Gayang Station charcoal-grill restaurant, limited kkoldeul-sal: Gamgol

I always saw a crowd at this charcoal-grill place whenever I passed Gayang Station, so I was so curious. Finally made it there this time and brought back a review.

Gamgol Yeontanjip Gayang Station Branch hours and how long you wait at dinner

Gamgol Yeontanjip Gayang Station Branch is open daily from 13:30 to 22:30. I visited around 6pm and there was no wait yet.

But about 30 minutes later, the place was already packed, and by the time we finished eating there was a line. Making a Naver reservation before you go seems like the way to skip the wait!

Inside Gamgol Yeontanjip after the remodel, down to the floral-print spoons

This spot used to be a different pot-lid grill restaurant before Gamgol. The interior's been completely redone and looks so clean now.

Every chair has a floral pattern, and even the spoons and chopsticks match with flowers. Personally, this retro pattern was totally my thing haha.

Side dishes, the self-serve corner and heotgae tea instead of water

The side dishes and individual tableware are super clean too. Potato salad, oil dipping sauce, basil sauce, ssamjang, and more.

Anything you run low on, you can just grab more from the self-serve corner. I loaded up on potato salad, haha 😋

Instead of plain water, they serve heotgae tea (hangover-tree tea), and it was cold and delicious.

What to order first: the two dishes marked "recommended"

For our first order we got juljuli teukmok-sal and seolhwa kkoldeul-sal. I always order the recommended or best menu items, and these two had "recommended" tags, so I gave them a try, haha.

There's a grilling guide for each meat right on the order kiosk next to your table. Each cut had a different method, but it was explained so simply that I could just follow along.

Juljuli teukmok-sal (special pork neck strips)

Starting with the teukmok-sal! The meat was thick. So I grilled it evenly on all four sides and the juices really came pouring out. I normally love pork neck, and thick cuts with lots of juice are exactly my style, so I enjoyed this a lot!!

Seolhwa kkoldeul-sal, the limited-run pork neck cartilage

This one was genuinely delicious. It's called seolhwa kkoldeul-sal, and it turns out it's a limited edition item. It was still available to order even in the evening! True to its name, it was really kkoldeul-kkoldeul (springy-crisp), the texture was great. Different from regular chewy meat, this crisp-tender bite is its own thing... If my stomach had room I would've ordered another round of kkoldeul-sal.

Gochujang charcoal bulgogi, the signature dish

We were starting to feel full, but it said right there that gochujang charcoal bulgogi is Gamgol's signature dish. How could we not order it then? 🫢 When we ordered, the gochujang bulgogi came out in a jar, and you have to mix it with the sauce inside the jar before grilling.

You lay the sauce-mixed meat down all at once, then flip it all together once it looks cooked. (This is shown in a video too, haha.) Sometimes seasoned meat ends up too salty or too sweet, but here the seasoning was just right and delicious. And the texture of the meat was totally my style too... this one also had that great kkoldeul-kkoldeul texture!!

Beolgip kkeopdegi (honeycomb pork skin)

You probably thought we were done, but... we finished with an order of beolgip gyeopdae too, haha. Turns out this place has a ton of side menu items? Yeolmu kimchi noodle soup, doenjang jjigae, diced charcoal fried rice, flat bibim noodles — there were so many things I wanted to try, but with limited stomach space I gave them all up and ordered the tripe instead. I just wanted tripe so badly, ㅠㅠㅠ

The tripe was thick too, so the texture was great. Coat it in injeolmi (rice cake) powder and dip it in sesame oil sauce and it's incredibly nutty and delicious!!

What two people couldn't finish ordering

We ate so much again today, for just the two of us, hahaha. Since we tried so many different meats this time, we didn't get to try the other side dishes, which was a little disappointing. Next time I'll try out more of the side menu items too. If you're looking for a good restaurant near Gayang Station, I recommend Gamgol Yeontanjip Gayang Station Branch! The menu is especially varied, so you can enjoy it however suits your taste ☺️