Jeju City black pork BBQ with a meljorim bibimbap finish: Pork80

"A black pork place near Jeju Airport is bound to be a tourist trap!" — if that's what you're thinking, this is the place I want to recommend to you anyway.

During my one-month (well, exactly three-week) stay in Jeju, I feel like I visited almost every famous restaurant on the island. Black pork was a must, so I looked up a few reviews of black pork restaurants near Jeju Airport and found this place — it turned out to be the most satisfying black pork meal I had in Jeju, so here's my review.

What kind of restaurant is Pork80 Jeju Airport Branch?

Pork80 Jeju Airport Branch is a charcoal-grilled black pork restaurant on Noyeon-ro in Jeju City. True to a Jeju-style meat restaurant, it had combinations I'd never seen before, like matcha salt and meljorim, which got my expectations up from the very start. I've put the photos up front so you can see how it's different.

Weekday lunch at Pork80: atmosphere and whether you need a reservation

Pork80 Jeju Airport Branch has an open kitchen, so you can see the meat being prepped right in front of you. I worried that being near Jeju Airport, it would be full of Chinese tourists, but most of the customers were locals. I visited on a weekday lunch, and since the restaurant is spacious, I was able to get in without a reservation.

Pork80 menu and the price of nanchukmatdon for two

The signature menu was nanchukmatdon. My companion and I ordered 2 servings. Unlike the cheaper lines, it's not exactly a bargain at ₩70,000, but black pork restaurants near Jeju Airport generally run on the pricier side, and since I'd come all this way, I wanted to try the best they had.

The meat came out on a single plate along with scallions and king oyster mushrooms. The side dishes were quite generous too — soy marinated crab, seasoned vegetables, yeolmu kimchi, corn salad, meljorim, and more.

Staff-grilled nanchukmatdon and the first bite with matcha salt

It was grilled directly over charcoal, and both the amount of charcoal and the heat level were spot on. A staff member stayed by the table, checking the thickness and flipping the meat continuously.

The meat quality really is good..

Nanchukmatdon costs more, but in exchange the staff grills the meat for you directly, even using techniques I'd never seen before — like brushing on juices with mushrooms and chives.

As instructed, I tried the first bite dipped only in matcha salt, and I could taste the meat's savoriness and juiciness clearly, with no gamey smell at all.

How salty is Pork80's meljorim, really?

There was this one thing I initially mistook for doenjang jjigae (soybean paste stew) — that's meljorim (anchovy braise). Despite looking like it would be salty, it was less salty than expected. Think of it as savory-forward, the kind of thing you could just eat with a spoon.

Salty, a bit spicy, and packed with umami — it was delicious even when I dunked the meat all the way in, like giving it a bath. I thought it would also be great mixed into rice.

The bibimbap ordered just to mix with the meljorim

I was already stuffed, but the meljorim was too good and too precious to waste, so I ordered something to mix it into.

This bibimbap (mixed rice bowl) right here~!

Scoop in a few spoonfuls of meljorim and mix it all together — pure bliss.. (yes, I'm the person who looked up how to make meljorim on the way home because it hit my taste buds that hard)

The saltiness itself actually felt milder than a spicy doenjang jjigae. Back home in Daegu, we used to dip things into meljeot (salted anchovy sauce) in little steel dishes with garlic and chili, but meljorim has a gentler flavor and aroma than that, while still being great to eat by the spoonful or mixed into rice — I really recommend trying it at least once.

Why Pork80 was the best black pork meal of three weeks in Jeju

I was worried a black pork restaurant near Jeju Airport would just be overpriced with nothing special to show for it, but even after visiting other black pork restaurants around the island, this was the best meal I had. Ordering nanchukmatdon felt like the right call. (Honestly, I haven't tried the other menu items, so I can't say much about those. But if you're going to spend money on your trip anyway, wouldn't a proper meal put you in a better mood than skimping? So compared to other raw meat options.. I recommend nanchukmatdon!)

Looking for a black pork restaurant near Jeju Airport? If you go to Pork80 and order the nanchukmatdon, I don't think you'll walk away saying it was mediocre or not worth it! Check the map below for the exact location.