Yakitori izakaya near Hongdae: knee cartilage skewers at Gokko Yeonnam

What is Yakitori Gokko Yeonnam in Yeonnam-dong?

Yakitori Gokko Yeonnam (야키토리 고꼬연남) is an izakaya in Yeonnam-dong, on Seongmisan-ro 26-gil in Mapo-gu, Seoul. It is open Mon-Fri 18:00-01:00, Sat 17:00-01:00 and Sun 17:00-24:00, with last orders at 00:10, 00:10 and 23:10 respectively. You can reserve through Naver, and there is no parking.

Today I visited Yakitori Gokko Yeonnam, an izakaya in Yeonnam-dong :-> The smoky smell of grilling skewers hits you from outside, it's unreal 🥹 I was starving!!

They say that if you write a Naver receipt review, you get to do a nostalgic prize draw, haha. The prizes are:

• Secret-recipe karaage (fried chicken)
• Pine sherbet
• Crab cream croquette
• Frozen persimmon (ice hongsi)
• Grilled kawa (chicken skin)

But the sign says it's a July event, so I don't know what will happen in August (o̴̶̷᷄ ·̭ o̴̶̷̥᷅ )

Open kitchen, seating and tablet ordering

Yakitori Gokko Yeonnam has an open kitchen, so you can watch the skewers being grilled right from your seat. Once you step inside, there's a Catchtable tablet, haha.

With the open kitchen you can see our skewers being grilled, and maybe because the view is so open, my mouth was watering like crazy 🤤

Sizzle sizzle 🍢 A seat where you can watch it all being grilled seems pretty great, right?!

This is the seating inside, haha. There are spots where you sit facing each other and spots where you sit side by side!!!

There's a restroom inside too, which is great.

You order with the tablet on each table, haha.

Water, paper cups, napkins and chopsticks are all provided too.

From our seats we could even see them making the drinks 🤩

Yakitori skewers we ordered and their prices

• Kawa (chicken skin) ₩2,500
• Negima (chicken and scallion) ₩3,500
• Tomorokoshi (corn) ₩2,500
• Hatsu (chicken heart) ₩2,500
• Nankotsu (knee cartilage) ₩2,900
• Kirin Ichiban draft beer ₩7,500

You all know the free side at Japanese restaurants is cabbage, right, haha? It's crunchy and the sauce is sweet and salty, so it's perfect for cleansing your palate between skewers!!

And of course we had draft beer, because you can't have skewers without it, haha.

Heart / knee cartilage / skin There's no shichimi (Japanese chili pepper blend) on the table. They put a little on the side of the plate when they bring the skewers! If you need more, I think you can just ask.

Corn Since it's corn, it isn't grilled but brushed with sauce, and it was sweet and absolutely delicious, haha. Negima You know grilled scallions are amazing... ❤️

Best skewer at Gokko Yeonnam: nankotsu (knee cartilage)

If I had to pick just one skewer at Yakitori Gokko Yeonnam, it would be the nankotsu (knee cartilage) at ₩2,900. The skewers pair so well with draft beer, and there wasn't a bad one, haha. My partner and I both loved them, haha. The cartilage is crunchy and so good 🤤 I'd also recommend the corn, which was secretly amazing, haha.

A place where savory, golden-grilled yakitori meets a cold, foamy draft beer! ❤️ With Yeonnam-dong's signature cozy vibe and tasty bar food, it's a perfect real izakaya to end a good day, haha.