Hongdae restaurant lunch date with squid jeotgal: Baengni Gomtang

Today I want to talk about Baengni Gomtang, one of the best places in Hongdae for gomtang (beef bone soup) and a great spot for lunch too, haha. The taste is clean and simple with no fuss, so it's filling without feeling heavy — I'd recommend it for both lunch and dinner.

Where is Baengni Gomtang and what are its hours?

Baengni Gomtang is open 11:00 - 22:00, with a break time from 15:00 - 17:00 and last order at 21:00. It's about a 5-minute walk from Hongik University Station Exit 7. If you head left from the front of the exit, you can follow the stairs up to the restaurant.

The interior is run just as neatly and cleanly. If you're looking for a good Korean restaurant in Hongdae, come visit Baengni Gomtang!! It really was a clean, delicious lunch spot. Haha.

Baengni Gomtang menu and prices: why soy sauce wins for the yukhoe bibimbap

Baengni Gomtang's signature dishes are beef gomtang and beef yukhoe bibimbap (raw beef mixed rice)! They also have hot pot dishes like beef jeongol, yukhoe, and cold boiled pork salad, plus side dishes that pair well like mandu (dumplings), tteokgalbi (grilled short rib patties), mini yukhoe, and boiled pork slices.

• Beef gomtang — ₩12,000
• Beef yukhoe bibimbap — ₩13,000
• Soy sauce, plus handmade tteokgalbi add-on — ₩9,000

For the yukhoe bibimbap, you can choose between two sauces — soy sauce or gochujang. Since gochujang bibimbap is so common, I went with soy sauce this time, and it was a great choice~.~

There's salt and pepper on the table, but personally I think it tastes best just as it comes, so I didn't season it further, haha. There's also a cute retro fan.

The full table: tteokgalbi plus kkakdugi, potato salad and squid jeotgal

Our order arrived~! A neat, clean Hongdae Korean-food spread was laid out for us. It comes out generous and filling!

The tteokgalbi is soft and packed with juice — eating it alongside the other dishes makes everything even better, so I really recommend trying it. Haha. The side dishes were kkakdugi (radish kimchi), potato salad, and squid jeotgal (salted squid)! Putting the jeotgal on top of the gomtang and eating it in one bite completely wakes up your appetite — you could eat it endlessly, ㅠㅠ.

Each bowl came with a single root of sprout ginseng on top! When I was younger, I never touched ginseng because it was too bitter, but now I've reached the age where I chew it slowly and thoroughly, haha.

How the soy sauce beef yukhoe bibimbap tastes (my boyfriend kept picking at it)

The soy sauce beef yukhoe bibimbap was clean and savory — absolutely excellent!! I was the one who ordered it, but my boyfriend took one bite and kept eating it too, lol. It's loaded with vegetables and the seasoning has such a deep savoriness. It's the kind of flavor you keep thinking about, ㅠ.ㅠ Even now, writing this post, I want another bite, haha.

Broth temperature and how much beef is in the gomtang

The gomtang was also clean and simple but deep in flavor — genuinely delicious, ㅠㅠㅠ. It wasn't too hot, so it came out at just the right temperature to eat comfortably right away! There was plenty of meat in it too. This time, I was the one stealing bites of the gomtang, lol.

Handmade tteokgalbi at Baengni Gomtang: the mustard sauce is the kicker

The handmade tteokgalbi, juicy and moist, was great to eat alongside everything else! The mustard sauce was the real kicker, haha. This was so good too, ㅠ.ㅠ I want to go back and eat it again!!

Is Baengni Gomtang a good Hongdae lunch spot for two?

A bite of gomtang topped with squid jeotgal~ a sip of the broth that comes with the yukhoe bibimbap~ alternating between the two, we ended up finishing every last drop, haha. It was exactly the kind of clean, satisfying, delicious lunch we wanted! And it felt like a really healthy meal too, which made it even better >.<

Lol, I spotted this sign on the way out and took a photo!! Apparently sprout ginseng can be eaten not just at the root but the stem and leaves too. We ate all the way down to the last leaf and stem too, haha.

Baengni Gomtang is a great Hongdae restaurant for enjoying delicious gomtang and yukhoe bibimbap over lunch — it's really that good~!!! I definitely recommend visiting and trying it for yourself.