Yeongdeungpo Korean restaurant with hearty stew sets: Gangmun

My wife and I stopped by Times Square in Yeongdeungpo. We had a shopping list we really wanted to get through, and luckily there was a sale going on. After shopping to our hearts’ content, we looked for a good place nearby and found Gangmun (강문), a Korean restaurant. It was full of comforting dishes that felt like something your grandmother would set on the table—exactly my kind of food. I was so happy to come across this kind of country-style meal inside a shopping mall; I never expected it.

What is Gangmun on B1 of Times Square like?

Gangmun at Times Square is in the B1 area where the restaurants are gathered. When we visited at mealtime, there were quite a lot of diners.

Apart from a few tables that had just finished and left, the restaurant was nearly full. It is a Korean restaurant with a country-table feel, so I was surprised to see so many younger diners too. Although it is inside a mall, it is fairly large. It was also convenient that we could go right back to shopping after eating.

Just looking over the signature dishes—snail gangdoenjang (thick soybean-paste stew), cheonggukjang (fermented soybean stew), gondre stone-pot rice, and biji-jjigae (soybean-pulp stew)—gave me the impression that this place is seriously focused on Korean food.

Hearty sets with a stew or soup alongside the main dish

With around 20 menu items, we spent quite a while deciding what to order. Everything looked good, so choosing was not easy.

What is unusual is that most dishes come as a hearty set, with a stew or soup served alongside the main dish.

That is why plenty of people come here to eat alone too. For example, if you order yeolmu bibimbap (rice mixed with young-radish kimchi), it comes with beef brisket doenjang stew.

If you join the free giveaway event currently underway, it looks like you can make the meal even more filling.

The crunch of yeolmu bibimbap and a subtle sesame-oil aroma

My wife ordered the yeolmu bibimbap. We make it often at home too, but I think she chose it because she wanted the snail doenjang stew that came with the set.

With a fried egg, sesame oil, yeolmu kimchi, and gochujang mixed in, it was one of the most familiar and universally appealing kinds of Korean bibimbap.

Unlike ordinary gochujang, it had almost no heat. It tasted more like an all-purpose seasoning sauce that a grandmother had made herself.

The crisp yeolmu and savory fried egg were lovely, but the subtle aroma of sesame oil spreading through it all was especially memorable.

Snail doenjang stew with a deeply rich earth-brown broth

Since it was a stew served with bibimbap, I expected the usual doenjang stew from a barbecue restaurant, but even its appearance was something else. Its deeply rich earth-brown broth was the kind you could never get from store-bought doenjang, generously packed with tofu, potatoes, and freshwater snails. It was a true country-style doenjang stew.

At first, I wondered why a Korean restaurant like this was in a mall popular with younger customers, but one taste told me it was the kind of good restaurant that works regardless of age.

It was delicious on its own, but with the yeolmu bibimbap, I could not imagine a better pairing.

Gondre stone-pot rice, all the way to the scorched rice crust

I ordered the gondre stone-pot rice, which looked so lively I could almost hear it before it arrived. It had been a while since I had heard that sizzling sound from a hot pot, and I was delighted.

Mix the rice with the house soy-sauce seasoning, which is neither salty nor sweet but gently flavorful, and the gondre stone-pot rice is complete. The clean, understated character of Korean food came through beautifully.

The pot stayed hot enough to keep sizzling for several minutes, and in that time a proper layer of nurungji (scorched rice crust) formed on the bottom. I was so pleased it reminded me of gondre bibimbap I had eaten in Gangwon-do. I completely fell for the crisp texture of the nurungji and gondre’s distinctive nutty flavor. It was generous too, with what felt like almost two bowls of rice. I normally finish at least one bowl, yet I was full after eating about half.

Thick, gently spicy biji-jjigae

Like my wife, I had partly chosen the gondre stone-pot rice because I wanted a stew. The biji-jjigae arrived very well prepared too.

The taste of biji-jjigae depends on how generously it uses soybeans, and I could tell at once just from its thick consistency.

The moment I took a spoonful of the dense stew, I understood why this is considered an especially good restaurant among Times Square’s dining options.

It was gently spicy, with chunks of pork mixed in, and it suited my taste perfectly.

I never expected to find such a sincerely made country-style meal among the restaurants at Times Square. I would count it among the places where you can take care of shopping and a meal in one go. If I visit again, I would like to work my way through the other dishes one by one.

What I liked about the visit

• A B1 location that is easy to visit straight after shopping
• Hearty sets with a stew or soup served alongside the main dish
• Single-serving meals that are enjoyable even when dining alone
• Deeply flavored seasonings that younger diners can enjoy too
• Snail doenjang stew with a rich earth-brown broth

Gangmun Times Square information

Gangmun Times Square is at B1, B148, 15 Yeongjung-ro, Yeongdeungpo-gu, Seoul, South Korea, and is open from 11:00 to 21:30. Orders of ₩15,000 or more receive a 30-minute parking voucher, while orders of ₩30,000 or more receive a 1-hour voucher. It is about a 2-minute walk from Exit 6 of Yeongdeungpo Station on Line 1.