Gebang Sikdang, located near Gangnam-gu Office Station in Seoul, serves a soy sauce marinated crab, also known as ‘gejang’ in Korean. Since its opening in 2017, it has been named on the Michelin Guide Bib Gourmand list for seven consecutive years, maintaining its position annually from 2018 to 2024.
The owner of Gebang Sikdang, Bang Geon-hyeok, worked as a marketer in the fashion division of Cheil Industries for a decade before quitting his job and opening the restaurant in 2017, at the age of forty.
The idea of running a restaurant came to Bang’s mind after he witnessed his parents, who had run a soy sauce crab restaurant for 30 years, decide to close it.
Even after the closure, Bang witnessed old and new customers continuing to visit, which made him feel regretful. Later he received the recipe from his parents, standardized it, and developed it into a home meal replacement (HMR), which he sold through online platforms like Market Kurly and Coupang during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Bang is planning to open his new branch in New York in November this year. According to him, there are very few soy sauce crab specialty stores overseas.
He mentioned that gejang is popular among customers from various nationalities such as Japan, Thailand, Sweden, Norway, Kenya, and Nigeria. Currently, Bang is exporting the menu items sold at Gebang Sikdang as HMR to City’super, a retail chain present in Hong Kong, Singapore, and the USA.
Bang added that many foreigners visit their store, saying that they came to taste the original gejang. As there are very few specialized gejang restaurants overseas, Korean restaurants only serve a small amount of gejang as a side dish. Considering the high interest from foreigners visiting their store, Bang believes that they can make a successful entry as a gejang specialty store overseas.
Bang also has shared that foreigners often reach out to the restaurant’s social media or email, expressing their desire to visit Korea for the first time and requesting to make a reservation. Bang aims to create a positive impression of Korea by ensuring foreign customers feel comfortable. For this, he provides menus in Japanese, English, and Chinese. Below is the one-on-one interview with Bang.
You worked as a fashion marketer at Samsung C&T. How has that experience influenced your restaurant management?
“I have realized that focusing solely on making a profit is not enough. Instead, I have started paying more attention to branding and having a long-term plan.
Perhaps it is a skill that I acquired as a marketer who turned into a businessperson. I try to add value to the store not just by providing delicious food, but also by making it visually appealing. I have been thinking about ways to make our pictures go viral on social media networks (SNS).”
Did you learn the food recipes from your parents?
“Yes, my mother occasionally visits our restaurant to taste the food. If she finds that the taste has changed, she corrects it. We make our own soy sauce and use only high-quality crabs, which can cost over 50,000 won ($37.52) per kilogram at times. Although it is expensive, we always try our best to maintain the quality of our ingredients.
In the case of Saewoojang, which is the shrimp version of gejang, the head and innards of the shrimp are most easily spoiled.
Therefore, our staff removes these parts one by one to serve only the best parts of the shrimp to our customers. This meticulous process increases our labor costs, but we believe it is worth it to provide the best possible experience for our customers.”
There’s a wine cellar in the restaurant. Do wine and gejang go well together?
“A type of gejang marinated with soy sauce pairs well with white Sauvignon Blanc. Both Koreans and foreigners enjoy wine with gejang. I have tasted it myself and stocked the restaurant with well-known products that go well with gejang.”
