Rainy-day beef hot pot with sprout ginseng in Hongdae: Baengni Gomtang

It had been raining two days straight... and when it rains, I really start craving hot soup. I went looking for a hot pot or soup place and found Baengni Gomtang — here's my review!

Where is Baengni Gomtang in Hongdae, and what does it serve?

Baengni Gomtang is a Korean restaurant at 40-18 Wausan-ro 29-gil, 1st floor, Unit 1, Mapo-gu, Seoul, near Hongik Univ. Station. Its signature dishes are Korean beef gomtang (bone broth soup), yukhoe bibimbap (raw beef rice bowl), Korean beef yukhoe, tteokgalbi (grilled short rib patties), and Korean beef hot pot.

Baengni Gomtang is close to Hongik Univ. Station Exit 6! If you take the bus, just get off at Donggyo-dong intersection and it's a short walk!

I wondered if "Baengni" in the name really meant "100 li" (an old unit of distance)... and turns out, it really does, haha.

Inside the Baengni Gomtang dining room

The Baengni Gomtang space is on the first floor, with striking orange accent chairs. The moment you walk in, that deep, rich gomtang broth smell hits you — smells so good.

A flavor worth traveling 100 li for! Truly a 100-li gomtang.

A little writeup on their gomtang philosophy! The idea that so much effort and care goes into a single bowl of gomtang that it's worth traveling 100 li for — sounds like a seriously hearty bowl! And a fun fact: apparently the tastiest temperature for gomtang is exactly 75°C! The optimal temperature for flavor and ease of eating!! I found that so interesting haha.

Now let's take a seat and check out the menu~

According to the shop's description, Baengni Gomtang centers on long-simmered Korean beef gomtang and yukhoe bibimbap made with fresh Korean beef, but also offers yukhoe, tteokgalbi, and hot pot — a place to enjoy Korean beef dishes in many forms! And apparently, serving sprout ginseng alongside the food is this restaurant's own signature. Hearing that made me even more excited as I read through the menu.

Baengni Gomtang menu prices

• Korean beef hot pot (medium) ₩39,000 / (large) ₩49,000
• Korean beef gomtang ₩12,000 (special ₩15,000)
• Korean beef yukhoe bibimbap ₩13,000 (special ₩16,000)
• Yukhoe + mini gimbap ₩29,000 / Sprout ginseng + honey ₩12,000
• Meat mandu ₩8,000 / mini yukhoe, mini suyuk each ₩9,000

Not bad value at all, and the menu is varied enough that I'm planning to try the yukhoe bibimbap next time!! We ordered the Korean beef hot pot (medium)! Hot hot pot is exactly what you want on a rainy day.

While waiting, I pressed the little desk fan sitting on the table and it was so cute — tiny but surprisingly refreshing. And the retro analog fan design was adorable.

The three side dishes and the house garlic sauce

We finished off that potato salad before the main dish even arrived, haha. The salted seafood and diced radish kimchi we saved to eat with the hot pot~

The special sauce makes its appearance! Loaded with minced garlic, the kind of sauce Koreans love. Eaten with the hot pot, it made the food disappear so fast haha. Sauce-addicted~ ◝(ᵔᗜᵔ)◜

What the medium Korean beef hot pot at 39,000 won is like

Baengni Gomtang's Korean beef hot pot (medium) is ₩39,000. It comes loaded with vegetables, topped with two stalks of sprout ginseng.

The Korean beef hot pot has finally arrived! The visual is no joke — kind of reminded me of eobokjaengban (a royal-style beef platter)?

Packed with vegetables too, so it also felt like perfect diet food! (Completely unsubstantiated personal opinion, haha.)

There's even sprout ginseng sitting on top of the hot pot. Basically a health tonic in a bowl, right? Lucky Vicky! The two sprout ginseng stalks sitting side by side were so cute haha.

Check out the visuals of this Korean beef hot pot~~~

How to enjoy the beef hot pot even more (my own theory)

Ladle the hot broth over the meat, tofu, and vegetables so the broth soaks in as they cook. The moment you take that first spoonful of broth, you can instantly tell it's the real deal. Not sharp at all, deeply infused — the kind of flavor that has you spooning it up again and again, ugh.

Oh man.... this is it~~ this is exactly it~~ steaming hot hot pot with steam rising off it!!!! So much meat packed in that no matter how much we scooped out, more kept coming!!

Dip the meat and chives deep into the special garlic sauce and it's honey-sweet!!! The meat itself is mild too, so it really felt like a genuinely healthy meal!!

Dip the napa cabbage and enoki mushrooms in the sauce and take a big bite — the broth just bursts out and it was so good. Adding a bit of sprout ginseng on top brought a fragrant note too, giving a different accent from plain gomtang. Still, even sprout ginseng has that characteristic bitterness! But hey, anything good for you is a little bitter~ and we ate it all up!

There's a photo zone inside the restaurant! Amazing. We grabbed a shot together~

Final verdict on Baengni Gomtang

As the weather turns colder, Baengni Gomtang in Hongdae is exactly the kind of restaurant you want for a hearty, restorative meal. ◝(ᵔᗜᵔ)◜ A simple bowl of gomtang or yukhoe bibimbap for lunch, then Korean beef hot pot with a drink for dinner~? Definitely a repeat visit whenever you're craving rich broth near Hongik Univ. Station ^____^

After filling up, we walked around the Hongdae streets and had fun browsing the little accessory shops too! Are hermit crab hats trending these days...? Everyone was wearing them lol. I kind of wanted to buy one.... but held myself back!! Haha.