Lamb chop restaurant near Balsan Station: tomato egg soup, Hwarodam

My husband and I decided to eat out after he finished work, so we headed to Hwarodam Yang Kkochi, a lamb skewer restaurant near his office in Magok. It's new but already rising as a hot spot in Magok, and I realized it had been over six months since I last had lamb skewers...? Maybe because it had been a while, I was completely satisfied.

Where is Hwarodam Yang Kkochi Magok, and when is it open?

It's located at 66 Magok-jungang 6-ro, Queens Park10 2F 207-209, Gangseo-gu, Seoul, South Korea. Open Mon-Fri 11:30-22:50, Sat 14:00-22:50, closed every Sunday. In-building parking is available.

Wow... can you see how many reservations there were, and it's a Monday? If it's this busy even on a weekday, it must be a genuine local favorite. I guess great places really don't care what day it is. If you're coming as a group, I'd recommend booking ahead!

Pre-grilled lamb skewers and Hwarodam's spacious dining room

Right when you walk in, there's a charcoal oven where they pre-grill the skewers. If it started from raw meat, the wait would be pretty long, right? They just put it on the grill and finish browning it a little more — done!!

You can also see the aging fridge for the skewers and chops. Aged meat plus pre-grilling... how could that combination not be delicious?

The inside turned out to be much bigger than I expected! The tables aren't crammed together — they're generously spaced, so it doesn't feel cramped at all. Plus there's a separate room, great for family dinners, staff dinners, and gatherings. I guess that explains all the reservations even on a Monday...!

We were seated in a corner spot, so we could eat quietly. Beyond the taste, having such a spacious layout made the whole meal so comfortable.

Hwarodam's signature dishes and lunch sets

• Lamb chop (French rack) ₩36,000
• Lamb chop (shoulder rack) ₩26,000
• Lamb loin skewers ₩23,000 / Lamb rib skewers ₩18,000
• Thick-cut lamb skewers ₩18,000

Looking through the menu, I was kind of surprised to find they have a separate lunch set menu!! Honestly, I'd never thought of lamb skewers as a lunch option before, but a lunch set might actually be pretty great...? It's not just skewers — there's also crispy sweet-and-sour pork (kkwabaegi... I mean kkwabaerou) and fried rice, so it seems great to share with coworkers. Living the lamb-skewers-in-the-daytime life... probably happier than it sounds.

How were the lamb chops and the dipping sauces?

The basic side dishes were white kimchi, gungchae, spicy radish salad, cumin, cheongyang chili soy sauce, and a chive-flower sauce. At first I thought it was wasabi, but the staff explained it was chive-flower sauce. The name alone was unfamiliar, and it wasn't something I was used to, but paired with the lamb skewers it had a totally different charm from cumin!

Still, the basic cheongyang sauce was the one I loved the most. When the meat started to feel a bit greasy, dipping it in that sauce was the perfect match. It kind of cut through the fattiness? A combination you could go through endlessly haha. There was even fun in choosing between the sauces.

And the staff grilled the lamb chops for us themselves. Honestly, I'd had lamb chops in Sapporo before and didn't like them, so I'd avoided lamb ever since — but here, maybe because it's young lamb, there was almost no gamey smell, and it was way better than I expected! There was still that distinct lamb flavor, but without the off-putting funk, so I could eat it without any hesitation. I looked it up, and apparently the younger the lamb, the milder the aroma and the more tender the meat. I think even people just starting out with lamb could enjoy this without any worries, like I did.

I ate it up happily too -!

What I especially liked was that the skewers also come pre-grilled! No need to put raw meat on and wait forever — you just put the pre-grilled skewers on the grill and finish them off a bit more, which made eating so much easier.

Watching the skewers spin around and slowly turn golden brown made me weirdly happy lol

Dinner at Hwarodam with tomato egg soup on the side

As a side dish, we also got tomato egg soup 🍅🥚. Eating skewers made us crave something warm and soupy, so we ordered it as a side. The egg was softly scrambled, and combined with the tangy-sweet tomato flavor, it went surprisingly well with the lamb skewers! The tomato's freshness kept cutting through the richness of the meat, making it perfect to spoon up between bites.

And my husband insisted lamb skewers can't be complete without it, so he ordered a bottle of Yantai gaoliang liquor too! 🍶 He's the one who finished the whole bottle himself...^^;

Overall, since the lamb is aged and refrigerated, what I care about most — no gamey smell — was totally satisfied here, and the meat was clean and tender. I think even people who've hesitated because of lamb's distinct smell could enjoy it here without much worry. Next time, I'd love to try the lunch set too :)