Hongdae Korean BBQ beef-and-pork set: Gogikkun Gimchunbae

A seat overlooking Gyeongui Line Forest Park

As you walk along Gyeongui Line Forest Park, you can spot Gogikkun Gimchunbae Hongdae Supgil Branch (고기꾼김춘배 홍대숲길점). The forest-path atmosphere made me feel oddly happy from the walk over, haha. They stay open straight through without a break, so you can visit even during that awkward time between lunch and dinner. I came at around 8 p.m. on a weekday, and all the outdoor tables were full; quite a few people inside were happily grilling meat too.

And what I thought was this place's biggest plus was the seating! There are window seats along Gyeongui Line Forest Park, so you can eat while looking out at the path. On a nice day, a light breeze comes in through the windows and it has the feel of an outdoor drinking spot, which was just wonderful ♡ We booked ahead, and luckily were shown to a table facing the forest path. Looking at all that greenery and feeling the breeze while eating meat put me in a good mood just sitting there.

The interior had an easygoing, casual feel overall, with drum-barrel-style stools for the tables.

A meat refrigerator catches your eye on one side, and movie posters on the wall add to that relaxed Korean BBQ restaurant atmosphere.

What's in the Korean beef-and-pork set for two

I've visited the Hongdae Supgil Branch many times before, as well as other Gogikkun Gimchunbae branches such as the Hongdae Bom Branch. Back then, I mostly ate pork! This time, I ordered something a little different: a set that lets you enjoy Korean beef and pork together.

What we ordered

Korean beef and pork set for 2, 600g ₩109,000 Half-and-half naengmyeon ₩7,000 Kkakdugi fried rice ₩8,000 Total ₩124,000

The Korean beef-and-pork set comes to 600g in total: 250g of pork neck, 200g of pork rib meat, and 150g of the day's Korean beef.

They say the Korean beef portion changes daily depending on the best cut available, and on the day I visited it included salchisal, a richly marbled beef cut. Can you see that marbling… 👀 I love beef too, but if I eat a lot of it, it can feel a little rich. So rather than eating beef continuously, I prefer having it with pork. In that sense, I really liked this Korean beef + pork set.

When you order meat, the basic side dishes are set out too: myeongi namul (pickled wild garlic leaves), pickled onions, and seasoned bean sprouts. The sauces include garlic sauce, ssamjang (seasoned soybean paste), salt, and galchi sokjeot (salted hairtail innards).

You also get three kinds of mushrooms and minari (water celery) to eat with the meat. I liked having such a variety of accompaniments rather than meat alone.

Meat grilled for you from start to finish

Another great thing about Gogikkun Gimchunbae! You do not have to grill the meat yourself. The staff grill everything from beginning to end, so we could just relax and eat ◜⤙◝

They started by grilling the Korean beef salchisal. The marbling looked very good, and it was even more delicious than I expected when I tried it!

The salchisal in particular was tender and full of juices, so I really enjoyed it ( ˃᷄˶˶̫˶˂᷅ ) ♡ If you want to have Korean beef as well, I would recommend the Korean beef-and-pork set.

Mul naengmyeon and bibim naengmyeon together

You cannot leave out naengmyeon (cold buckwheat noodles) when eating meat! I loved that you do not have to choose just one of mul naengmyeon in chilled broth or bibim naengmyeon with spicy sauce here—you can order the half-and-half version.

When you want both mul naengmyeon and bibim naengmyeon, having them half-and-half like this is perfect.

Korean pork after the beef

Once we had finished the beef, it was time for the pork to be grilled.

The pork rib meat came on the bone, and the pork neck was cut quite thickly, so the quality of the meat itself looked good. Moving on to pork after the Korean beef brought a different flavor, so I never got tired of it. I especially liked eating in the order of beef → pork, since it meant we could enjoy different meats right to the end.

A forest-path mood made better by the weather

Honestly, the meat was delicious that day, but the weather really did it allㅠㅠ Eating grilled meat in a seat directly facing Gyeongui Line Forest Park with a cool breeze made it feel like we were at an outdoor pub, and the atmosphere was so nice. I think it would feel absolutely perfect to visit on a summer or autumn night with a cold beer ◡̈

On a nice day, it is a place where you can enjoy not just the flavor of the meat but the atmosphere too, which made me like it even more!!

At the end, we thoroughly grilled the minari and kimchi too, then ate them with the meat ♡

To finish, kkakdugi fried rice! We were already pretty full for two people after just the meat, but after adding naengmyeon and then fried rice, we were seriously stuffed, hahaha.