Hyeongje Songjeong Tteok-galbi, GwangjuSoft and Loose, Not a Hamburg Steak

I hadn't been in a while and went back. I ordered one serving of beef tteok-galbi and one of pork. As in the photo, both come out together on the same table.

Not the tteok-galbi you get in Seoul

The first thing I noticed was the texture. This is not the dense, patty-like tteok-galbi you usually see in Seoul — the kind pressed together like a hamburg steak. Here it falls apart softly the moment your chopsticks touch it.

It's closer to chewing rib meat itself than to ground meat pressed and grilled. There's a moment where you think, so this is what people mean by the original taste of tteok-galbi.

The seasoning is on the sweet-and-savoury, marinated-grill side, but not heavy-handed. There is no heat.

What it looks like

Two black iron plates each hold two rectangular tteok-galbi patties. The patties on the upper plate are grilled dark and rough, studded with sesame, while those on the lower plate show clear horizontal grill marks and a glossy sauce. Two bowls of clear soup with bone-in meat sit at the top, and to the left are a cold cucumber-and-onion soup, pickled cucumber, stir-fried fish cake and kimchi. On the right is a divided dish of garlic slices and a red seasoning.

The bone soup is a plus, the side dishes less so

A clear pork-bone soup comes with the tteok-galbi, free of charge. It's the same pork spine that goes into gamja-tang, and there's a fair amount of meat still on the bone. As something to cut the richness, it does the job.

I'll be straight. The tteok-galbi and the bone soup are fine, but the rest of the side dishes were thinner than I expected — some pickles and a seasoned cucumber, and not much else. Whether it was like this on my earlier visits, I honestly can't remember.

Compared with the other places in the tteok-galbi alley, this isn't one that lays out an especially generous spread.

What foreign visitors should know

• Tteok-galbi is not spicy at all. There's no hot dip to deal with — you eat it as it is, with rice.
• Tteok-galbi is rib meat, chopped, marinated in a sweet soy sauce and grilled. This is the Gwangju style, so it's soft and falls apart rather than firm like a patty.
• No wrapping or assembly — just cut it and eat. If you can use chopsticks, you're set.
• The free clear bone soup isn't spicy either; pick the meat off the spine with your chopsticks.
• It's walking distance from Gwangju Songjeong Station (KTX/SRT), so it works as a stop before or after a train.
• ✅ Good if you want to try a soft, loose tteok-galbi rather than the firm patty type, need a meal before or after a KTX/SRT ride from Gwangju Songjeong Station, or can't eat spicy food
• ⚠️ Less good if you're expecting a table full of generous side dishes, or you're picturing Seoul-style (firm, patty-like) tteok-galbi — the texture here is quite different

Before you go

• Getting there — the tteok-galbi alley between Gwangju Songjeong Station and Gwangsan-gu Office, in Gwangsan-gu, Gwangju. Several restaurants in the alley have similar names, so check the sign before you sit down.
• Hours · prices · closing day — daily 10:00–21:30 with no regular closing day. The tteok-galbi set starts at 18,000 KRW (as of Aug 2026). Worth checking before you go.
• Ordering — beef and pork tteok-galbi are ordered by the serving. Get one of each if you want to try both.
• Next stop — Naju Gomtang Hayanjip is a short drive away in Naju and worth pairing with this for its clean beef broth.