Nohyeong-dong black pork BBQ, last lunch of a 3-day Jeju trip: Pork80

Where is Pork80 Jeju Airport Branch? Nohyeong-dong, 10 minutes from the airport

Pork80 Jeju Airport Branch is a black pork charcoal grill house at 1F, 37-1 Noyeon-ro, Jeju City, Jeju, South Korea, in Nohyeong-dong, 10 minutes from Jeju Airport. It's open daily 11:30–23:30 (last order 22:30), and parking is free for 3 hours at the paid lot at 25 Wonnohyeong 3-gil, Jeju City.

We booked this Jeju trip in a hurry and just took off for 2 nights, 3 days with no plan. Usually I map out a full itinerary, but this time we just followed wherever our feet took us, and it felt more relaxed than usual.

Today I'm writing about the last lunch that capped off the whole trip — a black pork restaurant in Jeju City.

This is Pork80 Jeju Airport Branch, located in Nohyeong-dong just 10 minutes from the airport. There are a lot of hotels nearby, so it's popular with travelers.

What is nanchuk matdon, the Pork80 signature black pork?

Pork80 Jeju Airport Branch's main signature is nanchuk matdon. It's not popular just because it's close to hotels and the airport — the nanchuk matdon here is genuinely good, and honestly, despite all my trips to Jeju, this was the visit where I finally got to properly understand what nanchuk matdon is.

It sounded like an unfamiliar name at first. Everyone knows Jeju black pork, but a lot of people don't know about the bloodline of the native Jeju black pig breed. Apparently it's the Jeju pig developed by the Nanji Livestock Research Institute, registered as Korea's first patented pork breed.

The building entrance is small, so I figured the inside would be cramped, but once inside there was a spacious dining room, and I saw meat aging nicely in the fridge, already prepped ahead for customers.

Is 600g of nanchuk matdon enough for two people?

There's regular Jeju white pork too, but they strongly recommended trying nanchuk matdon, so we ordered one plate, 600g. At home, my wife and I usually eat our fill with about 500g of pork, so this was plenty for the two of us.

As soon as we ordered, the meat that had been prepped in the fridge came right out. This was our first proper look at premium Jeju native black pork, in its bright red color. Someone unfamiliar with it might think there's not much meat and the fat layer is too thick, but that's actually a characteristic of nanchuk matdon — high intramuscular fat content and a springy texture.

Pork80's side dishes: seasoned raw crab and matcha salt

The side dishes came out along with the meat. While the meat was being prepped, I first tried the seasoned raw crab I love — one big chunk packed with meat, and I finished it all by myself.

Matcha salt and wasabi, along with other dipping ingredients, all came out together too.

Charcoal grilling by the staff, with scallions on the grill

Another important thing is what you grill on — they brought out high-quality charcoal with strong heat and no soot, hot enough to make your face flush, cooking the meat quickly and deliciously.

No matter how good the meat is at a Jeju City black pork restaurant, the taste can vary a lot depending on the grilling skill, but the staff member grilled it perfectly right beside us, so we just waited and ate comfortably.

The black pork from Pork80 in Jeju City was now on the charcoal, sizzling away at just the right timing. On the grill, I could also see mushrooms and green scallions.

Yes, they grill the scallions right along with the meat here. I normally love grilled scallions anyway, but charcoal-grilled ones on top of that taste even better.

The staff member kept flipping everything at just the right timing so it browned evenly, and the longer I watched, the more my mouth was already watering.

With such high-heat charcoal, you'd expect your face to feel hot too — but the heat didn't rise up, since it was vented sideways along with the smoke, so no smell stuck to our clothes and we ate in a comfortable environment.

Meljorim instead of meljeot: how to dip the black pork

As the meat was nearly done, the last thing to arrive was braised anchovy sauce. At most Jeju City black pork restaurants, you usually get meljeot heated on the grill and dip lightly, which tends to be salty, but Pork80 Jeju Airport Branch serves meljorim — large anchovies braised with various seasonings — and it's not too salty, keeping the anchovy's savory flavor intact, which I liked.

The meat comes out cut into big chunks from the start — usually I'd cut it smaller myself, but apparently today's method is to just eat it as is, so you can fully taste the juices sealed inside.

First, I tried it with just matcha salt and wasabi to taste it on its own. As expected, the chewy texture and sealed-in juices took the flavor to another level.

Now that the scallions were fully grilled too, it was time to dip into the meljorim — as usual, I assumed it worked like meljeot and dipped just lightly at first.

That was good, but since it's meljorim, dunking it deep and taking a generous scoop tasted far better. Exactly as the instructions posted in the restaurant said.

Was Pork80 a good last lunch for a Jeju trip?

Mixing the generous meat with all the sides that came out, this was the day we truly got to taste nanchuk matdon at its best.

We had it as lunch alongside rice, and dipping it generously into the sauce with rice made it even better — when I miss this flavor, I'll have to come back to Jeju.

After lunch, we wandered around the area a bit and wrapped up a trip that ended with some lingering regret. That regret is exactly what makes you want to come back — so goodbye for now, Jeju.