Kid-friendly Dongtan BBQ where staff grill pork belly: Gogigaondang

On Mondays, after eating whatever's around the house all weekend, by evening I sometimes just get this urge to eat out.

Today too, while my husband and I were trying to figure out dinner with the kids, I suddenly found myself craving cauldron-lid pork belly so badly.

So I went looking for a pork belly spot in Bansong-dong that we could comfortably visit with the kids, and ended up at Gogigaondang.

There's one thing I care about most when going to a BBQ place with kids — whether they grill the meat for you.

With kids around, I'd rather spend the meal looking after them and eating at a relaxed pace than being tied up grilling. Here, the staff grilled the meat themselves, so we got to eat really comfortably.

Where is Gogigaondang Dongtan Branch, and what is the restaurant like?

Gogigaondang is a BBQ restaurant in Bansong-dong, Dongtan.

There's parking space right in front of the restaurant, which was great for driving over with the kids. Inside, it was clean and cozy, and the tables had reasonable space between them, making it a comfortable atmosphere for a family meal.

What we were most looking forward to that day was, of course, the cauldron lid!

Pork belly can taste quite different depending on what kind of grill you cook it on, and pork belly grilled on a cauldron lid had me drooling just from that golden-brown look.

With kids in tow, a Korean BBQ place that grills for you wins

When my family goes to a BBQ place with the kids, I always check whether the staff grill the meat.

When you're grilling meat yourself, the kids often ask for things or need attention, and you end up barely eating properly. But at Gogigaondang, the staff grilled the meat from start to finish, which was so convenient.

We could look after the kids and chat while eating the meat as soon as it was done, which made it a really satisfying family dinner.

Especially for families with kids, this felt like a huge advantage.

Pork belly sizzling on a screaming-hot cauldron lid

They put thick cuts of meat on and grill them together with kimchi, and even the sizzling sound as it cooked was delicious.

With the intense heat of the cauldron lid, the meat cooked quickly, coming out golden-brown on the outside while staying moist inside.

Looking at the photos again, I'm craving it all over — why does pork belly never get old no matter how much you eat, haha. When we tasted it, the meat was chewy yet tender, and the kids ate way better than I expected.

My kids usually won't eat meat if it's tough, but that day the meat must have been tender, because they happily took each piece I gave them.

Why kimchi grilled beside the pork belly matters

At a pork belly restaurant, I care about the kimchi almost as much as the meat.

No matter how good the meat is, it feels lacking if the kimchi isn't up to par, but Gogigaondang's kimchi was so good I kept wrapping meat with it.

Grilled together with the meat on the cauldron lid, the kimchi soaked up a bit of the meat's fat, giving it a whole different flavor.

And the owner gave the kids seaweed (gim) to eat with their meal, which made it easy to eat with the kids too.

Wrapping the meat in seaweed, or eating it with rice, the kids ate happily either way.

The side dishes were so good I asked — all homemade at Gogigaondang

Every single side dish was delicious.

I got curious while eating and asked, and it turns out they make the side dishes by hand themselves.

From napa cabbage kimchi to green onion kimchi, pickles, and namul (seasoned vegetables), a nice variety of sides came out that paired well with the meat. I especially liked the kimchi, so I kept doing the pattern — bite of meat, bit of kimchi on top, another bite, more kimchi — haha.

It's easy to think of side dishes at a BBQ place as just an afterthought, but because these were homemade, the whole meal felt like it had real care put into it.

Was a Monday dinner with the kids at Gogigaondang worth it?

We went out on a Monday evening with no special plan, and it turned out to be more satisfying than expected.

To sum up what I liked about Gogigaondang, the cauldron-lid pork belly spot in Dongtan:

• The staff grill the meat themselves, so it's easy to look after the kids
• The meat grilled on the cauldron lid is chewy yet tender
• The kimchi and homemade side dishes are delicious
• The kids ate well too, especially with the seaweed

Going to a BBQ place with kids often means juggling grilling and childcare at the same time, which can get chaotic, but this time the staff grilled for us, so we could eat much more at ease.

If you're looking for a pork belly place to go with kids in Dongtan, or craving meat properly grilled on a cauldron lid, I recommend Gogigaondang in Bansong-dong!

When eating out with kids, how comfortable the meal is matters just as much as how the food tastes — and in that sense, this was a place that stuck with me.