Gwangju soup restaurant with rice-noodle gogi-guksu: Gaeryeong Gukbap

Gukbap inside Gwangju Songjeong Station

Gaeryeong Gukbap (개령국밥) is a good Gwangju Songjeong Station spot to pop into when you are looking for a quick meal inside the station. Since I was visiting Gwangju for the first time in a while, I really wanted pork gukbap, and I stopped by after going nearby to pick up my Socar.

Gaeryeong Village, Byeollyang-myeon, Suncheon With the spirit of sharing with the whole village on feast days

Gaeryeong Gukbap is easy to find: turn left from Entrance 1 inside Gwangju Songjeong Station and it is right there. The location is really convenient for a meal before boarding or after arriving. Maybe that is why so many of the customers looked like they had stopped in on their way to catch a train.

The restaurant itself is on the compact side, but there are more seats than I expected, and turnover seemed fairly quick, so it looked fine even at mealtime. There are also separate seats for people dining alone, so it does not feel awkward to eat solo either!!

Gaeryeong Gukbap menu and self-service side dishes

The menu consists of pork gukbap (pork soup with rice), clear pork gomtang (beef-style clear soup made with pork), gogi-guksu (meat noodle soup), and bossam suyuk (boiled pork). For pork gukbap, you can choose rice mixed into the soup through toryeom, or have the rice served separately. Keep in mind that choosing the bossam set for the gogi-guksu and boiled pork works out a little cheaper!!

For the basic side dishes, you can simply take as much as you need from the self-service corner.

They had just the neat, simple side dishes that go well with gukbap or noodles: napa cabbage kimchi, kkakdugi cubed radish kimchi, chives, and salted shrimp.

What we ordered

Gogi-guksu made with rice noodles

The gogi-guksu came with plenty of meat and noodles in a milky-white broth. The meat was mostly tender lean cuts, so it was easy to eat without feeling heavy. What was especially interesting was that they use rice noodles rather than ordinary noodle strands...!! At first, rice noodles at a gukbap restaurant felt a little unfamiliar, but after trying them, they actually went subtly well with the pale broth. It felt a bit like pho plus gogi-guksu, done Korean-style...?

At first, I assumed the plain-looking white broth would be mild, but eating the meat and noodles together was more filling than expected. Maybe because they were rice noodles, the texture was a little different from regular somyeon thin wheat noodles, and they soaked up the broth well, so I kept reaching for more. Adding lots of chives gave it another layer of aroma, and it was delicious.

And I think the broth is the same for the gogi-guksu and pork gukbap. Once I seasoned the white broth with chives and salted shrimp, the flavor of the soup really came alive.

Pork gukbap with rice served separately and bossam set boiled pork

If you are looking for gukbap near Gwangju Songjeong Station, you cannot leave out pork gukbap, of course. I ordered the rice separately, so at first I tried the broth and meat on their own; then, after eating some, I mixed in the rice, and it felt completely different. Have it with chives and salted shrimp, then mix in the rice, and you have a truly filling bowl.

The pork gukbap did not have a strong porky smell, and the broth was fairly clean, so it was easy to enjoy without feeling heavy. There was a decent amount of meat too, making it just right as a meal with rice. I usually do not season gukbap much at first, but after a few spoonfuls, adding chives and salted shrimp definitely suited my taste better.

The boiled pork in the bossam set was good too. It had a balanced mix of lean meat and fat, so it was not dry and had a soft, tender texture. The shredded dried radish that came with it paired nicely with the pork.

A hearty meal before your train

From gukbap and gogi-guksu to boiled pork, Gaeryeong Gukbap was a solid choice for a hearty meal near Gwangju Songjeong Station!! I especially liked that it is inside the station, making it easy to get around, and that it has separate solo-dining seats. More than anything, being inside Gwangju Songjeong Station was the most convenient part. When traveling, finding somewhere to eat while keeping an eye on train time can be surprisingly stressful. Here, though, you can go straight there without traveling far from the station, which was great. The route is convenient even if, like me, you came to pick up a car before eating, and it also seems like a good option for anyone catching a train right from Gwangju Songjeong Station. If you have an awkward bit of time before boarding, or want a hearty meal at Gwangju Songjeong Station, it is a nice gukbap spot to stop by :)