Yangmiok (Seoul)

Looking for five star tripes ? Head for Yangmiok, maybe the best gopchang in town. Or maybe I should write "daechang" because their speciality, beyond lamb, is large intestine.

Not very glamorous I know, but as a French citizen in Seoul, I'm often longing for a perfectly grilled AAAAA andouillette, and grilled tripes are the best alternative to that. Back home I wasn't a great fan since we Frogs prefer our tripes wet and soaked in sauce (for instance a la mode de Caen)... not my cup of tea*. In Korea, charcoal grill is the main option and at Yangmiok's, you can have a beef-lamb combo and alternate between really greasy parts and drier ones, and they taste so delicious you don't realize your own stomach is full until you've surpassed its limits.

Not very poetic I now, but this is not about poetry, even if at this stage, one should consider gopchang as art.

As far as the veggie alibi goes, you've got a very nice tofu/herb banchan, salad, and a quite decent ugeoji (우거지) doenjang jjigae which you can sit on the grill to make it boil on charcoal.

And on a lighter note, you finish with the finest nurungji (누룽지) I ever tasted. That's the simple scorched rice in boiling water.


YANGMIOK (restaurant)
Uljiro branch: 161 Euljiro 3-ga, Jung-gu, SEOUL, KOREA
Tel +82.2.2275.8838
COEX branch: 153-55, Samseong-dong, Gangnam-gu, SEOUL, KOREA
Tel +82.2.565.8836


Seoul Village 2011

* attn my English friends: that's a figure of speech - I wouldn't dare comparing your national beverage to such a vulgar dish.