Daegu Jongno Korean BBQ: pork jowl set for ₩25,000 — Suyeong Naengsam

A must-visit for naengsam (frozen pork belly) on Dongseong-ro in Daegu — Suyeong Naengsam on Jong-ro. It's a frozen pork belly spot using quality butcher's meat, and you can even watch baseball on a big TV.

Where is Suyeong Naengsam Daegu Direct Store, and is there parking?

Suyeong Naengsam Daegu Direct Store is about a 2–3 minute walk from Jungangno Station Exit 1, along the Jong-ro restaurant street! It uses meat from Bugwang Meat Shop, a very famous butcher in Busan.

🅿 According to Naver Place, parking at Suyeong Naengsam Daegu Direct Store fits 5 cars in front of the restaurant! But it's always busy, so you'll want to either arrive right at opening to grab a spot or have a plan B for parking elsewhere.

Looking at the signboards by the entrance, they sell alcohol-free Terra Zero, and there's a big TV showing every Samsung Lions game, so you can eat meat while watching baseball!

They've put up a plaque about using meat from Busan's Bugwang Meat Shop, which has even been featured in the media!

Inside Suyeong Naengsam: baseball on TV from the right-hand seats

Right at the entrance of Suyeong Naengsam Daegu Direct Store, there were autographs from YouTubers, actors, baseball players and other celebrities on display!

The restaurant is split into two main areas — the photo above is the left side! It's hard to see the TV from here, so it's a bit quieter.

The right side by the entrance has more tables and a TV, so you can watch baseball!

We timed our visit for game time and ate meat while watching baseball!! (We were winning, but the team lost that day, ugh.)

Suyeong Naengsam in Busan uses only meat from female domestic pigs under 6 months old from Bugwang Meat Shop!! This Daegu location is a direct-run branch, and there are a few chain locations across the country.

Suyeong Naengsam menu and prices: ₩7,900 per 100g

This is the menu at Suyeong Naengsam Daegu Direct Store, a naengsam spot on Dongseong-ro in Daegu. All 4 cuts are the same price, ₩7,900 per 100g, and sides include stew, fried rice, and noodle dishes, with soju and beer around ₩5,000! The first order starts at 400g, with additional orders from 200g~

Side dishes and the self-serve bar at Suyeong Naengsam

The basic side dishes came set with sauces, jaeraegi (fresh cabbage kimchi), green onion kimchi, and kimchi!

Beyond that, grilled garnishes, extra banchan (side dishes), and wrap vegetables are available at the self-serve bar, so you can scoop as much as you'd like~!

Frozen thin-sliced pork belly vs pork jowl and cheek: how they taste

What we ordered

• Frozen pork belly x3
• Pork jowl x2
• Aged kimchi stew
• Cold jchi noodles
• Suyeong fried rice

The frozen pork belly and pork jowl arrived at the same time! That's 300g of frozen pork belly, though the photo is after we already ate 3 pieces.

For those 3 pieces, the staff sprinkled salt on the grill first and quickly cooked them to show us how, telling us to eat it right away without dipping it in anything!

I ate the first piece and even though it's pork, since it's so thin the texture was tender and soft — if you dislike chewy meat, you'll totally love this!!

I also liked that it cooked fast, so we could eat quickly — since it's about 1mm thick, even though it looks big, you can eat it in one bite without cutting it.

The staff recommended eating it with their homemade green onion kimchi, and the green onion kimchi was so good that it's great wrapped around the meat too~~

Next we grilled the pork jowl.

If the frozen pork belly was tender and soft, the pork jowl was a bit firmer with a satisfying chew!! But that's not the same as being tough — it's still delicious~~

Aged kimchi stew, cold janchi guksu and fried rice

For the meal courses, we ordered one stew, one jchi noodles, and one fried rice to share variety, and the aged kimchi stew came out first!

It had pork inside, the broth was rich and delicious, and the portion was generous~

The jchi noodles come hot or cold — we ordered them cold! Just so you know, it's more lukewarm than truly cold, rather than refreshingly cold.

This might be a love-it-or-hate-it thing — the seasoning isn't very strong as-is. I like mild flavors so I liked it, but if you want it more seasoned, don't just eat it plain — add a bit of soy sauce to season it yourself! The portion was generous and the noodles were good haha.

Last thing we ordered was fried rice, timed for when we were almost done with the meat so we could cut it up and fry it together! It comes pre-fried once and served in a bowl, and you finish frying it a second time yourself.

We put the fried rice on the grill and cut up the leftover meat to fry together! Isn't this exactly the taste of naengsam fried rice? Haha

Final bill for two at Suyeong Naengsam: ₩50,000

The more leftover meat you have, the better the texture and flavor of the fried rice turns out haha. If you order the way we did, it comes out to exactly ₩50,000, or ₩25,000 per person — with today's prices, that's a filling BBQ meal at a great value!! (Add one bottle of beer and it's exactly ₩30,000.)

Suyeong Naengsam, located on the Jong-ro restaurant street in Daegu! True to using meat from a famous Busan butcher shop, this directly-run location was delicious too! The place is always packed and even has waits, so if you love frozen pork belly, definitely check it out!