Pork vs herbal gomtang at Baekok Euljiro, a Seoul Korean restaurant

With the cold wind picking up and the temperature swings getting bigger these days, you naturally crave hot soup food, right? So I went looking for somewhere in hip Euljiro to get a warm, savory meal. I'd recently tried pork gomtang (pork bone soup) for the first time — it's become really popular lately — so I wanted to introduce it! The place I'm sharing today has an upscale, tidy mood, so it's a fine spot to bring clients or elders too.

Where is Baekok Euljiro, and when is it open?

The address is 27 Euljiro5-gil, Jung-gu, Seoul, South Korea, basement level 2. It's open from 11am to 10pm, with a break time from 3pm to 5pm and last order at 9:30pm. Closed every Sunday, and you can use the building's parking lot for free.

Baekok is on basement level 2 of the Mirae Asset building, about a 5-minute walk from Exit 4 of Euljiro-ip-gu Station. Take the escalator down and you'll see Baekok right on your right — it has a full glass front and a noticeable sign, so it wasn't hard to find.

This area has a lot of office workers, so there's high demand for one-bowl meals, and I thought the location was really great. Outside the shop there's a menu board showing prices and food photos, so you can see what they sell and how much it costs even without going inside.

Inside Baekok Euljiro: seating for solo diners and groups

The inside of Baekok was a bit more spacious than I expected. There were plenty of 2-seat and 4-seat tables. It's a good width for eating alone but also fine for a group meal, which I liked even more!

Baekok is already a brand known for pork gomtang, so I think a lot of you have probably been here already. They use 100% domestic Korean pork to make a clear, deep broth. Even without strong seasoning, they work hard to make it delicious by keeping the flavor clean and deep rather than overdone.

I ordered the most basic pork gomtang, the herbal gomtang made with neungi mushroom, milkvetch root and various other herbs, and cabbage dumplings. I had a slight cold that day, so I planned to nurse myself back to health with hot gomtang haha.

What the basic pork gomtang tastes like, served toryeom-style

The pork gomtang came out first! Baekok's pork gomtang is characterized by its clean flavor, made from broth simmered for a long time using domestic Korean pork shoulder. It's served toryeom-style, meaning the rice is already mixed into the soup, topped with a big chunk of pork shoulder.

I tried the broth first — it was salty and had a savory meaty aroma. Unlike dwaeji gukbap (pork and rice soup), this had a cleaner taste, and I could definitely feel the distinct charm of gomtang.

The meat on top is quite large, so it's easier to cut it with scissors or tear it apart. When you mix in the rice, the starch naturally dissolves and makes the broth a bit cloudier, but it tasted great that way too.

How does the herbal gomtang at Baekok Euljiro taste?

The second dish was the herbal gomtang. Baekok's herbal gomtang has a distinctly different color from the basic pork gomtang. Since it's brewed with Korean herbal medicine ingredients, it has a deep brown tint.

The composition is the same! The rice is pre-mixed in and topped with a big chunk of pork shoulder. The portion of meat and rice was more generous than I expected, and I loved the rich herbal aroma! Oh, and it was seasoned a bit lighter than the basic pork gomtang, which made it taste even better to me~

Cabbage-wrapped kimchi dumplings and side dishes at Baekok Euljiro

Then the cabbage dumplings came out right away! These are kimchi dumpling filling wrapped in cabbage leaves and steamed, so they felt a bit healthier. They warned me to be careful since it's hot, but it was more just warm-ish! Two staff members were busy making dumplings in one corner of the restaurant, and they looked so appetizing that I ended up ordering them lol — I'm glad I did! They were seriously delicious?!?!

The filling is kimchi dumpling stuffing that's not spicy or salty, and the cabbage wrapper outside is soft and tender, giving the whole thing a really upscale flavor. Dipping it in soy sauce brought out a nice aroma, and overall it was a flavor I really loved, so I felt very satisfied with a hearty meal. The side dishes that came with it were simple but tasty too. Personally, the pickled gungchae (stem lettuce) wasn't salty and had a nice crunch, so I even asked for a refill lol.

Baekok was a place where you can enjoy pork gomtang that's rich and savory yet clean, so it shouldn't be too polarizing. If you usually love hot soup-and-rice dishes, I think it's worth a visit at least once~