Yangjae Station chicken BBQ: mayo dip and red ramen, Yanggyegok

What is Yanggyegok near Yangjae Station like?

Yanggyegok (양계옥) is a charcoal-grilled chicken restaurant at 2615 Nambusunhwan-ro, near Yangjae Station. It isn't Chuncheon-style stir-fried dakgalbi (spicy chicken); the chicken is grilled over charcoal. My husband habitually eats chicken breast, and whenever I ask what we should order in on the weekend he always shouts "fried chicken!", so I'd been keeping my distance from chicken dishes. But I heard there was a place that does grilled chicken, so I went! This is Yanggyegok at Yangjae Station :))

• Address: 2615 Nambusunhwan-ro, Gangnam-gu, Seoul, Units 109 and 110, 1st floor
• Hours: daily 11:00-22:00 / break time 14:30-16:00 / last order 21:00 (no break time on Saturday and Sunday)
• Parking: available (2 hours free in the building's underground parking)

Can you go to Yanggyegok on a weekday evening without a reservation?

Even with a reservation on a weekday evening, Yanggyegok was already full, wow.. Reservations are a must!! I came straight after work on a weekday, so I booked ahead. And the entrance looks like it got hit by a missile, haha. The exterior is overwhelming from the start.

Alright, let's power through another day, healthily~ I don't know how much this energy stick will help.. but eating one is better than not, right?

This is the inside of Yanggyegok, and they say they only use chickens slaughtered that day! 200% freshness guaranteed, let's goooo~ Yanggyegok reportedly started with a grandmother who ran a gukbap (soup with rice) shop in Yecheon, Gyeongbuk, in 1970. And that's what made its way to Yangjae Station, apparently.

Yanggyegok charcoal dakgalbi menu and prices

At Yanggyegok, charcoal dakgalbi is ₩15,000 for 300g of salt-seasoned and ₩16,000 for 300g of soy or gochujang, and the red ramen to finish is ₩7,000.

• Dakgalbi, salt, 300g: ₩15,000
• Dakgalbi, soy, 300g (2 servings): ₩16,000
• Dakgalbi, gochujang, 300g: ₩16,000
• Red ramen: ₩7,000
• Soju: ₩5,000
• Beer: ₩6,000

Maybe because we had a reservation, the table was already fully set, haha. Definitely reserve before you come!!

Which of Yanggyegok's 4 sauces is the spiciest?

Four sauces come to the table at Yanggyegok and all four are spicy, hahaha. By my taste they got spicier from left to right, and each one had a slightly different kind of heat.

• Just plain spicy
• Mayo sauce
• Wasabi sauce
• Chili sauce

It comes out right after you order, so you don't wait long, which is nice haha. The mushroom with "Yanggyegok" written on it is so cute.

The chicken broth that comes as a default

Yanggyegok brings out chicken broth by default, and it feels like eating a clear samgyetang (ginseng chicken soup) haha. There was plenty of meat in it too, and it was chicken breast.

Ta-da ❤️

Yanggyegok's self-service bar

At Yanggyegok's self-service bar, take only as much as you'll eat! The chili peppers and napa cabbage kimchi that aren't among the basic side dishes can be brought over as much as you like, and the napa cabbage kimchi was seriously spicy, haha.

Do you have to grill the charcoal dakgalbi yourself at Yanggyegok?

For Yanggyegok's charcoal dakgalbi, the owner first debones all the chicken, and the grilling is DIY, so you have to focus. Flip it carefully, many times, so it doesn't burn.

Since it's cooked over charcoal and coated in marinade, it burns more easily than you'd think? You have to keep flipping it again and again.

We just came to eat, but quite a few tables were there for group dinners! Yanggyegok is big and the tables are spaced widely, so it seems fine as a spot for a company dinner too.

How many servings of charcoal dakgalbi should you order at Yanggyegok?

A serving at Yanggyegok is 150g, and once you take out the bones there's honestly not much, so you end up ordering 3 servings as a baseline, haha. We ordered extra later, but just order it all at the start, pleeease...!! Also, ask them to swap the grill plate again and again after each use! The marinade makes it burn fast, ugh.

Nice smoky char on the outside~ and the inside is cooked up nice and white~

My favorite is the mayo sauce

My favorite sauce is the mayo sauce. It's moderately spicy, rich and nutty, goes well with chicken, and above all it was the mildest of the four sauces. I stuffed a perilla leaf with plenty of pickled chili and ate it as a wrap.

I grilled the gochujang dakgalbi last, haha. I saved this strongly seasoned one for the end on purpose! Ta-da ❤️ I ate it dipped in my favorite sauce, and again dipped in my favorite sauce with pickled radish (ssambu).

The meat stuck to the bone is the best part

The chicken bones I worked hard to grill, hehe. There's quite a lot of meat still stuck on the bones, right? And you know that, right? The meat on the bone is the best part!!

Hehe, I didn't get much of the regular meat, but I hogged the chicken bones all to myself and ate them all, haha. Gnawing on them is the fun of it!!

Finally, one extra serving of soy dakgalbi that we added. Once again, since we ended up ordering extra, definitely order it all from the start. Or no, wait, is it better to taste first and then order more of whichever you liked?

Bring on the snacks (anju)

What does Yanggyegok's red ramen taste like?

Yanggyegok's red ramen (₩7,000) is a Yukgaejang cup noodle (spicy beef soup ramen) that also carries the flavor of the chicken broth served at the start. The real, final anju! And what's the Korean way to finish? Carbs!! I worked hard on the protein, so now a carb chaser is a must.

I ordered one red ramen. The noodles were Yukgaejang cup noodles, the spiciness was moderate with a slight kick of cheongyang chili (extra-hot green chili), and the chicken broth flavor from the beginning came through too. It was unusual and tasty, so definitely try it too :))