Garak-dong gopchang grill with baby chairs: Midang Hanwoo Gopchang

Today I went to a Gareak-dong favorite — Gareak Market gopchang spot Midang Hanwoo Gopchang.

• Location: 47 Yangjaedae-ro 62-gil, Songpa-gu, Seoul, South Korea
• Hours: 10:00–23:00

Why choose Midang Hanwoo Gopchang with a 10-month-old baby?

Raising a 10-month-old, I'd been craving gopchang so badly. I put it off and off, then finally worked up the courage to go — Midang Hanwoo Gopchang! Honestly there are tons of great gopchang places around here, but out of all of them, this was the one I really wanted to go to.

Compared to other gopchang restaurants, the inside is quieter and they even have baby chairs — and yet the gopchang itself is genuinely top-tier. Plus the portions are way bigger than anywhere else.

Midang Hanwoo Gopchang menu and gopchang straight from Garak Market

This is the menu at Midang Hanwoo Gopchang, the Gareak Market gopchang favorite in Gareak-dong. Last time I visited, the portion was so huge I ended up leaving a ton of it uneaten. Unlike other gopchang restaurants, Midang gets its gopchang straight from the wholesale market, through routes that are apparently far more verified and reliable.

Maybe that's why the gopchang is packed with gop (fat) but also comes in a portion incomparably bigger than anywhere else. It's so much that you could fill up on gopchang alone. The house-made special sauce, true to a Gareak Market favorite, pairs with the gopchang in a way nothing else can match!

Side dishes, kimchi and the free beef tripe

The side dishes are genuinely delicious too. Each one feels made with real care, and they go well with the gopchang — pick at them a few times while the gopchang cooks and they're gone in no time.

Surprisingly, the kimchi is so good I started wondering if this is a gopchang place or a kimchi place!?

They also give you cheonyeop (beef tripe) on the house. We're not great at eating cheonyeop, but the chewy, nutty flavor was outstanding. This is what people mean by a clean, mild taste!?

Two servings of gopchang — is this really just 2 portions?

Gopchang, 2 servings

We started off ordering 2 servings of gopchang. Last time we didn't know any better and ordered 3 servings — way too much, and we had to leave a bunch of perfectly good gopchang behind, ugh. Sure enough, true to its reputation as the Gareak-dong favorite, Gareak Market gopchang spot Midang Hanwoo Gopchang, the portion is huge.

There are five long skewers of gopchang in total. Not only is the gopchang itself generous, but the sides that are great for grilling alongside it — like tteok (rice cakes) and potato — are plentiful too, making for a genuinely filling meal.

They even piled on plenty of complimentary yeomtong (beef heart), so once again, even ordering gopchang alone is enough to make you stuffed. Watching the gopchang sizzle away on the thick griddle, you could just tell it was going to be delicious.

Meanwhile the yeomtong cooked quickly, so we didn't have to sit hungry for long before the meal actually got going.

Even dipped simply in salt-and-oil sauce, it's nutty and delicious — the complimentary yeomtong at Gareak-dong favorite, Gareak Market gopchang spot Midang Hanwoo Gopchang!!

How does the grilled gopchang taste once it is fully cooked?

While we were eating the yeomtong, the gopchang finished cooking too. Sadly we didn't get to have a shot of soju with it, but even the gopchang alone was incredibly good.

That rich, crispy flavor is out of this world. Honestly the kind of special taste where the two of you could eat it and not even notice if the world ended.

Can you see the texture of the gopchang?? Much cleaner-tasting and packed with more gop (fat) than other gopchang places — this is the grilled gopchang at Gareak-dong favorite, Gareak Market gopchang spot Midang Hanwoo Gopchang.

Normally I mix in some daechang (large intestine) too, but whenever I come to Gareak-dong favorite Gareak Market gopchang spot Midang Hanwoo Gopchang, it's all gopchang, all in!! The gopchang here is just really that good haha. If you love gopchang!! Definitely make a trip to Songpa's Midang Hanwoo Gopchang, famous as a Gareak Market favorite for great gopchang~~ You really won't regret it!!