Sunday dinner gopchang and dongchimi noodles: Omokgyo Gopchang

Today we're trying Omokgyo Gopchang, om nyom nyom

You know those days when you just suddenly crave gopchang (grilled beef intestine)! One of those days hit us, so we dashed over to the most famous gopchang spot in Mokdong, Omokgyo Gopchang.

Location and waiting at Omokgyo Gopchang Mokdong Main Branch

📍Location | 1F, 226-13 Mokdongdong-ro, Yangcheon-gu, Seoul (3-minute walk from Omokgyo Station Exit 1)

🕖Hours | Mon-Fri 16:00-22:40, Sat-Sun 12:10-22:40

🅿️ Parking | Not available, use Mokdong Public Parking Lot or E-mart Mokdong Parking Lot, 7 minutes on foot

On weekdays they're only open evenings, but on weekends it's lunch and dinner both!

It's tucked into an alley behind Omokgyo Station Exit 1

The sign is huge, haha

Right next to it there's an enormous TV-sized screen playing gopchang footage… your eyes get hijacked by gopchang before you even walk in 🤭

We came on a Sunday evening and there was 1 party waiting ahead of us. On weekday evenings or Saturdays the wait gets long, so there's a wait-time reward event

• 20+ minutes: a free drink
• 40+ minutes: 1 bottle of soju/beer
• 1+ hour: 1 bottle of red wine

Near the entrance there are toothpicks and hair ties ready to go. Your hair kind of bugs you while eating gopchang, and since Hodu has long hair they grabbed one for her haha. Little touches like this already raised our expectations

After a short wait it was our turn to go in, and even with around 64 seats — a pretty spacious interior — it was completely full! Lots of tables and group seating too, so it looked like a great spot for work dinners or gatherings

The signature is garlic gopchang and green onion kimchi

Hodu kept saying this was the reason she wanted to come here. Garlic gopchang and green onion kimchi made from a mother's recipe passed down for a full 30 years

Sure enough, looking at the menu, garlic gopchang and green onion kimchi are the main stars! Garlic gopchang — gopchang stuffed with garlic — eaten together with the house-made green onion kimchi is apparently Omokgyo Gopchang's signature combo :)

We wanted to try a bit of everything so we ordered the mixed gopchang platter. Garlic gopchang is included in the mixed platter!

Green onion kimchi, chive salad, side salad, and even sundubu-jjigae (soft tofu stew) all come as included sides. It was spicier and tastier than expected, so we kept spooning it up even before the gopchang arrived haha

Staff grill the mixed gopchang platter for you

The star of the show, the mixed gopchang platter! It comes with several different parts to try at once — gopchang, daechang (large intestine), makchang (abomasum), and more. Staff grill it right at your table, complete with a fire show partway through 🔥

Not sure if it was the gopchang or our hunger that was really blazing 🥹

They grilled everything to just the right doneness, so we just sat back and ate whatever finished cooking first

First up, a bite of the beef heart! Chewy yet clean-tasting, and it goes so well with the sesame oil dip

And then the signature garlic gopchang!! Look closely and you can see garlic tucked right inside the gopchang. I've seen whole garlic grilled on the side plenty of times, but having it stuffed inside the gopchang itself was new to me, haha

The gopchang itself is savory and chewy, and biting into the garlic inside adds a subtle garlicky aroma. If you're a garlic-loving Korean, it's hard not to love this combo, haha

Personally I recommend definitely eating it with the green onion kimchi! Eating gopchang non-stop can get a little heavy, but the cool, tangy flavor of the green onion kimchi comes in and completely resets your palate

One bite of garlic gopchang topped with green onion kimchi, then a bite of daechang… and eventually we couldn't hold back and got a bottle of Jinro. Honestly, gopchang without soju should be illegal, lol

Rinse the greasy mouthfeel with soju and you can eat gopchang forever~

Finishing with dongchimi noodles instead of fried rice

As we worked through gopchang and soju, right around the time something cool started sounding good, we ordered dongchimi noodles (chilled radish water kimchi noodles) to finish

Right when soju starts hitting its limit against the greasiness, one slurping sip of this and—

Everyone, you absolutely have to order the dongchimi noodles. The broth is insane!!

It practically swaps out your greasy mouth and throat for brand new ones. Everything got washed away so thoroughly we nearly ordered more gopchang. I always thought fried rice was the standard gopchang-restaurant finale, but here, eating your fill of garlic gopchang and green onion kimchi and then finishing with dongchimi noodles worked really well too

Summing up Omokgyo Gopchang Mokdong Main Branch

True to a place that's been established near Omokgyo for so long, Omokgyo Gopchang Mokdong Main Branch was genuinely packed even on a Sunday evening. In particular, the garlic gopchang stuffed with actual garlic plus the house-made green onion kimchi combo was this place's clear, defining point!

Having staff grill the gopchang for us made things easy, and the whole lineup — from the included sundubu-jjigae to the finishing dongchimi noodles — was well-suited to eating alongside gopchang. If you're ever near Omokgyo craving gopchang with a glass of soju, this place is worth a visit