Daejeon gopchang restaurant with outdoor tables: Uhwa Gopchang

A gopchang restaurant with outdoor tables in Dunsan-dong

Today, I was craving rich, fatty gopchang and daechang, so I headed to Uhwa Gopchang in Dunsan-dong, where outdoor tables are available.

Uhwa Gopchang location and parking

Uhwa Gopchang is in Dunsan-dong’s dining alley, directly across from the main gate of Hyangchon Hyundai Apartments.

• About a 3-minute walk from the Galleria Timeworld bus stop by public transit
• About a 3-minute walk from the Dunsan Girls’ High School bus stop by public transit
• Two hours of free underground parking in the building when arriving by car

Uhwa Gopchang is one of the few good places for outdoor dining in Dunsan-dong near Galleria. We visited while it was still hot and ate indoors, but now that the weather is cooler, outdoor dining should be possible. They set tables out in the space in front of the restaurant.

The restaurant is a little small, with around eight square tables. We arrived around 6:30 p.m. on a Monday after work, and it was full except for one table. Full at 6:30 on a weekday—on a Monday, even! There will probably be a wait on weekends or at peak time, so making a reservation in advance might be a good idea.

Ordering the Uhwa assorted platter and beef gopchang

• Grilled items: Uhwa assorted platter ₩23,000 per person, beef gopchang ₩21,000, beef makchang ₩19,000, beef daechang ₩19,000, beef heart ₩12,000, beef brisket ₩12,000
• Hot pot: gopchang hot pot ₩42,000
• Sides: flying-fish-roe fried rice ₩5,000, yukgaejang jjolmyeon ₩12,000, doenjang stew in an earthenware pot ₩8,000, cold kimchi somyeon ₩5,000, mul naengmyeon ₩5,000, ramen ₩5,000

There were two of us, so we ordered one serving of the Uhwa assorted platter and added one serving of gopchang. And soju, which you simply can’t leave out with gopchang, too!!

The basic spread starts with liver and cheonyeop

The basic spread includes liver, cheonyeop (raw beef tripe), seaweed soup, tteokbokki, pickled perilla leaves, green-onion kimchi, pickled onions, sauces, and more. They receive cattle slaughtered that day, which is why liver and cheonyeop are served. I can’t eat liver, so I passed, but the cheonyeop was pleasantly chewy and tasty dipped in sesame oil. Spicy-sweet tteokbokki and hot seaweed soup as basic sides—what a treat. They made good light drinking snacks before the gopchang arrived.

Gopchang full of filling and nutty daechang

One serving of the Uhwa assorted platter (₩23,000) and one serving of gopchang (₩21,000). Par-cooked gopchang, daechang, makchang, brisket, and heart are served together. Along with the meat, there are potatoes, rice cakes, bean sprouts, kimchi, chives, and more, which are nice to eat alongside it.

The staff grill everything, so all we had to do was eat the perfectly cooked meat. Start with the heart and brisket, which get tough if cooked too long, then have the gopchang and makchang, and finish with the daechang. The gopchang was packed with filling and deliciously rich, while the daechang was grilled with just enough fat rendered out, making it wonderfully nutty. My friend didn’t eat daechang, so I got to have it all—making me even happier. When it starts to feel a little rich, eat some green-onion kimchi and you can get right back into it.

Finishing with flying-fish-roe fried rice

Flying-fish-roe fried rice (₩5,000). For the final finish, it was savory, salty fried rice bursting with umami!! We were already stuffed, but who can resist carbs? We scraped it all up and finished it properly.

The gopchang was full of filling, the daechang was deliciously nutty, and it was easy to enjoy because the staff grilled everything themselves. If you’re looking for a Dunsan-dong spot with outdoor tables, I recommend it for gopchang and a shot of soju on a nice day.