Late-night galbitang near Hoegi Station: aronsatae at Hoegi Wang

Today I visited Hoegi Wang Galbitang, a galbi tang (short rib soup) spot near Hoegi Station! I've lived in Hoegi for about four years now. Our neighborhood... the transit is really great, there are tons of good restaurants, and there are still plenty of people around late at night, so it's great even when I'm heading home alone late haha. I wanted to write up one of the spots on my Hoegi Station food list — Hoegi Wang Galbitang!

Where Hoegi Wang Galbitang is and when it opens

Hoegi Wang Galbitang is on the 1st floor of 54 Imun-ro, Dongdaemun-gu, Seoul, open daily from 10:30 to 21:00 with last order at 20:20. Parking is also available.

Inside Hoegi Wang Galbitang: group tables and solo seats

Inside, Hoegi Wang Galbitang was really spacious, fitting for a restaurant with full group seating. There were plenty of tables, and solo seats too, so it looks great for eating alone! Can you tell how clean it is?!!!! Even though we visited right before last order, the interior was still spotlessly tidy.

Aside from the basic side dishes, everything else was self-serve!!!

Don't forget the self-serve zone for sides beyond the basics they serve you — definitely try them!!!

They also had boritang gangjeong (barley candy) and misugaru (grain powder drink), perfect for dessert after the meal!

What we ordered: special galbitang and aronsatae galbitang

We ordered the fortifying special galbi tang (₩18,000) and the meat-packed aronsatae galbi tang (₩19,000).

This is the size when an adult man holds it up... honestly the biggest one I've ever seen in my life lol. Some of you might be thinking, if it's that big, won't the meat be tough?! Don't worry about that at all!!!

I just pulled it apart with my mouth and it came off this cleanly!!! I was wondering how it could be this tender... apparently the owner soaks out the blood for 12 hours, parboils for 1 hour, then spends over 6 hours removing fat and massaging the meat, followed by another 2 hours of boiling. You can really feel how much time goes into these ribs just reading about it, right?!!!

Honestly, I've been a regular here eating solo since it first opened haha (it's right in front of my house haha).

I always told my boyfriend we should come together next time, but our schedules never matched so I kept eating alone... he scolded me hard for not bringing him here sooner lol. My boyfriend has expensive tastes — he loves tuna belly, tonkatsu (gabrisal), all the rich stuff — and he was so happy eating this galbi tang because it suited his taste perfectly lol. If you have similar tastes, I definitely recommend visiting!!!

Is Hoegi Wang Galbitang worth it at 18,000–19,000 won?

We're a couple who really love guk-bap (soup with rice) and eat it often! Galbi tang usually runs around ₩20,000, and I think Hoegi Wang Galbitang offers real value on price too. Being cheap doesn't mean it's bad or the meat is tough — the meat was truly tender and delicious! These days I really feel how happy it is to have so many good restaurants near home haha. I plan to eat here until I get sick of it while I still live in Hoegi haha.