Where to Eat the Best Galbi-jjim in Pocheon, South Korea : Geumgangsan Maeeun Galbijjim

Pocheon-si, Gyeonggo-do

October 22nd, 2022

  As I explained in the previous post about Sanjeong Lake, Pocheon is famous for galbi. Galbi(rib) is a dream food to many Koreans. It is really irresistible. There are many kinds of galbi and hundreds of ways to cook galbi in Korea.

  Normally Pocheon galbi is beef and it is grilled on a charcoal stove. And it is kind of expensive than other types of galbi in other regions. The day when we traveled to Sanjeong Lake, we had to find a budget friendly place to have lunch and first of all we wanted to find a place whose customers are mostly the locals.

  In the northern Gyeonggi area including Pocheon and my city Paju, there are many army camps, because it is close to North Korea. And around army camps there are many good restaurants for Korean young soldiers who have to manage their lives with small salaries during military service. Moreover to Korean young solders, not only price but also quality of food matters.

  We found that Geumgangsan Maeeun Galbijjim is very popular with soldiers from army camps nearby. When they go out for vacation or return to the camp, they drop by the restaurant. Officers also visit there regularly. Even when solders are visited by family or friends, they take them to this galbi restaurant. So this is a real must-eat place.

  By the way, Geumgangsan is name of the mountain in North Korea and maeeun means spicy.

1. Location of Geumgangsan Maeeun Galbijjim

  It is close to Sanjeong Lake, around 15 minutes drive away. It is not in a crowded tourist spot. In lunch time many cars are parked around this small restaurant though.

2. Features of Geumgangsan Maeeun Galbijjim

  They have only two items on menu, galbi-jjim(12,000 won) and galibi-tang(13,000 won). Jjim is steamed food and tang is kind of soup. Galbi is rib. I can tell galbi-jjim is much more popular than galbi-tang at the restaurant. Most of people were eating galbi-jjim. Their galbi-jjim is made with pork. It is served in a Korean traditional pot, called ttukbaegi, which keeps food hot for long time.

  You can choose one of four grades of spicy from mild, to moderate, spicy, extremely spicy. Even moderate grade is quite spicy much as like Shin Ramyun. So I recommend to have just mild one if you don’t want a challenge.

  There is a free side dish bar for kimchi, cabbage, rice and noodle. You can have them free as much as you want. Put noodle in the pot. It is so delicious. And they also supply sikhye, the sweet Korean rice punch, free.

  

3. Overall Review on Geumgangsan Maeeun Galbijjim

  We ordered two pots of moderate spicy galbi-jjim. It was a little spicy and sweet, and meat was very soft. And the amount was so big for the price. When we left the restaurant, we were so stuffed with galbi, rice and noodle.

  We also got takeout too for dinner. Absolutely we are going to visit Geumgangsan Maeeun Galbijjim again.

  

- Address and Opening Hours of Geumgangsan Maeeun Galbijjim

  The location of Geumgangsan Maeeun Galbijjim is 348 Suip-ro, Ildong-myeon, Pocheon-si, Gyeonggi-do.

  Its opening hours is 9:00 - 20:00. Every Saturday and Sunday they have a break time 15:00 - 16:00. Every Monday is off day.