Cycle 16 – Item 194

POST 5,674

18 (Fri) July 2025

Gol-Chi

3.0

at Mugyo-Dong Taeseong Golbaengi

-Seongsu, Seongdong, Seoul, Republic of Korea-

with staff

Mugyo-Dong Taeseong Golbaengi is a Korean pub.  Specializes in golbaengi, as well as fried chicken and a range of other anju.  Supposedly founded in 1971 (these origin claims are usually exaggerated) (the franchise business likely a few years old), now with a million locations.

Our first ever Mid-Year Happy Hour, conceived to be a casual affair comprising just drinks and snacks, 5pm-7pm – rather than a full-on hoesik, like our Year End Party in January (see generally 16.012 Haemul Pa Jeon).

Previous gatherings had always started slow, everyone seemingly reluctant to even be there.  The very first event that I had arranged, back in September 2023, was nearly cancelled after half an hour because everyone looked so miserable, but eventually got going once the booze kicked in (see generally 14.243 Morale).

Tonight, the party started immediately.  Even though I had randomly assigned seating (drawing numbers out of a hat), hoping to encourage staff members from different teams to mingle, everyone got along as soon as they sat down.  I’m definitely taking credit for developing a positive environment at work, where people are happy to do their jobs and do them better – in fact, we are on track to achieve our best year of sales in company history –  and so they’re even happier to socialize.

Frankly, an underlying motive of the happy hour concept had been cost control.   I’d figured that people would have a few beers, munch on some anju, and then go home for dinner or go out on their own dime.  But everyone seemed intent on stuffing themselves, both booze and food, within the 2-hour window.  And, as noted above, they were so excited from the get-go that the dinging of the on-table order kiosks never stopped.  Total bill came out to over 1 million – more than the first part of the hoesik earlier this year.   Ah well, I was gratified to see them having a blast, cost be damned.

Golchi is not a real a thing.  Just a plate of marinated sea snails (“GOL-baengi”), served alongside a plate of fried chicken (“CHI-kin”), then portmanteauing the 2 names into 1 – the pairing is more commonly referred to as “chikin-baengi.”  No idea when this suddenly became a combination, maybe a decade ago, while I was in the Philippines?  Not sure why people seem to think that they go together, perhaps because they’re such polar opposites: one being deep-fried/warm/savory, the other marinated/cold/tangy.

The GOL was meh.

The CHI was quite good.

(See RESTAURANTS IN KOREA)

(See HANSIK)

(See BOOZE)