Gobong88 (Hangang Korean restaurant) — Restaurant in Burnaby

I went here with my sisters and my mom for a ladies night out. Given that we wanted to eat some greasy food and talk loudly while drinking some adult beverages, gobong 88 was a good choice. We ordered gopchang (grilled intestines), makchang (grilled bung), old school Korean tonkatsu (pork cutlet), seafood tofu soup, makgeolli and soju. Gopchang was good but personally I liked makchang. Should've ordered two of these. Every time I've ordered intestines, I always think I like bung more. Don't get me wrong. Both are heavy. I think I just like the taste and crispy texture of bung more. Don't think I like the gop in gopchang. Not sure what that is. Fat in intestines? I dunno. The old-school Korean tonkatsu was Surprisingly good. It was big and crispy. We demolished this first. It was a good drinking food for sure. Us ladies were very hungry or something so we decided to order an additional seafood tofu soup. This tofu soup wasn't particularly outstanding. It was fine. It was spicy. Wished it had more tofu. It didnt beat the house Tofu down the street imo, but you don't come here for the tofu soup so don't listen to me. I think this is the second time I've come here makchang/bung and it didn't disappoint. Apparently this restaurant used to be hangang on Austin but it moved here? I remember hangang used to have good makchang/bung so I'm glad they kept their quality. Anyway. I kinda missed loud/dim Korean drinking places on north road from like 10-15 years ago lol. This place was as close as it could get. Was bustling on a Friday night. Grab a bowl of Chestnut makgeolli and a shot of soju in it if u wanna try something different....

We ordered BBQ Beef Intestine Grill (definitely needs to be served with some dipping sauce - too bland for our liking), Seafood pancake is bomb (HANDS DOWN TO THE BEST I'VE EVER HAD IN VANCITY = looks super doughy but w/ just one bite, you'll realize how crunchy and flavourful it is), Bibimbap (Standard, comes w/ a side soup), Jokbal (meat swings from too fatty to too lean depending on the pieces you got, also not much veggies or dipping sauce served with it, we had to repeatedly ask for more) and Beef Intestine Hotpot (AMAZING, we'll definitely order this one next time instead of the BBQ one - will possibly try the Stir-fried Beef Intestine just for the comparison but this hotpot is the best - it comes with some octopus, beef bulgogi, tofu, vegs too and the broth is sooooo yummy! The perfect balance for our tastebuds). We only have a small suggestion for the side dishes which were very little. We were a group of 5 and they only gave us 3 dishes and we had to ask for refills, a couple of times which seems bothersome even for us to keep asking the server to come back and forth (all worked in service industry so we know the struggle!). The reservation was for 5 but we kept getting sets of serving from cutlery to bowls for 4 people even when we were already sat at the table - took off 1 star for this reason! Portions are very generous and prices are on point for the quality. They have really nice bar with lots of soju and rice wine selection to choose from. Anyways, it's a great joint for Gopchang, just some minor communication issues but we will come...

We recently visited this Korean restaurant and were pleasantly surprised by the cozy atmosphere. The interior design, with its partitions between tables, gave a nice sense of privacy that made the dining experience more comfortable.

We ordered the beef intestine soup and the cold noodles. Both were flavorful and enjoyable. The soup came with plenty of ingredients, though the medium spice level felt a little mild; next time we’d probably go one step spicier. The cold noodles were refreshing and served in a generous portion, though it would have been even better with a few slices of meat or seafood added in.

The menu isn’t huge, but it does feature the beef intestine hot pot, which was exactly what drew us in. Since there were only two of us, we skipped the larger BBQ platters and went with single dishes, which worked out well. Overall, the flavors were solid, the portions fair, and the price very reasonable.

We’d rate the experience about 7/10. Definitely worth a try if you’re craving Korean comfort food, and we’d be happy to...