Goyang beef intestine barbecue, grilled tableside: Chodaechang

A sign, huge as can be, declares, “A place that does daechang grilled intestines well.” After trying it, I’ll give them that confidence.

I visited Chodaechang Baekseok Branch (초대창 백석점) while looking for dinner in Baekseok. I do love daechang (beef large intestine), but honestly, I do not eat it just anywhere. At a place that does it badly, it can feel like all the fat inside gushes out the second you bite down; the first few pieces may taste good, but it gets greasy fast.

This daechang tasted first of its well-seared exterior and richly melted fat, rather than that sensation. Then the person grilling it split the daechang open and briskly brushed its fat onto the teukyang. Owner, nice!!!! I was clapping like a seal inside.

Chodaechang, walkable from Baekseok Station

Chodaechang Baekseok Branch is in the dining alley near Baekseok Station, an easy location to walk to for a dinner appointment. Its large red sign makes the restaurant fairly easy to spot once you are nearby.

There was also space for around eight or nine cars near the restaurant, so I did not have to wander around looking for parking that day. No parking stress—so good!!

A meat restaurant with a more retro feel than expected

The first thing I noticed upon entering was the atmosphere. Red tiles, burgundy sofas, floral wallpaper, even checked curtains—it did not feel like a shiny, modern meat restaurant so much as an old-school one given a cute revival.

Each table had a large ventilation hood, and there were tables for groups, so it looked suitable for gatherings too. Beef intestines take a lot of attention to grill, but staff grill them here, which is a plus for a group dinner: one person does not have to be stuck grilling the entire time.

The colorful tablecloths were distinctive too. The restaurant says the design came from memories of the cloths their mothers used to cover the dining table so warm food would not get cold. It fit the whole retro atmosphere beautifully.

Side dishes before the daechang and teukyang

When you order meat, sauces arrive first along with dressed lettuce, pickles, and salad-type sides. Beef intestines have their own fattiness, so rather than eating meat continuously, it worked well to have something tart or crisp in between. In particular, after a piece of daechang, the dressed lettuce or pickles cleared away the oily taste lingering in my mouth.

Beef intestines promoted as naturally tenderized

Chodaechang emphasizes that it is a naturally tenderized beef intestine restaurant, and the brand’s official page introduces its own tenderizing method for preserving the ingredients’ natural nuttiness and texture. When I ate it, the teukyang (beef tripe) was not tough enough to require endless chewing; it had a pleasant, crisp chew without feeling burdensome.

Beef intestine barbecue tends to bring expensive specialty restaurants to mind, but considering the tableside grilling service, I thought there may be no need to seek out only the pricey places.

Daechang was different when grilled for us

I think who grills beef intestines, and how, matters quite a lot. Daechang has plenty of fat inside, so it can be greasy if undercooked, while overcooking can leave the texture lacking. At Chodaechang, staff grilled the meat themselves from the beginning.

They grilled it until it was ready to eat, so we could just focus on eating instead of worrying about when to flip it or whether it was cooked through. And here came the highlight of the day. They split the perfectly cooked daechang in half and brushed the savory fat inside over the teukyang. Ah, owner, you are the best.........

The daechang was tender with a strong savory-fat flavor, while the teukyang was comparatively lighter and had a lovely crisp chew. Together, the daechang’s richness remained while the teukyang added its texture. The exterior was thoroughly cooked, and the fat inside felt deliciously melted. The makchang (beef abomasum) was well cooked outside too, and became more savory the more I chewed—seriously better than expected. I kept reaching for the daechang, teukyang, then makchang in that order; the Mixed Grill B Set was an excellent choice.

A different sauce for each cut

Chodaechang serves slightly different sauces with each cut. Daechang came with soy sauce, makchang with makchang sauce, and teukyang with a gim-wasabi sauce made with seaweed and wasabi. All three suited their respective cuts, but the daechang-and-soy-sauce combination was my favorite.

A spicy hot broth after the meat

At the end, there was a hot broth too. After eating beef intestines, that savory oiliness lingers in your mouth, and the bubbling broth felt like it cleared things out once. With rice as well, it truly felt like a proper dinner had come to an end.

Chodaechang had more drink options than expected

A beef intestine restaurant usually makes you think first of soju or beer, but Chodaechang’s drink selection was more varied than expected. Alongside the basics, it has wine, whisky, and highballs, giving you a broad range according to your taste. Rich, fatty dishes like daechang seem as though they would go well with a clean highball or aromatic whisky, while wine is an option for days when you want to take your time over dinner.

After the meal, they even give you Excellent ice cream, said to be the Hermès of ice cream that only the bourgeois get to eat. It was perfect for a sweet finish after beef intestines.

If you are looking for beef intestines in Baekseok, Chodaechang Baekseok Branch is a place worth keeping in mind. It was convenient because staff grilled everything from start to finish, and most of all, I will remember the way they split the daechang and brushed its fat over the teukyang. I usually find daechang’s oily richness a bit much, but that day the savory flavor came before any greasiness; personally, daechang plus soy sauce was the winner of the day.

With wine, whisky, and highballs among the drink choices, it seemed well suited not only to dinner but also to a date or company meal. And Excellent ice cream at the end—the so-called Hermès of ice cream. It was just right for a sweet finish after beef intestines. If I return, I will probably order the Mixed Grill B Set again.