Seoul Go Gi Jib (Seoul Meat House) - A Surprise Find Right Behind Our Hotel @ Seoul [Korea]

My lack of understanding for the language means many of the striking signboards with Korean characters failed to attract my attention when i first explored the area outside my hotel.

But the stomach was growling and severely in need of nourishment. We walked past the restaurant a second time and caught one of the kitchen staff cutting up a humongous lump of delicious-looking omelette!

That concluded our search and we strolled right in! Thankfully, they had someone who can speak in halting Mandarin and it didn't take us long to order a kimchi stew with luncheon meat for two persons, a bowl of rice and of course, that omelette which appeared on almost all the occupied tables.

The side dishes, four of them, were simple and unexceptional save for the kimchi which tasted sweeter and crunchier than those in Singapore. Joyce, being on a carbo-restricted diet, was extremely pleased with the side dishes though.

I was wondering why a bowl of rice would cost us ₩2,000 (about S$2.40) until this was placed on our table. There seemed to be a light purplish tinge on the rice and the aura it exuded (together with the ginkgo nuts, red dates, green peas etc) was definitely a healthy one! 

Sadly, the grains were unlike the rice we are accustomed to and given the generous amount, it was a bit too much for us to stomach! The ahjumma kindly helped to soak the half eaten rice in water even though we were prepared to just leave it aside! 

Kimchi stew with luncheon meat - we were given the option of either luncheon meat or pork and the minimal serving was for two persons. What caught us off-guard was the piece of instant noodles! 

We were prepared for only the broth and that's primarily the reason why we asked for a bowl of rice! Anyway, i thought it was similar to army stew, without the cheese. 

The stew was spicy (i found it too overwhelming for my taste buds though) yet especially shiok in the cool weather. What i liked most was the luncheon meat which had a flavour similar to a specific range of Maling luncheon meat before it was banned in Singapore due to high levels of Nitrofurans! 

Omelette roll is a must-order! Well, most omelette tasted rich of egg anyway but this took the cake for two reasons; one, the insides were slightly runny and two, the satisfaction of having such a big piece of omelette! 

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Did we regret making our choice? 

Of course not! Could do with less carbohydrate though.

Location

Along Sejong-Daero 2-Gil

[next to Hotel Manu]

Map

As above.

Price

Healthy Rice - ₩2,000

Kimchi Stew with Luncheon Meat - ₩14,000

Omelette Roll - ₩7,000

Additional Information

The restaurant filled up really fast when the clock hit 12 noon (which said a lot about its popularity and likely, authenticity). We were lucky to have stepped in at 11.45 am as a queue has already formed outside the establishment by 12.05 pm. 

I don't know how to recognise / pronounce the name of the restaurant. If you are proficient in the language, you may refer to the name card as appended above. 

For the summary of my inaugural South Korea trip (including Seoul and Jeju Island) and details of the respective days i was there, click HERE.