Family Korean BBQ in Janggi, Gimpo: aged pork, naengmyeon at Hanmaeum

Hanmaeum Butcher Restaurant Gimpo Janggi branch (한마음정육식당 김포장기점)

Where is Hanmaeum Butcher Restaurant Gimpo Janggi branch, and where do you park?

Hanmaeum Butcher Restaurant Gimpo Janggi branch is on the 2nd floor of a building in the middle of the Janggi shopping complex, right next to Janggi Station, so it's easy to find. For parking, use the public lot next door. If it's full, the public lot next to Segero Mart Janggi branch is close by and works well.

The kids said they were craving really good meat for the first time in a while, so we went to Hanmaeum Butcher Restaurant, a Gimpo Janggi-dong place I'd had my eye on from walking past it. When I asked friends for a BBQ recommendation, they suggested this place too, so I was curious and looking forward to it! I parked in the public lot next door. It's only a two-story building, but there's an elevator, so getting up was easy.

What are the atmosphere and the kids' play room like at Hanmaeum Butcher Restaurant?

The restaurant is really clean and ridiculously spacious, with partitioned tables, private rooms and even a kids' play room. It seems like a great spot for family gatherings, get-togethers with friends and all kinds of company dinners.

When we walked in, the owner and staff showed us to a table. The owner was cutting a big block of meat, and he had the aura of a true master, haha. We like window seats, so we took one. The neighboring tables have partitions too, so it wouldn't be much of a bother even when it's busy.

There's also a play room for guests with kids, and the play room here is on another level. It's great for kids to run around in! Mine are in upper elementary and middle school, so they're too tall for the play equipment and only played the arcade machine, which was a shame. It's a place where parents can eat in peace while the kids have fun in the play room. Of course, younger children will need a parent keeping an eye on them.

What did we order at Hanmaeum Butcher Restaurant?

Aged meat is the signature here, with aged pork and aged beef sold as a half pig/cow or a whole one, which makes choosing easy. There were three of us (me and the kids), so I ordered the aged pork half pig, 500g.

Of course we needed jjolmyeon (chewy cold noodles) and mul naengmyeon (cold buckwheat noodles in broth) to go with our steamed rice. The prices aren't a burden either, which I loved! They bring out an earthenware doenjang (soybean paste) stew and silky steamed egg as standard, and these were so good. The kids went crazy for them, and I don't even need to tell you that BBQ-restaurant doenjang stew is a work of art.

They also bring a nice variety of side dishes, and they all go well with meat, so they're great to eat alongside! Scallion jjolmyeon comes as standard too. I tried them one by one and everything was delicious, so I felt this place was the real deal, haha.

What's in the aged pork set and the beef set?

The pork set at Hanmaeum Butcher Restaurant has five cuts: samgyeopsal (pork belly), ogyeopsal (five-layer pork belly), moksal (pork neck), hangjeongsal (pork jowl) and gabeurisal (pork collar). The beef set is budaesal (chuck flap), galbisal (rib meat), ppyeogalbi (bone-in ribs), jingalbi (rib) and usamgyeop (beef brisket). They also sell pork skin, Korean beef yukhoe (beef tartare) and various side dishes.

The half pig looks amazing, right? The color is a work of art. A cutting-edge robot serves it, haha. The meat looks delicious at first glance. I like trying lots of different flavors, so I love BBQ places that sell sets like this.

Should you order the mul naengmyeon and jjolmyeon?

I recommend ordering the icy mul naengmyeon and sweet-and-sour jjolmyeon with your meat. I put the meat on the grill and tried the jjolmyeon and naengmyeon first!

Maybe it's because the weather has been so hot lately, but I was craving that naengmyeon with ice floating in it. The broth is rich and the noodles are chewy, so good. The sweet-and-sour jjolmyeon is heavenly too. You have to tuck it into a meat wrap! I would've regretted it if I hadn't ordered them.

How does the aged pork taste?

For the aged pork at Hanmaeum Butcher Restaurant, we grilled the ogyeopsal, hangjeongsal and gabeurisal first until golden, and they grilled shishito-style peppers (kkwari gochu) and king oyster mushrooms alongside. What a lovely smell, and meat is love. Eating out is the best for BBQ. Grilling at home means a hassle cleaning up, the smell sticks to everything, and in this weather you end up drenched in sweat.

Every cut has its own charm, but all of them were chewy yet tender and melted in the mouth. We wrapped them in lettuce or dipped them in the salt sauce however we liked, and the owner really seems to know how to age meat. The kids devoured it with gusto. They're in a growth spurt, so I feed them meat almost every day lately, and watching them eat so well made me proud. It vanished in a flash, so we grilled samgyeopsal and moksal too and inhaled those in a trance!

Is Hanmaeum Butcher Restaurant worth going back to?

If you like aged meat, Hanmaeum Butcher Restaurant Gimpo Janggi branch is a Gimpo Janggi-dong BBQ place worth visiting. The three of us ate until our bellies were bursting, haha. The owner is kind too, so I think we'll become regulars! Next time I'll bring my husband along.