Gamcho Sikdang: Briquette-Grilled Pork Ribs in Jegi-dong
I went out to Cheongnyangni to meet a friend, and for once, he insisted we absolutely had to visit a restaurant he found. He tends to exaggerate, and I thought a 15-minute walk from the station was a bit much. It didn't make sense to walk all the way from Cheongnyangni Station when it's much closer to Jegi-dong Station... Still scratching my head, I followed him to Gamcho Sikdang.
If I had to define the vibe of Jegi-dong (a neighborhood in Seoul) in one word, it would be "market floor." With three massive markets clustered together, the roads are chaotic and the sidewalks are far from clean. Gamcho Sikdang is tucked away on one side of this bustling market area. The route is a bit complicated, but once you get close, the sweet smell of meat and the blazing flames of the charcoal briquettes make it easy to find.
The moment you walk in, the words "small, old shop" immediately come to mind. It's a true 1980s-style restaurant that evokes the trendy retro vibe. When you look at the menu to order, you're in for a shock. While many pork rib joints charge 15,000 KRW for 250g, here it's 12,000 KRW for 300g. You have to order a minimum of two portions, which means you're getting 600g, or one geun (a traditional Korean unit of weight). (Note that this includes the bone, so technically it's not a full geun of pure meat.) Even if they were pulling the modern restaurant trick of serving less than the stated weight (not saying this place does, just to be clear), it's still undeniably cheap. Are they using older domestic meat? Do they raise their own pigs? While I was busy marveling and wondering how this price was possible, the side dishes were promptly set on the table.
I don't usually like siraegi (dried radish greens), but the soup was pretty good, and they gave us a generous pile of lettuce—which is so expensive right now people call it "gold lettuce." We were both excitedly wondering, "What kind of place is this?" when the meat quickly arrived.
It is incredibly delicious. People say you shouldn't eat food grilled over charcoal briquettes because of carcinogens, but it really is so good. The universal truth that unhealthy things taste amazing holds up once again. It was so tasty that I was putting two or three pieces of meat into a single lettuce wrap, and that massive pile of pork disappeared in a flash. Some pork rib restaurants use overly sweet sauces to make the meat sweet, but I didn't get that vibe here. It's just pure fire flavor. A nutty, sweet, briquette-grilled taste. Just like how I always think of Seochon Gyedanjip for seafood, this will be my go-to spot for pork ribs.
