Busan pork ribs with doenjang jjigae finish: Choryang Hyeongje Galbi

Choryang Hyeongje Galbi 🥩 A Choryang pork rib restaurant known for its tender marinated galbi. I suddenly had a huge craving for galbi (grilled ribs), so I went back to this Choryang restaurant! I'd visited once before and tried both the plain and marinated galbi, and remembered loving it so much that this time I didn't even hesitate to come back haha 😆

Full house at Choryang Hyeongje Galbi even on a weekday evening

Choryang Hyeongje Galbi is a restaurant on Choryang's galbi alley that's packed even on weekday evenings. The day I visited was a weekday evening, and the place was already completely full when I arrived. I guess it's true — the good places are busy no matter what day it is.

Luckily, one table opened up right as I arrived, so I got seated right away 🙌 I was worried I'd have to wait just to eat some galbi, but the timing worked out and I got to start my meal in a great mood.

Ordering four servings of marinated pork galbi

What I ordered at Choryang Hyeongje Galbi that day was four servings of marinated galbi. As soon as I sat down I was debating the menu, but that day I was especially craving marinated galbi, so I went with four servings. Choryang Hyeongje Galbi's plain galbi is delicious too, but personally it's also a great spot for when you're specifically craving the marinated version, so I waited with high expectations.

What side dishes come with the galbi?

The basic side dishes at Choryang Hyeongje Galbi came out generously — scallion salad, white kimchi, scallion kimchi, kimchi, kimchi pancake, lettuce wraps, steamed egg, angelica pickles, and more 😊 Soon after sitting down, the side dishes started arriving one by one.

At a meat restaurant, it's already satisfying if just the meat is good, but personally I love it even more when the side dishes are delicious too, and Choryang Hyeongje Galbi had a great variety to go with the meal. The scallion kimchi in particular was really good! It went well with the marinated galbi and with rice too, and I honestly lost count of how many refills I asked for 😂

Baby wild ginseng served with the wrap vegetables

And here's something a little special! At Choryang Hyeongje Galbi, they gave everyone one root of baby wild ginseng along with the lettuce wraps, one per person 🌿 I ate mine before starting on the meat, and it gave me the feeling of a proper health boost before starting on a drink haha.

It's not a side dish you commonly see at meat restaurants, so it left more of an impression. There were also angelica pickles, and later when I tried them together with the marinated galbi, they went really well together!

Staff grill the galbi for you at the table

At Choryang Hyeongje Galbi, once the meat arrived, a staff member carefully grilled it for us. Marinated galbi can actually be a bit stressful to grill yourself, since you have to watch the heat closely or the sauce can burn the meat quickly.

But since the staff grilled it for us at Choryang Hyeongje Galbi, we got to just relax and chat while waiting 😊 Watching the galbi turn a nice golden brown, I thought — yeah, coming here for galbi was a good call.

How does the marinated galbi taste? Not just sweet and salty

The marinated galbi at Choryang Hyeongje Galbi had just the right balance of sauce. Marinated galbi at other places is often too sweet or too salty, but here it wasn't overly strong in either direction — the kind of flavor that just keeps you reaching for more.

Above all, the meat itself was tender, so the more you chewed, the more the sauce blended in nicely. Each well-cooked piece of galbi practically melted in my mouth, and I loved that texture so much 🥰

Marinated galbi with white rice: the combo to order

You really can't skip white rice when eating marinated galbi. I put a piece of golden-grilled marinated galbi right on top of the white rice and tried it together, and that combination was fantastic. It wasn't that the sauce was salty and made me reach for rice — it was just that marinated galbi and warm white rice go incredibly well together on their own.

I enjoyed it in all sorts of ways — putting a piece of galbi on a lettuce wrap with scallion kimchi or angelica pickles, or piling it on top of white rice 😋 I especially loved the combo of angelica pickles with marinated galbi!!

The distinct aroma and clean taste of the angelica pickles met the sweetish marinated galbi and cut through the richness while refreshing the palate. Eating galbi continuously can get a bit heavy after a while, but having such a variety of side dishes to pair it with meant I could enjoy it deliciously all the way to the end.

Finishing the meal with doenjang jjigae

After eating so much meat, it felt like a waste to just leave, so I added an order of doenjang jjigae (soybean paste stew) at Choryang Hyeongje Galbi. The stew was packed with mushrooms and tofu, and the broth was refreshingly clean — perfect for wrapping up a meal of grilled meat. A warm spoonful of the stew with rice went down so easily that even though I was already pretty full, I kept going back for more 😂 There's just something about finishing off a meat meal with doenjang jjigae that makes the whole meal feel complete!

Plain or marinated: why Choryang Hyeongje Galbi is worth the trip

Honestly, the reason I went back to Choryang Hyeongje Galbi was because of how much I enjoyed both the plain and marinated galbi on my previous visit. It's not easy to find a place where both are equally good, but personally, Choryang Hyeongje Galbi satisfied me with both menus!

This time I was mainly craving marinated galbi so I focused on that, but next time I'd like to order the plain galbi again too haha 😆 It made total sense why the place was fully booked even on a weekday evening — this is a Choryang pork rib restaurant worth the hype. Having the staff grill for us was convenient, the side dishes were varied, and above all, the galbi itself was tender and delicious, so I left the meal fully satisfied.

If you're ever in Choryang craving galbi, I highly recommend this Choryang restaurant, Choryang Hyeongje Galbi! And if you're like me and enjoy both plain and marinated galbi, definitely try both ❤️