Bisowon 비소원 @ Seoul

We celebrated a Korean business colleague’s birthday, and what better place than to bring everyone to a Korean BBQ.

Bisowon 비소원 is a popular Korean BBQ in Anyang, near the city hall. It is known for its value-for-money and the high quality meats and marinades used.

Banchan 반찬 Side Dishes

Once we finished ordering our main course (the grilled pork ribs), the waitress promptly came back with the banchan (side dishes). For those that have been following my posts recently will know that most of these KBBQ meals will include the whole range of side dishes that can be as much as the meal itself.

They have my favourite yangnyeom-gejang 양념게장, the spicy marinated raw spanner crab. Black sesame dressing is a creamy sauce with a sweet, sour and nutty flavour. It uses mayonnaise as the base, but the fruity vinegar gives the lettuces a nice kick. Side dishes can be refilled, and I took advantage of that and had my fill of the gejang.

These last two banchans are important as they are used as palate cleansers as you eat the grilled meat. Baek kimchi 백김치, or white kimchi, is a plain kimchi made without chilli pepper. The tangy, slightly sweet flavour is perfect for grilled meat. Usually chopped up, they served it whole to show how fresh it was.

Maemil Jeon 매밀전 Buckwheat Pancake

They are famous for their maemil jeon 매밀전, or buckwheat pancake, a really delicious banchan made with buckwheat flour and chives. Buckwheat pancake, unlike normal wheat flour pancakes, are chewier and slight ammonia taste which is something Korean gourmands sought after.

The waitress took a piece of pancake (which is as thin as a crepe) and put some kimchi and cucumber strips. Given her limited English and my limited Korean, she wrapped it and stuffed it towards my mouth and may a hand sign for me to eat it. What a delicious way to eat this pancake, and the hospitality of these ajuumas (term of endearment for married middle-age aunties).

Yangnyeom Dwaejigalbi 양념 돼지갈비 Marinated Pork Ribs

Yangnyeom Dwaejigalbi 양념 돼지갈비, or marinated pork ribs, is a sweet and savoury Korean dish traditionally made with butterflied pork ribs. Maybe it’s because of the marinade used, it tasted like the beef version of yangnyeom galbi 양념갈비.

These succulent pork ribs are marinated in a sweet, savoury and spicy sauce overnight. The ribs are then grilled over an open flame over red hot charcoal.

You don’t have to do-it-yourself for KBBQ in Korea, the ajuumas are on hand to do it professionally. Of course, you can do it yourself like the Americas, but you will never get the right doneness like these ladies.

The grilled meat is best with a bit of buchu kimchi 부추김치, or spicy chive kimchi, which balances the sweet and savoury pork ribs with a bit of heat and herby flavours from the chives.

One of the most common ways to eat Korean barbecue is to wrap the ingredients to form a roll. Just take a leaf of lettuce, put the meat covered in sauce and the preferred banchan inside, and then wrap everything up. Such a roll is referred to as a ssam 쌈 in Korea.

Bibim Naengmyeon 비빔냉면

Naengmyeon 냉면 is a noodle dish from North Korea that is made with cold buckwheat noodles with spicy marinade. The spicy version called bibim naengmyeon is served with a spicy dressing made primarily from gochujang (red chili paste) and eaten mixed. 

When the noodles is served, it often signals the end of a Korean BBQ meal. It is customary to eat the noodles with the remaining grilled meats so that nothing goes to waste.

While Bisowon is quite good and does not burn a hole in your pockets, the location is not quite near Seoul. I would not make a detour here just for dinner (the taxi back to my hotel at City Hall Seoul was USD 50), but if you are in Anyang for whatever reason, you can have seafood at Anyang Wholesale Market or KBBQ here.

Bisowon Korean Beef Restaurant 비소원
415 Gwanak-daero, Dongan-gu, Anyang-si, Gyeonggi-do
Tel : +82 (031) 425 7794

Visited Feb 2025