Wall Street Ribs 월가갈비 @ Seoul (2025)

Princess and I had one more KBBQ before we left Seoul. She was so thrilled with her first encounter with the city that she asked for one more round of Hanwoo.

Wolga Galbi, aka Wall Street Ribs, has over 30 years of serving traditional Korean BBQ beef and Jeju pork. Its location at Bukchangdong has three floors and an open roof that was opened in the past for al fresco dining but has been closed since Covid started.

“Wolga Galbi” embraces the meaning of 2 words; “Wol” (Bricks) + “Ga” (House) = a brick house, and can also be translated as “Wall Street.” The representative symbol of “Wall Street” Galbi is the black cow statue, which is a cheeky play on the similar symbol of its namesake in New York.

It has an interior design reminiscent of a Korean art museum decorated with traditional Korean artworks.

It was Sunday afternoon and it was almost empty perhaps because of the mass protests nearby at City Hall. The restaurant can seat over 300 pax, and the room varies in sizes from 8 to 80 persons, but because of its location in Bukchangdong, it is constantly packed in the evenings.

After the order of beef is entered, the banchan 반찬 (side dishes) start to come fierce and furious.

There were small snacks like Korean japchae and kimchi with the banchan spread. A fresh coleslaw with mayonnaise and shredded cabbage was also included. They were all quite tasty.

This time, the serving of soegogi-muguk 소고기무국 (beef radish soup) was complimentary, and you can refills of the flavourful and rich broth.

숙주야채볶음 Sautéed Vegetables

This is a very common sautéed mixed vegetable dish from where I come from using mung bean sprouts called sugju 숙주 in Korean. We call it taugay 豆芽, which literally means the sprouts of beans. The Korean version of this dish is quite peppery.

홍벽갈비 “Red Carpet” Ribs

Non-marinated galbi is called saeng-galbi 생갈비 or “fresh ribs”. They are sliced in the traditional cut to expose one smooth bone along the short edge with the meat uniformly filleted in flat layers. Hence the fancy name – hongbyeoggalbi 홍벽갈비 or “red carpet” rib.

The grill uses bamboo charcoal baked at high temperatures of over 700℃ for 2-3 weeks. Bamboo charcoal is characterised by its air purifying ability, antibacterial properties, and rich mineral content. The meat was grilled with the highest quality bamboo charcoal that is free of harmful substances which makes the meat smoky and flavourful.

Koreans consider Hanwoo beef a cultural icon and one of the top-quality beefs of the world; it is used in traditional foods, popular holiday dishes, or as a special-day gift. Only in the latter part of the 20th century has beef become regular table fare, even though it was mentioned in records dating back to Three Kingdoms and Goryoen periods. The fact that most of the local supply of Hanwoo is consumed by Koreans means there is less to export overseas. Hence, additional sources of beef need to be imported to supplement the demand for beef.

The ribs provided by Wolga Galbi are USDA Prime Black Angus ribs, the highest grade and best breed of black cattle from USA. They have superb marbling and meat juice, although the meat itself is chewier than Korean beef. While it loses in tenderness versus hanwoo, the Black Angus is beefier and more affordable.

How do you know when your beef is done? No worries, in KBBQ the experienced staff will grill it for you to perfection at table side. That’s why I love KBBQ over the others, but only in Korea where table side service is standard. However, they will always grill it to medium or higher doneness, so if you like medium rare or lower, do tell them.

The grilled rib was soft and juicy but under-seasoned so the Songhwa salt that came along with the meal was perfect; so were the dipping sauce and pickled onions, both were especially delicious to cut through the greasy beef.

Songhwa salt is a precious salt made by mixing pine pollen, a high-quality food ingredient, with premium sea salt from the Taean region, which is baked for more than two hours at a high temperature of over 800℃. Unlike other salts, it is a salt with a good savoury taste and a yellowish color due to the high nutritional value and mineral content of pine pollen.

벽돌갈비 “Brick” Ribs

LA galbi is a style of galbi made from thinly sliced beef short ribs (about ¼ inch thick) across the bones. “Brick” galbi are cut into one-inch wide pieces. These well-marbled galbi pieces are stacked like a Jenga tower, resembling red bricks on a wall. Hence the name, byeogdolgalbi 벽돌갈비.

This LA cut method is not common in Korea, and the spider-web marbling of fat in each piece makes it a work of art. Most people mistakenly believe that the LA cut comes from Los Angeles, but actually the name refers to the “lateral cut” of the meat, as it is cut in a way that shows the sides.

It is not possible to get local butchers to do this method of cutting the beef ribs, so they have to use imported US Black Angus Prime beef to make these “brick” ribs.

This galbi is not marinated so that you can enjoy the taste of the beef. Each piece is super tender and succulent, bursting with rich, juicy flavour. I am running out of superlatives to describe it.

With so much meat left, we should order some naengmyeon but we could not eat anymore. So we left all the remaining space for the delicious meat. Time to bring down the wall!

And we were surprised we could finish everything – there was seriously a lot of meat. After the meal we were so comatose that we had to retreat back to the hotel to have a nap.

And before you leave, there’s the soft serve ice cream machine at the entrance where you can whipped yourself a milk flavoured ice cream on a piece of rice cracker that is like Japanese monaka. The ice cream was very creamy and delicious, sweet ending to a wonderful lunch.

If you want to taste the best galbi in Bukchang-dong, Wolga Galbi is the place. First of all to eat beef ribs of this quality in Seoul at this reasonable price, you need to know that they use imported USDA beef instead of the much more expensive Hanwoo (Korean beef). However that does not diminish any bit of the enjoyment of the BBQ meal. BTW, they serve Jeju pork too.

Wall Street Ribs (Wallga Galbi) 월가갈비
22, Sejong-daero 18-gil, Jung-gu, Seoul
서울특별시 중구 세종대로18길 22, 1,2,3층
Tel : +82 10-2442-9414 (Reservations)

Visited Aug 2025