the sauce… Personally, out of every combination I tried that day, this sauce was my favorite.

The restaurant was busy and the staff looked slammed, but they were still friendly. They also grilled the gopchang themselves and cut it into bite-sized pieces, so I didn't have to keep watching the grill during the meal.

Finishing with kkakdugi yangbap (radish kimchi fried rice)

The kkakdugi yangbap came out while we were still eating the beef gopchang. I'd had plenty of gopchang, but rice deserves its own moment!

The kkakdugi yangbap portion was generous, and the crunchy bite of the kkakdugi (radish kimchi) was great. Biting into kkakdugi between mouthfuls of the nutty rice made a real difference compared to eating the rice alone, and it paired well alongside the gopchang too.

In the end I properly finished 3 servings of beef gopchang plus the kkakdugi yangbap. Since I already love gopchang, I finished every last bit that day, and with the yangbap at the end I felt fully satisfied for dinner! Above all, the garlic-minari sauce I tried for the first time worked so well. I usually eat a lot of chives, but I think I'll start looking for minari and garlic combinations with gopchang going forward!

Whenever I'm craving beef gopchang in Sindang-dong, I think this is a place I'll keep coming back to for a proper meal.

Seriously, dip it deep in this sauce!!!