Seomyeon galbi restaurant with wasabi baek-kimchi wraps: Gilchon

I was in Busan and it had been a while since I'd had pork ribs, so I went to Gilchon Sutbul Galbi Seomyeon Main Branch. When it comes to pork ribs, the biggest question is always marinated or plain, right? Haha. There are a lot of BBQ places in Seomyeon, but I'd been craving pork ribs and looked around until I found this one, which people said was good.

Where is Gilchon Sutbul Galbi Seomyeon Main Branch, and what are its hours?

Gilchon Sutbul Galbi Seomyeon Main Branch is on the 1st floor of 24 Dongcheon-ro 107beon-gil, Busanjin-gu, Busan, a 2-minute walk from Seomyeon Station and a 9-minute walk from Jeonpo Station. It's open Mon–Fri 16:00–23:30 and Sat–Sun 12:00–23:30. There's no parking support, so you'll need to use a nearby paid lot such as Lucky Parking or Lodgy Life Parking.

• Address: 24 Dongcheon-ro 107beon-gil, 1st floor, Busanjin-gu, Busan, South Korea
• 2-minute walk from Seomyeon Station, 9-minute walk from Jeonpo Station
• Parking: not supported (nearby paid lots: Lucky Parking, Lodgy Life Parking)
• Hours: Mon–Fri 16:00–23:30 / Sat, Sun 12:00–23:30
• Group seating available, reservations possible, Wi-Fi, separate men's/women's restrooms, high chairs, wheelchair-accessible entrance, corkage allowed (free)

From Seomyeon Station Exit 8, walk straight toward NC Department Store on the Jeonpo Station side, turn left at Top Class Eyewear, keep going straight, and it's at the start of the alley to the right of the lotto shop right in front of you. It's visible the moment you turn the corner, so it wasn't hard to find.

What are the seating and cleanliness like inside Gilchon?

Inside Gilchon Sutbul Galbi Seomyeon Main Branch, the seating is mostly 4-person tables, with an interior mixing wood tones and marble. They give out disposable aprons, and for a BBQ restaurant, the grease was surprisingly well managed — it felt clean.

Even though I came early, a lot of the other tables were already full, so I mostly photographed the empty seats. It's usually 4-person tables. I wondered whether wood tones and marble would actually go together, but it was surprisingly upscale and worked well haha. The disposable aprons also showed they cared about hygiene. BBQ places tend to be greasy and hard to keep clean, so having a genuinely clean pork rib restaurant like Gilchon Sutbul Galbi was even more satisfying.

You order via kiosk, and we ordered one platter of marinated pork ribs, steamed egg, doenjang stew (soybean paste stew), and draft beer. The marinated pork rib platter is 500g for a reasonable ₩29,500, so it's easy to order without hesitation, and they also sell draft beer in small 300cc glasses, which I loved lol. At ₩1,900 for 300cc, it's perfect for having just one glass.

The 500g marinated pork rib platter and the side dishes

The marinated pork rib platter at Gilchon Sutbul Galbi Seomyeon Main Branch is 500g for ₩29,500, and the portion was genuinely huge. The basic side dishes are garlic pickles, potato salad, spicy radish salad, lettuce wraps, and scallion salad, plus they give you cheongyang chili peppers too.

The basic side dishes come out really neatly arranged — garlic pickles, potato salad, spicy radish salad, lettuce wraps, and scallion salad are all set. And the touch of giving cheongyang chili peppers too was such a nice detail.

Apparently the best way to eat the marinated ribs is to top baek-kimchi (white kimchi) with myeong-i wasabi (wild garlic wasabi) and eat it together with the meat made from their secret marinade — it's supposed to be delicious that way. They also recommend a side menu of grilled toast and cheddar cheese, topping it with marinated ribs and potato salad, then dipping it in mala cream sauce. I didn't order the grilled toast and cheddar cheese this time, but I'm definitely trying it next time.

Since it's a 330ml-sized beer, there's no pressure, so we did a cheers before the meat even arrived lol.

After a short wait, the marinated rib platter arrived, and I was surprised by how huge the portion was haha.

Charcoal grilling and how often the grill plate is changed

Gilchon Sutbul Galbi Seomyeon Main Branch grills over charcoal, and the grill plate gets swapped out whenever you ask. You can also adjust the flame size, so I could grill the marinated ribs without burning them.

Meat really does taste best over charcoal. And since they swap the grill plate whenever you ask, it was so convenient!

I wasn't sure a rib restaurant would even give out lettuce wraps, but they did, and eating the meat with fresh greens doubled the flavor. The meat was fully soaked in marinade and the juiciness was no joke lol.

How were the steamed egg and the doenjang stew?

The steamed egg we ordered alongside at Gilchon Sutbul Galbi Seomyeon Main Branch was the plain, fluffy style with nothing added, and the doenjang stew had big chunks of tofu with a rich broth. Adding these two to the marinated rib platter makes for a pretty hearty spread.

The steamed egg was exactly the plain kind I like with nothing mixed in, so it was easy to enjoy — that fluffy steamed egg you can only get at BBQ restaurants.

The doenjang stew also had me wondering if this was really the right price — it had big chunks of tofu and the broth was fantastic.

Marinated ribs tend to burn quickly if you grill them too long, but since you can adjust the flame here, I could eat without worrying about burning. It had been a while since I'd eaten out, and I ate so well that it made for a great day. If you're looking for a clean, tasty, generous-portion pork rib restaurant with great side dishes, I recommend this Seomyeon favorite, Gilchon Sutbul Galbi.