Sunday-night waitlist and 4:30 timer grilling: Jinseong Hanwoo

On a day when I was really craving gopchang (grilled beef intestines), I went to Garak-dong's "Jinseong Hanwoo Gopchang Garak Flagship." This is a place I've already saved to go back to — here's my honest review!

Jinseong Hanwoo Gopchang Garak Flagship

Sunday evening at 7:30, waiting and parking

Garak-dong gopchang restaurant "Jinseong Hanwoo Gopchang" — we went around 7:30 on a Sunday evening! I saw the waiting seats outside were empty and thought, oh, maybe we can get in right away! But there was already one group ahead of us. There's underground parking in the building with plenty of spots. We got 2 hours free after paying.

For waiting, you write your name and party size on the chalkboard in front of the store, wait, and they call your name when it's your turn! Looked like there was a huge waitlist.

When we first walked in, every table was full. There were more than 20 tables, and all of them were packed...! It really felt like a genuine hit spot, so I was filled with anticipation.

The menu: gopchang, daechang, makchang as single items

Garak-dong gopchang restaurant "Jinseong Hanwoo Gopchang" has gopchang (small intestine), daechang (large intestine), and makchang (abomasum) each as separate items. I liked that there were no set combos — just single items, so you could order only the parts you like! And for dessert, there was kkakdugi yangbap (radish kimchi fried rice with beef tripe) and anchovy noodles. The simple menu board actually raised my expectations.

After ordering, as they set out the side dishes, they gave us a piece of paper — one at each table — with a note written by the head chef. Even from this paper, you could feel the pride behind the place...!👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻

The kimchi trio and the minari-garlic sauce

Here's the kimchi trio at Garak-dong gopchang restaurant "Jinseong Hanwoo Gopchang"! A set of three — pa kimchi (green onion kimchi), kkakdugi (radish kimchi), and gat kimchi (mustard leaf kimchi) — all house-made, and they looked delicious just from appearance. Well-fermented kimchi that seemed like it would pair great with gopchang.

And this is the mi-jeol-ma, the minari (water dropwort) pickle garlic sauce. It's a sauce they say is delicious dipped with gopchang, vegetables, and even kimchi — full of minari, garlic, and chili inside. This sauce was truly the kicker!

Steamed egg came out too, so we enjoyed it while the gopchang was grilling. And chive salad, which is a must with grilled gopchang! The portion was generous, too — nice.

Ordering gopchang x2 + makchang x1 for ₩58,000

Gopchang x2 + makchang x1 = ₩58,000. Eating gopchang and makchang with Ddeurong Daddy for the first time in a while, so we ordered a lot today 😄😄😄. Cooldown timer, start!!!

Everything came out, so of course, the overhead shot 📸. Once your order arrives, the timer gets set too. Staff handle all the grilling and cutting, so you just have to wait 👍🏻

Looking closely at the gopchang and makchang, they came with a bit of seasoning already sprinkled on. Feels like this might be Jinseong Hanwoo Gopchang's own signature touch.

The 4:30 timer and staff doing the cutting

With the 4-minute-30-second timer running, the gopchang, makchang, and vegetables kept grilling away. There was kimchi placed near where the fat drains off too, so everything was grilling up nicely 👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻

Once the timer went off, a staff member came over and trimmed and grilled everything for us — so convenient! The way they cut the makchang piece by piece looked really professional too! Not just cutting randomly, but thinking about the grain?! of each piece.

And after the makchang, they cut the gopchang too, row by row, into even sizes.

And here's the finished plate of gopchang + makchang! Gopchang, makchang, rice cake, and vegetables all grilled up deliciously, ready to eat! Since I wanted it a bit crispy, I kept the heat at medium and kept grilling while eating.

How were the gopchang and makchang?

The gopchang was packed full of the fatty interior, so it was really savory. And most of all, it went so well with the minari-pickle-garlic soy sauce. At first I thought, is it just a strong minari flavor? But then the savoriness of the gopchang hit right after — such a great combination.

Next up, makchang! Honestly, when I've had makchang elsewhere, it was sometimes a bit chewy and I never really got the texture — but here it was truly,,,,, just the right chewiness while also being tender and delicious. Makchang,,,, this is the real deal here! Ddeurong Daddy also said the makchang was way better than he expected.

Not just with the soy sauce, the combination with vegetables was great too. Dipping vegetables, gopchang, and makchang all deep into the soy sauce together was the best!

And we kept grilling the pa kimchi that came with the meal too. Pa kimchi is delicious as is, but grilled pa kimchi,,,,, you know how amazing that combo is with gopchang, right? We put the chive salad and pa kimchi straight on the grill and cooked them together! (We even got a pa kimchi refill,,,,, haha.)

And the grilled rice cake and potato that came along were also so delicious. Now I'm craving the rice cake again,,,,, haha.

I had a beer, Ddeurong Daddy had a cola. We drove there, so it was a bit disappointing we couldn't share a beer together, but we still ate the gopchang and makchang so happily — both of us were fully satisfied!

For dessert: kkakdugi yangbap for ₩9,000

Kkakdugi yangbap, ₩9,000. Looking at other tables, I saw people ordering a mix of janchi guksu (noodle soup) and kkakdugi yangbap — Ddeurong Daddy and I were more in the mood for rice, so we picked the "kkakdugi yangbap." It comes topped with beef tripe, kkakdugi, radish salad, garlic, and roasted seaweed flakes — the combination of all the ingredients together was great!

Mix it all up well and eat! It comes out on the hot grill, so it was nice to eat it warm.

The combination of kkakdugi, radish salad, egg, and tripe in this fried-rice-style yangbap was so good! A flavor I want to eat again.

With gopchang, makchang, and kkakdugi yangbap on top, we got so~~~ full that we only ate about half of the yangbap and packed the rest to take home! It was too good a flavor to leave behind,,, so we took it home and enjoyed it happily the next evening for dinner :-) It was a dinner that left us so~~~ satisfied after eating truly delicious gopchang and makchang for the first time in a while!

If you're looking for a Garak-dong restaurant! If you're looking for a Garak-dong hanwoo gopchang restaurant! If you're looking for a Garak Market restaurant, a Garak Market gopchang restaurant! I strongly. recommend. "Jinseong Hanwoo Gopchang Garak Flagship"!!!!