Have you tried Gobchang Gui before?
This summer we have talked about Grilled Eel as well as Lamb Skewers, and now we want to mention something called Gobchang Gui! (곱창구이!)
Gobchang can refer either to the dish itself, or the meat. It is the intestine of cattle and pork, and although it is served in several different ways, we are going to focus on the grilled intestine dish for this post! Gobchang is the word to refer to intestines in general, but when you order it in the restaurant, you are usually ordering Sochang, or small intestines.
The counterpart is daechang (대창) which is the largest intestine, and is thicker and juicer in appearance and flavor. Gobchang is very high in iron and vitamins, and very good for you!
There are many famous restaurants and franchises that sell gobchang gui, and it can all taste different depending on the marinade, and whether it is cooked on a grill or not. There is even a Gobchang Alley in Hongdae (see this google map) but because it is a very unusual meat, we suggest you go somewhere super famous the first time- so you get the best possible experience, and don’t get up disliking it because of a restaurant’s inpexerience!
This is not the normal tripe, and it tastes amazing! However if you go somewhere too cheap, it can be a bite gamey and smelly- so we recommend Obaltan!
Obaltan, the famous recommendation!
Obaltan is a famous and popular food chain in South Korea and serves some of the best gobchang in the world. It tastes delicious, and does not taste gamey at all- which is why once you get addicted to Obaltan’s method of preparing the meat, it can be difficult to go somewhere else!
The gobchang they use here is very fresh and clean, and they charcoal grill it, giving the meat and extra savory flavor and texture. It doesn’t have any unusual scent, and cooks quickly! An added bonus is that there is someone who will always take care of your table and make sure that the meat is cooked properly- so you don’t have to worry about it being undercooked or burnt!
Obaltan comes with a lot of side dishes which you can ask for refills of, so don’t worry if you run out! The cold kimchi soup is rereshing, and the salad helps cut the grease and fat from the meat!
The official website is only available in Korean, but check it out!
Because the official website does not have the addresses in English, we thought we could help our readers by plotting most of the Obaltan restaurants on google map!
Check out our google map here!
Menu
양구이 (tripe) is chewy and with a subtle flavor, rather like calamari!
Daechang is the large intestines, and they cut it up in smaller pieces! They are chewy, fatty pieces of meat and extremely savory in a good way! They taste kind of like bacon with the texture of calamari- which might sound weird, but we highly recommend it!
To those who would like to fill their belly with other food also, Obaltan also has amazing marinated galbi bbq, we recommend you also order a portion of this, just to be safe!
It is tradition in Korea to have rice or noodles at the end of a mea, and they have amazing Soybeanpaste stew (된장찌걔) as well as kimchi fried rice with tripe! The tripe are small, chewy pieces of added texture only, so don’t worry- you can hardly taste it unrderneath the delicious kimchi!
What we also love about obaltan is that they give you dessert- Korean bingsu to end the meal!
So what about trying some amazing barbecue in Korea?
Obaltan is the best!
Photos Courtesy of Perience’s Blog and the official Obaltan Website
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