Gongdeok izakaya 9-skewer yakitori course: Yakitori Shomong Mapo

What kind of place is Yakitori Shomong Mapo Station Branch in Gongdeok?

Yakitori Shomong Mapo Station Branch is a yakitori course izakaya at 26 Dohwa-gil, 1st floor, Mapo-gu, Seoul. This time my girlfriend and I were on a dinner date around Gongdeok and Mapo and ended up having a slightly different kind of Japanese food.

I already like yakitori in general, but here you don't just order skewers individually — there's a yakitori course where you can taste various chicken parts one after another. Since we'd made the trip, we figured we'd go all in and ordered the 9-skewer yakitori course for ₩36,800.

We got to try nine parts one by one, from familiar ones like tenderloin to parts you don't usually order separately, like gizzard, breast cartilage, and knee cartilage. Bottom line: it felt quite different from just eating nine chicken skewers to fill up. Since they came out one at a time in order, my girlfriend and I had fun talking about which part was the tastiest as we went haha.

Yakitori Shomong Mapo Station Branch is close to Mapo Station and also reasonably accessible from Gongdeok, so it's a good place to look up together when searching for a Gongdeok izakaya or a Mapo Station bar.

Inside Yakitori Shomong: the mood and the seating

Once inside, the overall vibe is calm and wood-toned. There's a spot where you can watch the yakitori being grilled, which gave it a slight feel of a real Japanese izakaya. Most of all, I liked that it was a good atmosphere for slowly chatting with my girlfriend over dinner.

If you look up Gongdeok restaurant Japanese food options, sushi, tonkatsu, and ramen come up a lot, but eating yakitori with a drink on the side, like we did that day, was a pretty good choice too.

The 36,800 won nine-skewer course, in the order it arrives

At Yakitori Shomong you can choose a 3-, 6-, or 9-skewer course, and we ordered the widest option, the 9-skewer course. The order that day was: tenderloin → negima → tsukune → heart → wing → shoulder meat → gizzard → breast cartilage → knee cartilage, nine in total.

What I especially liked was that the skewers didn't all come out at once. Since each one was grilled and served individually, we could eat it right while it was hot, and the pace naturally slowed down. So let's go through them one by one in the order of the photos.

1. Tenderloin

First up was tenderloin. In the photo, you can clearly see the meat is paler than the other skewers. I thought chicken tenderloin might be a bit dry, but it turned out much juicier than I expected.

The outside had a light char mark, and the inside felt tender. The seasoning wasn't too strong even on the first skewer, so it was a light, clean way to start the course. Grilling technique really matters with yakitori, and since the first item came out juicy, I got excited for what was coming next.

2. Negima (chicken and scallion)

Second was negima. Chicken with green onion in between — you can spot it from the photo alone haha. This combo is basically foolproof.

Eating the juicy chicken together with the charred green onion brings out that distinct sweetness of the green onion, and the smoky flavor from the slightly charred parts paired really well with the chicken. It's one of the more familiar flavors among the nine, so it's an easy skewer even for first-time yakitori eaters.

3. Tsukune (chicken meatball)

Third was tsukune (chicken meatball). Its presence is obvious just from the photo.

It came with an egg alongside the elongated grilled chicken meatball, so I broke the yolk and dipped the tsukune generously into it.

It's hard for this combo to taste bad lol. The tsukune itself, grilled over charcoal, had a richly seared outside and a juicy inside, and adding the egg brought out a nutty, smooth flavor. Compared to the first two skewers, the flavor got a bit richer, so the flow of the course felt good. Personally, this was one of the tastiest and most memorable of the nine.

4. Heart

Fourth was heart. The texture changes dramatically from here. One bite and you immediately get that springy, chewy feel.

While the tenderloin and negima before it were on the juicy, soft side, the heart had a distinctly chewy bite. It was fun how the texture shifted with each new part. If you're having a drink at a Gongdeok izakaya, I feel like this part would go really well as a side dish for drinking.

5. Wing

Fifth was wing. In the photo you can see its flat shape and golden-brown grilled surface. Of course, the appeal of wing is eating the skin together with the juicy meat.

The outside gets nutty from the charcoal grilling while the inside still holds its juices, giving a completely different feel from the heart before it. It seems like chicken parts with a bit of fat really come alive when they hit the charcoal. Personally, this was a skewer that's hard to dislike.

6. Shoulder

Sixth was shoulder meat. I don't think I've ever eaten chicken shoulder meat as its own separate item before. Ordering the yakitori course means you end up tasting parts like this one by one.

It had a moderately springy texture along with a nice nutty flavor. Even though it's the same chicken, the taste and texture change with every part, and I started to understand why people eat yakitori as a course. If you're looking for something a bit different among Gongdeok Station restaurant Japanese food options, this kind of yakitori course could be a pretty fun choice.

7. Gizzard

Seventh was gizzard — basically what we commonly know as chicken gizzard. In the photo you can clearly see the round pieces threaded on the skewer.

True to form, it was crunchy and springy when I bit into it. In terms of pure texture, this was the most distinct of all the skewers so far. I personally like this kind of springy texture, so I enjoyed it a lot. Adding a little of the shichimi (Japanese chili pepper blend) next to it gave it some spiciness too, making it a perfect drinking snack.

8. Breast cartilage

From the eighth skewer on, it really starts feeling like specialty parts. This one was breast cartilage. Where the gizzard was springy, the breast cartilage's key feature was a crunchy bite, just as the name suggests.

Biting through cartilage in between the meat gave it a totally different appeal from the softer skewers. If you like textured parts like cartilage or gristle, this one would probably suit you well. I rarely eat breast cartilage on its own when having chicken normally, so getting to experience it here made me glad I'd ordered the 9-skewer course.

9. Knee cartilage

And the last, ninth skewer was knee cartilage. Even at the very end, they kept the textured parts coming. Like the breast cartilage, it had that crunchy bite, but eating it together with the meat attached around it gave a subtly different feeling. From the nicely browned parts, a faint charcoal aroma also rose up.

After eating from the first tenderloin all the way to the last knee cartilage, I realized just how much variety of flavor and texture a single chicken can offer. It felt less like eating nine chicken skewers to fill up and more like experiencing each part one at a time.

How Yakitori Shomong works as a Gongdeok dinner date

Yakitori Shomong Mapo Station Branch was a good choice, personally, for a dinner date with my girlfriend. Since the nine skewers came out one after another, we could eat much more leisurely than if all the food had been laid out at once for a quick meal.

Each time a new skewer arrived, we'd chat — 'this one's totally different from the last one,' 'I like this one best,' 'wait, which number was this one again lol' — which was part of the fun. It's a good spot for a date, easing into a mellow atmosphere while eating yakitori one by one with a drink, so it should suit people looking for a Gongdeok izakaya to take a date.

3, 6, or 9 skewers — which course should you order?

Having actually eaten the 9-skewer course at Yakitori Shomong Mapo Station Branch, I'd recommend the 3- or 6-skewer course if you're stopping in for a second round and just want a light drinking snack, and the 9-skewer course if you're coming for dinner and want to experience a wide range of yakitori like we did.

Especially on a first visit, it's fun to go through the full 9-skewer course and figure out which part is your favorite. My girlfriend and I each picked our favorite skewer as we ate, and honestly, isn't that part of the fun of eating a course, haha.

On a day when you want something different from sushi, ramen, or tonkatsu for Gongdeok restaurant Japanese food, or you want a relaxed dinner date at a good-atmosphere Gongdeok izakaya, enjoying nine yakitori skewers one by one at Yakitori Shomong Mapo Station Branch is a solid choice for Gongdeok Station restaurant Japanese food.