Gapyeong dakgalbi with chicken fried rice and mak guksu: Anbanji

The weather turned cool, so I decided it was a good day to go walk around Nami Island.

Before heading in, I figured we should eat lunch first, and while looking for restaurants nearby I found Namiseom Anbanji Dakgalbi (안반지 닭갈비).

This place is apparently the original charcoal-grilled dakgalbi restaurant of Nami Island, now run by the third generation with 35 years of history, and a Gapyeong Blue Ribbon-certified restaurant.🫪

Parking at Namiseom Anbanji Dakgalbi and the 6-hour free voucher

Anbanji Dakgalbi has free parking right in front of the restaurant. On top of that, they give you a 6-hour free parking voucher for the Kakao Anbanji lot across the street.

Free parking is available in the lot right in front of the restaurant.

And they also give you a 6-hour free parking voucher for the Kakao Anbanji lot across the street.

Perfect if you're heading to Nami Island or Jaraseom!!👍

After paying for the meal, they hand you this QR-coded 6-hour discount voucher for parking — you just scan it on your way out! Make sure you don't lose it.⭐️

Outside the restaurant: can you bring a dog?

The outdoor area of Anbanji Dakgalbi is really spacious. It's also a restaurant that allows pets, as long as the dog weighs 10kg or under.

It's really spacious.🫪

This is a pet-friendly restaurant.

But only small dogs under 10kg are allowed, and you need to bring a pet stroller, a carrier bag, or a cage.

If you don't have one, the restaurant will lend you a pet cage for free, so it might be good to call ahead and ask!🤭

Inside Anbanji Dakgalbi: waiting room, self-serve bar and seating

Inside, Anbanji Dakgalbi has plenty of table seating and even baby chairs, making it great for families. On one side there's a separate waiting room as big as an annex.

This huge waiting room off to the side felt like its own separate building. Everyone in your group needs to have arrived before you can be seated⭐️

Right as you walk in through the entrance, you're greeted by a 2025 KCIA (Korea Consumer Industry Assessment) certificate for three consecutive years of excellence in food service, plus the 2026 Blue Ribbon certification!

The interior was spacious with lots of table seating, and with baby chairs available it clearly gets a lot of family visits, plus it seemed like a spot solo diners come to as well! Even though we arrived past 1:30pm, there were still quite a few customers🫪

There was also a neat self-serve bar on one side. They have dongchimi (watery radish kimchi) too, so just scoop out as much as you'd like!

We had a reservation, so we were seated at a table already set up with charcoal and the basic side dishes.

Menu and prices: marinated dakgalbi, buckwheat mak guksu, cheese fondue

At Anbanji Dakgalbi we ordered two servings of hand-marinated grilled dakgalbi (₩17,000), buckwheat mak guksu (₩11,000), and cheese fondue (₩5,000). We debated the salt-grilled version too, but since marinade flavor varies from restaurant to restaurant, we went with the hand-marinated one.

Since grilled dakgalbi is what this place is known for, we obviously had to try the grilled version!

I debated getting the salt-grilled one, but you can find salt-grilled anywhere, whereas marinade flavor differs by restaurant — so let's go with their own hand-made marinade here😋

We ordered two servings of hand-marinated grilled dakgalbi (₩17,000), buckwheat mak guksu (₩11,000) which apparently pairs well with dakgalbi, and cheese fondue (₩5,000) which is great for dipping the marinated meat.

They also offer the dakgalbi as uncooked takeout!

• 3 servings for the price of 2 (₩34,000)
• 6 servings for the price of 4 (₩68,000)

There's also a no-lose menu draw event through the Naver receipt review event, so I'd recommend giving that a try!

The basic side dishes included ssamjang (dipping sauce), pickled radish, lettuce wraps, cool cabbage kimchi, seasoned bean sprouts, pickled garlic scapes, their own house-made wasabi soy sauce, and what looked like jeotgal (salted seafood).

How the hand-marinated dakgalbi tastes, flipped every 15 seconds

An employee told us that the marinade on Anbanji Dakgalbi's hand-marinated grilled dakgalbi burns quickly, so it needs to be flipped every 15 seconds. It's 100% chicken thigh meat, so it was juicy and tender, and the charcoal smoke flavor made it amazing.

Soon after, the main hand-marinated grilled dakgalbi and cheese fondue arrived!! The staff member told us the marinade burns fast so we had to flip it every 15 seconds without fail — so the two of us counted out loud together lol

Flipping it every 15 seconds, the dakgalbi slowly turned a nice golden brown🤤

The fondue set beside it was also cooking nicely!

Once the dakgalbi was nearly done cooking, the staff came over and finished cutting it up for us.🤤

Whether dipped deep into the wasabi soy sauce or the cheese fondue, or wrapped in lettuce, the seasoning was spot on and it was so delicious! Since it's 100% chicken thigh meat, it was juicy and tender. The meat was infused with charcoal smoke flavor, which made it amazing.😋

Why the buckwheat mak guksu is a must-order

Anbanji Dakgalbi's buckwheat mak guksu (₩11,000) comes in a big bowl piled with slushy ice. Topped with radish, lettuce, laver flakes, and egg, it was a really generous bowl.

The buckwheat mak guksu piled with slushy ice came in a bowl that was seriously huge lol. With radish, lettuce, laver flakes, and egg as toppings, the whole bowl felt really generous.

They also give you mustard on the side, which you can add to taste, and they said just to ask if you need vinegar!

I expected buckwheat noodles to have that easily-breaking texture, but I was surprised at how chewy and delicious they were🫪 The sauce was really tasty too, sweet and salty at its best. It paired so well with the dakgalbi that I'd highly recommend making mak guksu a must-order!!👍👍 By the end I was even scraping up every last bit of the broth... seriously...

While eating, I remembered the dongchimi from the self-serve bar!! Full of slushy ice, sweet and tangy and cool — so good.

The chicken fried rice, stir-fried separately in the kitchen

Anbanji Dakgalbi's spicy fried rice (₩8,000) isn't cooked on the grill pan — it's stir-fried separately in the kitchen. The seasoning was perfectly balanced, so there was no need to mix in anything extra.

We wanted rice, so we added the spicy fried rice (₩8,000) — and it's not made on the grill pan, but stir-fried separately in the kitchen!

This was honestly insane...!🥹 You have to order it!! I'm the type who likes fried rice with a strong seasoning, and the spicy sauce here was just perfectly balanced, so good👍 At other restaurants I always end up adding more sauce and mixing it myself, but not here at all!! Absolutely the best!! Plus the heart-shaped bowl was such a cute touch lol

Is Anbanji Dakgalbi worth a stop before Nami Island?

We came here thinking we needed a good meal before all the walking at Nami Island, and wow, it turned out to be so delicious..!? Thanks to that, we ended up eating way too much haha

In particular, the mak guksu and fried rice are truly must-orders👍👍

With a great meal and 6 hours of free parking, we headed off to Nami Island without any parking-fee worries at all. This is a great spot for a family outing or date on a nice day nearby — highly recommend haha