Nonhyeon Station Korean BBQ: terrace pork neck lunch at Cheongmi

I was craving meat starting at lunchtime, so I headed to 24-Hour Cheongmi Dolpan Samgyeopsal (청미돌판삼겹살), a Nonhyeon Station favorite that's open around the clock. There are quite a few Korean BBQ places that open at lunch, but a 24-hour one in Gangnam felt kind of amazing.

When can you go to Cheongmi Dolpan Samgyeopsal?

24-Hour Cheongmi Dolpan Samgyeopsal is a samgyeopsal (pork belly) restaurant near Nonhyeon Station that's open 24 hours, every day of the year. It's a good place to drop by whenever you like.

Exterior

Before COVID, there were quite a few restaurants and bars open 24 hours. Now a 24-hour restaurant has become a pretty unique find. Since Cheongmi Dolpan Samgyeopsal is a Nonhyeon Station pork BBQ spot open 365 days a year, around the clock, it's somewhere you can go any time.

What are the inside and the terrace seats like?

The restaurant is on the first floor, and the interior isn't big, but it works fine as a place for a company dinner near Nonhyeon Station. When I reserved ahead by phone, I got a window-side terrace seat.

It's on the first floor and the interior isn't large. Still, it was perfectly fine as a company-dinner spot near Nonhyeon Station. If your group is a decent size, you could probably rent almost the whole place. The staff were all friendly and quick, so everything we ordered came out in no time.

I'd reserved by phone beforehand, and they gave us a reserved seat on the window-side terrace. I'm a drinker, so outdoor drinking and terrace seats are familiar territory, but my husband doesn't have much experience with that and absolutely loved sitting by the window.

What is Cheongmi Dolpan Samgyeopsal famous for?

People come to Cheongmi Dolpan Samgyeopsal for grilled pork belly near Nonhyeon Station; the pork neck is good too, and it's also known as a makchang (grilled pork intestine) spot in Nonhyeon.

You can somehow grill samgyeopsal and pork neck at home, but makchang feels like a special dish you really have to eat out for.

How does the Cheongmi jumeok-gogi pork neck (₩17,000) come out?

On the menu, Cheongmi jumeok-gogi (청미 주먹고기, "fist meat" pork neck) is listed at ₩17,000 (*for 2 people), and it comes with king oyster and enoki mushrooms and minari (water dropwort). It was a midday meal, so we decided to keep things light. Samgyeopsal looked like the headline item, but we went with the pork neck.

It's not just a plate of pork neck; it comes with vegetables. Not only king oyster and enoki mushrooms but minari too, which was a real charm. Mushrooms are common, but a place that gives you minari by default? Pure love.

The meat had a lovely color just at a glance. Did they sprinkle something on it? It looked glossy and glistening.

My husband kept saying how great it is to grill meat in the open air. I guess I'll have to take him to more places with outdoor terrace seats.

What about the side dishes and stew?

At Cheongmi Dolpan Samgyeopsal, you get a dressed scallion salad, cabbage, five side dishes (scallion kimchi, myeongi namul, kimchi, bean sprouts, bracken) and a stew, all by default.

There's quite a spread of sides. First came the scallion salad and cabbage, both of which are meat-only sides that go great with the pork.

Along with the five side dishes, a stew also comes by default. The sides were scallion kimchi, myeongi namul (pickled wild garlic-leaf), kimchi, bean sprout namul and bracken namul.

I thought stew wasn't included and was about to order one, but they told me it comes by default. They called it doenjang jjigae (soybean paste stew), but it tasted more like gochujang jjigae (chili paste stew). It's a salty stew, so it was nice to spoon some between bites of meat, and it would work as a meal stew too.

How did the pork neck taste?

The jumeok-gogi pork neck at Cheongmi Dolpan Samgyeopsal was clean and mild, just right as a pork cut for lunch. Two kinds of mushrooms, minari and golden-grilled potato made it a satisfying meal.

My husband worked hard grilling the pork neck while I waited leisurely, looking outside. It was a comfortable Nonhyeon Station pork BBQ spot.

It wasn't just meat. With two kinds of mushrooms, fragrant minari and golden-grilled potato, it was a really satisfying meal.

The pork neck was, as expected, mild and clean. Perfect as a lunch pork cut. Neck doesn't usually have much gamey smell anyway, but this one tasted fresh and you could feel the texture of the meat.

The salt, scallion salad and scallion kimchi are on the salty side

The seasoned salt and scallion kimchi at Cheongmi Dolpan Samgyeopsal are fairly strong, so use them a little at a time. The scallion salad was moist, with plenty of sesame oil.

The seasoned salt had ground sesame mixed in. Maybe it's just me, but it felt saltier than the seasoned salt I usually eat. The saltiness is intense, so you only need a tiny dip.

Wrapping the meat in the scallion salad was good too. They don't skimp on the sesame oil, so it isn't dry and sticky; it's nice and moist.

The scallion kimchi was a bit salty too. Even a small amount hits hard. It has a strong salted-seafood (jeotgal) flavor, and since I love that jeotgal taste in kimchi, I kept putting a little on the meat.

Potatoes and mushrooms would be better grilled with fatty meat

Finishing with the grilled potatoes and mushrooms is nice, but pork neck has almost no fat, so they felt like they were cooked on the fire alone. I think they'd taste even better grilled in samgyeopsal or makchang fat.

Finishing with grilled potatoes and mushrooms is good. If you come to this Nonhyeon Station spot for samgyeopsal and grill the potatoes and mushrooms in the pork belly fat, I think they'd taste even better. Same if you come for the makchang: grilling them in that sizzling fat would be great. Pork neck has almost no fat, so the potatoes and mushrooms felt like they were cooked on the fire alone.

Of course, eating it in a wrap is delicious too~

Does the ₩8,000 bibim naengmyeon go with the meat?

The bibim naengmyeon (spicy cold noodles) at Cheongmi Dolpan Samgyeopsal is ₩8,000, and the intense sauce was so good. Putting pork neck on top of the noodles was a perfect combination.

We ordered one bibim naengmyeon, and the sauce was so intensely flavorful and delicious. The noodles loosened up without clumping, as the staff said they would. Then my husband added vinegar and mustard to make it even more intense. The mustard's heat turned me into a rhinoceros, but the sauce was so good that I ate it all happily.

Putting pork neck on the delicious noodles was a perfect combo. Delicious plus delicious is always delicious~

Final verdict

Cheongmi Dolpan Samgyeopsal is a Nonhyeon Station pork BBQ spot where you can enjoy a tidy meat meal. Since it's a 24-hour restaurant in Gangnam's Nonhyeon Station area, it could also work as a 24-hour drinking spot: come in the early morning for meat and soju.