Yangjae Station grill restaurant with dakgalbi platter: Yanggyegok

I was looking for somewhere to eat dinner near Yangjae Station when I got curious about dakgalbi (grilled chicken) grilled directly over charcoal, so I headed to Yanggyegok in Yangjae. It's a solid pick for anyone hunting Yangjae Station restaurants, and it worked well for Dogok-dong Korean food cravings too. The clean interior made it a nice date spot in Yangjae, and honestly what I loved most was that distinct smoky charcoal aroma you only get from grilling dakgalbi over live coals.

Where is Yanggyegok, and what are its hours?

Yanggyegok sits just 128m from Yangjae Station Exit 4, so it's an easy walk and convenient for meeting up. It's open Monday through Sunday from 11:00 to 22:00, with a break time from 14:30 to 16:00 and last order at 21:00.

It's also fairly accessible for anyone coming from Dogok-dong looking for Korean food or grilled meat.

Yanggyegok from the street to the dining room

Even from outside, Yanggyegok felt a bit different from a typical dakgalbi place, and the interior was clean and well put together. When you think of dakgalbi, you usually picture it stir-fried on a griddle, but Yanggyegok grills it over charcoal, which sets a completely different mood from the start.

So it seems like a good fit whether you're looking for a date spot in Yangjae or a dinner place for a group.

Yanggyegok's menu and what we ordered

What we ordered at Yanggyegok was the dakgalbi combo platter. The combo includes salted dakgalbi, chicken cartilage, and deodeok, and we added soy sauce dakgalbi 300g and deulkkae bibim makguksu on top of that.

I wanted to try a variety of parts rather than just one flavor, so I started with the combo platter — and it turned out to be a good call!!

Along with the meat, four sauces come out — spicy sauce, wasabi sauce, buldak mayo sauce, and soy sauce. Pickled radish and warm broth were served alongside too, which was great for switching up the flavor mid-meal.

The dakgalbi combo platter grilled over charcoal

As soon as the dakgalbi hit the grill, the charcoal aroma rose up, and that's when I really started getting hungry.

The salted dakgalbi wasn't overly seasoned, so the clean flavor of the chicken and the charcoal aroma really came through. The browned outer edges were slightly nutty, and the inside stayed moist and tender with no dryness at all.

With four different sauces, even the same dakgalbi tasted quite different depending on the combination. The wasabi sauce gave a clean, sharp kick, while the buldak mayo added a spicy, savory note — it was fun switching between them. The chicken cartilage had a crunchy texture that gave it a totally different charm from the salted dakgalbi.

And the deodeok ended up being more memorable than I expected. Grilled lightly over the charcoal, its aroma really opened up, and its slightly bitter edge cut through the richness of the dakgalbi, making it great to eat in between bites. This combination would suit anyone searching for Dogok-dong Korean food spots too.

Soy sauce dakgalbi 300g and deulkkae bibim makguksu

After finishing the combo platter, I still wanted more, so I added Yanggyegok's soy sauce dakgalbi 300g. While the salted dakgalbi leans clean and plain, the soy sauce version brings a subtle sweet-and-savory seasoning for a completely different feel.

The spots where the sauce slightly caramelized on the charcoal turn sweet with an even deeper smoky flavor.

You can't skip noodles when eating meat, so I also ordered the deulkkae bibim makguksu (perilla cold buckwheat noodles). The nutty aroma hits first, followed by the tangy flavor typical of bibim makguksu, which felt like it reset my palate after the meat. Taking a bite of charcoal dakgalbi followed by a bite of makguksu turned out to be a great combination.

Is Yanggyegok worth a trip to Yangjae Station?

Yanggyegok let me properly enjoy the smoky flavor and moist texture of charcoal-grilled dakgalbi, which is a different experience from the griddle version. With salted dakgalbi, chicken cartilage, deodeok, and soy sauce dakgalbi all on offer, it works well for a group, and the clean atmosphere made it a nice date spot in Yangjae.

If you're near Yangjae Station and looking for something a little different from the usual grilled meat menu, this is a Yangjae Station restaurant worth remembering. If you love Korean food, come try dakgalbi with real charcoal aroma in Yangjae :)