Gopchang hot pot and a review-event drink in Incheon: Yeonsu Gopchang

Beef gopchang has its own charm, and pork gopchang has its own too, right? I learned about gopchang (grilled intestines) through my husband, and somewhere along the way I got hooked myself.

Today I'm introducing a pork gopchang spot in the Yeonsu-dong food alley: Yeonsu Gopchang Yeonsu Main Branch. Apparently it used to be called "Miro Gopchang." It's been a beloved gopchang restaurant for 9 years since 2017, and last year it relocated and changed its name to Yeonsu Gopchang.

Where is Yeonsu Gopchang, and where do you park?

Yeonsu Gopchang is located on the 1st floor of 13-5 Saemmal-ro 21beon-gil, Yeonsu-gu, Incheon, South Korea, and parking is free for 2 hours at the Matgol-gil public parking lot (surface). Nearby you'll find Yeonsu-gu Office, Lotte Mart, E-Mart, and Square One, so it's a great stop after running errands.

Public transit works too. It's a 10–15 minute walk from Yeonsu Station Exit 1, and you can also walk from Woninjae Station Exit 4. By bus, it's a 5-minute walk from the Donga Geumho Apartment stop.

• Address: 13-5 Saemmal-ro 21beon-gil, 1st floor, Yeonsu-gu, Incheon, South Korea
• 648m from Yeonsu Station Exit 1 (Suin-Bundang Line)
• Hours 16:00–01:00, last order 00:00
• Closed on the last Sunday of every month
• Chuseok holiday closed Sep 24–25

What the restaurant looks like inside and out

Every time a seat opened up, someone else took it right away — it was so packed I could barely snap a photo. There's a retro vibe with a bit of a hip edge to it. The space between seats is generous too, so it seems comfortable for all ages.

1. Yeonsu Gopchang ages its intestines at 2°C for 24 hours to remove the gamy smell. 2. On the last Sunday of every month, they give up a day of sales for a full deep clean. 3. They don't just serve a meal — they serve a person. That's the owner's philosophy, apparently.

What to order at Yeonsu Gopchang

If it's hard to decide, go with the set menu — it's basically a course that covers everything from jeongol (hot pot) to stir-fried gopchang, salt-grilled meat, and fried rice.

Here are some tips for enjoying Yeonsu Gopchang even more.

• Dip the stir-fried gopchang in a little mayonnaise for a different kind of flavor.
• Dip the salt-grilled meat in the house-made makjang (fermented soybean paste).
• Eat the jeongol with the special red sauce, and once you've had enough, add the noodle sari (extra add-in noodles).

They said the intestines are hand-cleaned, pre-cooked, and then aged at low temperature for 24 hours, and sure enough the aging fridge had dates written on it. Maybe because of that prep process, there was no gamy pork smell at all — just clean and fresh.

Side dishes and the complimentary snacks

The basic side dish setup includes gopchang sauce, mayonnaise, soybean powder, radish wrap, pickled onions, and diced radish kimchi — exactly the sides you'd miss if they weren't there while eating gopchang.

Fish cake skewers arrived in a yellow kettle — we split one each as an appetizer first.

We also tried the complimentary sundae (blood sausage) and liver.

What's in the 39,900 won Yeonsu Gopchang Assorted Set, and how it tastes

We ordered the Yeonsu Gopchang Assorted Set for 39,900 won. It comes with salt-grilled makchang (1 serving), stir-fried vegetable gopchang (1 serving), gopchang jeongol hot pot, sesame fried rice, fish cake skewers, and sundae with liver.

Ta-da! Here's the main assorted gopchang plate. A generous pile of seasoned chives sits on top of the stir-fried vegetable gopchang and salt-grilled makchang. Looks-wise alone, this is a place worth trusting — approved!

The salt-grilled makchang has a slightly crispy exterior and a chewy bite. With no seasoning, you'd think it might smell gamy, but it's savory and clean — really good.

The stir-fried vegetable gopchang has that sweet-salty-spicy sauce combo that just makes you keep reaching for more. The gopchang itself is soft yet chewy, and wrapped in perilla leaves, I could keep eating it forever.

The jeongol has great seasoning too — spicy enough to pair well with a bowl of rice.

We wrapped it in perilla leaves, dipped it in the special sauce, ate the fish cake skewers — they gave us so much that picking what to eat next was a fun little game 😍

Finishing the meal with sesame fried rice

The fried rice included in the set is a generous serving, and the color alone is enough to get your mouth watering. It looked so pretty I almost hesitated to mix it up, haha. But I mixed and fried it well anyway, and it filled us up nicely. Even full from all the gopchang and sides, we're Korean after all — skipping the fried rice would've felt wrong!

Apparently they use premium domestically pressed sesame oil. Even at home it's too pricey to use domestic sesame oil often, so major respect to the owner for putting that into the fried rice!

The self-serve refill corner

The self-serve corner has perilla seed powder, soybean powder, various sauces, pickled onions, kimchi, and wrap vegetables. The seasoned chives are freshly mixed to order so they're not at the self-serve bar, but when we asked staff, they brought more right away.

King Lemon Black Tea Sparkling from the Naver review event

We got the King Lemon Black Tea Sparkling through the Naver review event. The staff said we could choose alcoholic or non-alcoholic, so we went with non-alcoholic. My husband raved about how good it was. Definitely write a review and try this one.

There were a lot of review events going on. Looking at the assorted set, I thought, "how does this place make any money?" — and then they give even more away through the review event. They seem to invest generously in marketing too.

On the way out, I noticed a sign offering free ice cream for adding them as a KakaoTalk Plus Friend! And a nice touch — the restroom had mouthwash and dental floss on hand.

Who Yeonsu Gopchang suits best

We had a fun date and ate our fill of great gopchang — Yeonsu Gopchang made for a really enjoyable end to the weekend.

The food is obviously excellent, but the restaurant is clean and has an easygoing atmosphere that anyone, any age, can enjoy. I'd recommend it for family gatherings, work dinners, meetups with friends, or dates. Yeonsu Gopchang is officially on my regular rotation!