Half-and-half naengmyeon at Hongdae Korean BBQ: Gogikkun Gimchunbae

Today I’m sharing my visit to Gogikkun Gimchunbae, a Korean BBQ restaurant famous around Hongdae. The staff grilled every bit of the meat themselves, so we got to eat very comfortably :)”

Finding Gogikkun Gimchunbae on Hongdae Supgil

It is open daily from 12:00 to 23:00. Please refer to the image above for hours and more details :) Hongik University Station, Sogang University Station, and Sinchon Station are all nearby, so it is easy to visit by public transport. If you drive, using a nearby public parking lot is convenient! We parked at a public lot around Hongdae.

It is right along Hongdae Supgil, so the atmosphere was wonderfully charming :) There is a lush green park out front, and with all the windows open, it felt nice and cool. The dining room was almost full, so I could not take photos inside. We visited at dinner, and there were seriously so many people—maybe because it is such a popular Hongdae restaurant!

Ordering the Korean beef and pork set for two, plus half-and-half naengmyeon

As you would expect from a popular Hongdae Korean BBQ spot, the menu is varied. They sell both beef and pork, as well as meal dishes and yukhoe (Korean beef tartare), which would be great with drinks. There are set menus for two, three, and four people too, so a set would be a good value!

• Korean beef/Korean pork set for 2 ₩109,000
• Half-and-half naengmyeon ₩7,000
• Kkakdugi fried rice ₩8,000

There were two of us, but we were so hungry that we went on an ordering spree! They had this interesting thing called half-and-half naengmyeon. They said it comes half mul-naengmyeon and half bibim-naengmyeon, so of course we ordered it right away!!

The banchan (Korean side dishes) included shredded scallions, myeonginamul pickles, pickled onions, and bean sprouts, along with meljeot (fermented anchovy sauce) and other sauces for dipping the meat! That meljeot is the key, so please make sure you try it... so good....

Korean beef and pork grilled by the staff

This is the Korean beef/Korean pork set for two! The Korean beef of the day was salchisal (boneless ribeye cap). I’m a total salchisal killer... I love it so much..! The Korean pork neck and rib meat were also very fresh.

What was so nice was that the staff came back and forth and grilled all the meat, so we could eat comfortably. They cooked it perfectly, but above all, the meat itself was just... so delicious.

My favorite salchisal is so good with a little dip in salt....

Half-and-half naengmyeon with mul and bibim styles

This was my first time seeing naengmyeon served half-and-half.. The owner must really know food. I’m on team mul-naengmyeon, while my boyfriend is on team bibim-naengmyeon, but ordering both would be too much, right? In that case, I recommend this half-and-half naengmyeon! The broth was really good too.

After the beef, they grilled the pork too. They also grilled king oyster mushrooms, enoki mushrooms, and button mushrooms alongside it, and mushrooms cooked in meat fat are such a treat... For some reason the mushrooms were especially delicious that day, so I ate them all haha.

When they grilled the pork, they grilled minari (water parsley) and kimchi with it too. The kimchi was well-aged mukeunji, and it was clean-tasting and such a great match with the meat.

The Korean pork neck was savory, with absolutely no porky smell... yum yum, so good. The pairing with meljeot was honestly insane. Please try the pork dipped in meljeot!

Fried rice with meat and kkakdugi

To finish, kkakdugi fried rice! The fried rice was actually two servings..? It has meat and kkakdugi in it, giving it a nice bite too, so I highly recommend it.

The two of us were already so full after the meat and naengmyeon, but the fried rice was so tasty that we could not stop scooping it up....

There were candies at the counter too, so we made sure to have one! I visited with high expectations because it is known as a great Hongdae restaurant, and the meat and meal dishes were both even better than expected, so I was very satisfied. The atmosphere makes it great for a date, and with lots of tables, I think it would be good for a group work dinner too!