Omokgyo Station Korean BBQ: jar gochujang bulgogi at Gamgol Yeontanjip

Today I'm sharing my visit to Gamgol Yeontanjip near Omokgyo! Meat really tastes best grilled over charcoal or briquettes, so when I heard there was a charcoal grill specialist nearby, I had to go.

How to find Gamgol Yeontanjip Mokdong, and where to park

Gamgol Yeontanjip is easy to find — exit Omokgyo Station through Exit 2, turn around, and go straight for about a 2-minute walk. If you're driving, you can park in front or behind the restaurant, or use Mokdong Public Parking Lot across the street.

What you get for waiting: perks by the minute

There's a separate waiting ticket machine at the entrance. If the wait gets long, you can get little perks depending on how long you've waited, haha.

• 20 minutes — a drink or draft beer
• 30 minutes — stew or egg custard
• 1 hour — one serving of pork belly

If your wait runs long, be sure to claim these~!

Inside Gamgol Yeontanjip: retro mood and seating

The restaurant has about 15 tables set for four, so it's fine for group visits. From the floral chair covers to the posters on the walls and the menu written on the glass windows, retro vibes were everywhere! It really suits charcoal grilling, haha.

The charcoal fire, plenty hot, is already prepped and waiting for you.

The menu at Gamgol Yeontanjip and what we ordered first

The menu's main draw is charcoal-grilled dishes — gochujang charcoal bulgogi, king-salt pork belly, special cut pork jowl, and kkodeulsal (chewy pork neck meat). There are also grilled snacks like hagfish, pork skin, chicken feet, capelin, and dried filefish, plus meal options like charcoal fried rice, flat bibim noodles, sundubu-jjigae, doenjang-jjigae, and egg custard. Since it was our first visit, we went with the strongly recommended gochujang charcoal bulgogi, aged for 1,440 minutes in a handmade jar.

Banchan and the self-service bar

Even the water — heotgae tea and a Del Monte juice bottle — had a nostalgic feel. It'd been ages since I'd seen a Del Monte bottle, so I was happy to spot it, though surprisingly it turned out to be plastic; it looked so convincing I thought it was glass until I touched it.

They neatly set out special ssamjang, basil sauce, sesame oil dip, pickled peppers, and sweet potato salad.

Lettuce wraps, kimchi, green onion kimchi, and seasoned green onions come as basic banchan, along with pork fat to season the grill pan.

There's also a self-service bar, so you can go grab more of any side dish you're low on — no need to ask, just help yourself as much as you like.

Once the pan is on and the charcoal heat builds up, they rub it down with pork fat to grease it.

Gochujang charcoal bulgogi aged 1,440 minutes, served in a clay jar

The gochujang charcoal bulgogi comes out in individual jars, one per person. The meat is topped with gochujang sauce, said to have been aged in a handmade jar for 1,440 minutes.

Instead of putting the meat straight on the grill, you mix it well first so the sauce coats it evenly, then grill it. There was more sauce than I expected, too.

As soon as the well-mixed meat hit the grill, that gochujang aroma rose right up! The spicy scent was pretty intense, and once it started cooking over the charcoal fire, the sweet-spicy character of gochujang came through even more.

The meat is on the thinner side, so it cooks faster than you'd expect. Since it's coated in gochujang sauce, it can burn quickly, so it's best to keep turning it for even cooking.

Once the meat was nearly done, we grilled some kimchi on top too. If the charcoal fire gets too strong, you can close the vent hole underneath the table!

Hangover sundubu-jjigae (soft tofu stew)

Right as the meat finished cooking, the sundubu-jjigae (soft tofu stew) arrived with perfect timing. It's the style loaded with plenty of crab and clams, so the seafood umami really soaked into the broth. The broth leans spicy, and the earthenware pot is quite large.

And of course, the soft-boiled egg that's essential to sundubu-jjigae! The yolk isn't fully set, so you can stir it lightly into the broth or just scoop it straight up, haha.

While I was enjoying the stew, the meat finished cooking too, so I moved it to the side of the grill and kept eating. I like my bulgogi as thin as possible, and this thickness hit exactly my taste, haha.

Sweet potato salad with lettuce wraps: the surprise pairing

Eaten with the pickled peppers, it's spicy-salty and delicious, and surprisingly, it went really well with the sweet potato salad too! It had a bit of a mashed potato vibe, and the spicy gochujang flavor with the sweet potato salad's sweetness made for a kind of unusual combo.

But still, bulgogi is best eaten wrapped in lettuce~! Put a piece of meat in, add seasoned green onions and garlic, and the spicy sauce pairs beautifully with the sharp green onion salad.

To keep the flow going, they brought out the second jar right away. They also swapped the grill pan for a fresh one midway through, so we could keep grilling without worrying about burnt sauce or meat scraps. Since charcoal bulgogi is sauced meat, the pan burns quickly, so swapping it partway through was a nice touch.

You absolutely need rice with sauced meat like this~ A piece of charcoal bulgogi with some grilled kimchi on top is delicious even without any extra sauce.

Somehow the second batch of meat felt even better grilled, haha.

Charcoal fried rice

By the time we'd almost finished the meat, we ordered the charcoal fried rice too. It's kimchi fried rice shaped like a briquette, topped with cheese, bracken fern, flying fish roe, and a soft-boiled egg!

Just mix all the ingredients together evenly. It's loaded with diced radish kimchi and seasoned just right. The kimchi fried rice itself is on the moist side, which makes it even tastier. It comes out in a pan, so if it cools down, you can set it back on the charcoal to reheat~

Shrimp egg custard

The egg custard had a pudding-like texture with plenty of cocktail shrimp inside. It's lightly drizzled with sesame oil for a nutty flavor, and the texture is even softer than pudding — it just slides right down.

Grilled tulip chicken feet

Honestly, the real reason I ordered the egg custard was the chicken feet, haha. Chicken feet grill on a different pan from the bulgogi, so they swapped the grill and brought it all out together.

The chicken feet portion is pretty generous for a single serving. They're boneless, so there's no need to pick out bones, which is convenient. Turn them with tongs while grilling for even cooking, and they're done faster than you'd think.

Plump chicken feet~

Mayonnaise comes with the chicken feet order. They're not too spicy on their own, and the charcoal aroma gives them a savory, chewy appeal. The portion and flavor are just right as a drinking snack, even when you're already full.

Plum and omija slushie, the palate cleanser to finish on

Gamgol Yeontanjip has a hidden card up its sleeve — the plum and omija (schisandra berry) slushie! Perfect for cleansing your palate after all that meat.

It's more richly plum-flavored and sweeter than it looks, great for clearing your mouth after the meal. Once the slushie's gone, that's another stuffed-to-bursting meal done! With its retro vibe, quality charcoal-grilled meat, and a great variety of side dishes, Gamgol Yeontanjip is well worth a visit near Omokgyo~!