Suwon Korean BBQ restaurant with staff-grilled pork: Dojeok Suwon

Sometimes, right around quitting time, I suddenly crave samgyeopsal (pork belly). Today was exactly one of those days, haha. My wife and I headed to Na Hye-seok Street after work for the first time in a while, just the two of us. Three portions of Dojeok's knife-scored pork belly for the two of us, haha. To give you the conclusion first, the staff grilled it for us on a stone griddle, so all we had to do was eat—it was so comfortable, haha.

Dojeok Suwon location and parking

It's tucked just a block or so behind Na Hye-seok Street. Personally, I prefer somewhere a little quieter than a place that's too hectic. Hours are from 3 PM to 1 AM. For parking, you can use an empty nearby parking space; if there isn't one, ask the restaurant about parking and the owner will point you to a spot. I'd recommend checking before you go.

We arrived a little after 6:10 PM. There were only one or two occupied tables at that point, and as you can see, there are plenty of roomy seats. It looked like a good place for a company dinner or gathering.

Three portions of knife-scored pork belly and the stone-griddle spread

Knife-scored pork belly was listed right at the top of the menu, so we ordered three portions. If you add a bowl of rice, the soybean paste stew comes free. We also added one steamed egg.

A heavy stone griddle sits over the gas burner, and they grill the meat right there.

For the side dishes, we got lettuce and perilla-leaf wraps, peppers, seasoned scallion salad, seasoned bean sprouts, plus sweet potato and kimchi to grill alongside the meat.

Each person gets a special sauce and something like soybean powder for dipping the meat. There was also ssamjang (savory soybean-chili paste) and garlic to add to the wraps, haha. Maybe it was because I'd come out to this Na Hye-seok Street favorite after so long, but I was feeling excited, haha.

Everyone gets their own serving of pickled onions. They were so fresh and fragrant that I think I got refills of just these twice.

Thick knife-scored pork belly grilled by the staff

At last, our knife-scored pork belly arrived, haha. It had such an appetizing color, with fine cuts scored across it. It even came sprinkled with something like herbs. It was served on a cutting board, and the staff checked the stone griddle's temperature and grilled it themselves—I felt very spoiled.

The free soybean paste stew was made with rich, rustic doenjang (fermented soybean paste) and tasted clean and delicious. It was so nice to have whenever the pork belly started to feel rich.

The pork belly came nice and thick, so they browned the outside thoroughly first. The portion seemed generous too, so we didn't need to order more.

Because it was such thick pork belly, they cooked the exterior and sealed in the juices... Isn't that color pretty? Haha. Maybe because it had been aged well, it had a bright pink hue and such a wonderfully chewy bite.

I usually enjoy meat grilled directly over a flame, but grilling pork belly on a stone griddle has its own charm. We ate slowly, waiting until the outside got as crisp as possible. It's definitely different from thin frozen pork belly.

Kimchi, sweet potato, and wraps on the side

We put the kimchi and sweet potato that came with the meal onto the griddle and ate them grilled. The aged kimchi had a pleasantly spicy kick that refreshed the palate whenever the pork belly felt rich. Grilled sweet potato was especially nice—it had been a while.

One of the side dishes that day was bean sprouts mixed with seasoned scallion salad. It was fresh and tangy, and so delicious tucked into a wrap.

Pork with pickled onions in a lettuce wrap was so good too. The thick pork belly fills your mouth right up... I recommend eating it this way. It looked like the owner had appeared on Master of Living, though I don't know the details. It seems to be a well-known local favorite.

Fluffy steamed egg

And I can't leave out the steamed egg. It arrived beautifully puffed up—something I could never make like this at home, so it was amazing. It was fluffy like a cloud and so delicious. The next time I crave pork belly... I'll have to come back again ^^