Jongno outdoor BBQ with clean bathrooms and egg stew: Tapgol Gongwon

As the weather starts cooling down, it's the perfect season to enjoy outdoor dining (yajang). Wanting to grill meat outside, I headed to Tapgol Gongwon Jongno 3-ga Branch. I'd heard Jongno 3-ga was famous for its outdoor dining street but had never actually been, so while hanging out with a friend in Jongno, I decided to check it out.

Apparently once evening hits, Jongno 3-ga fills with food carts and outdoor tables stretching down the street, but Tapgol Gongwon Jongno 3-ga Branch sits a bit apart from the main outdoor dining strip, which I liked — it felt quieter and had more atmosphere. When I searched for frozen pork belly spots near Jongno 3-ga Station, this place kept coming up, and out of all the outdoor BBQ spots I found, it had the best vibe.

Location of 'Tapgol Gongwon Jongno 3-ga Branch,' outdoor BBQ in Jongno

Tapgol Gongwon Jongno 3-ga Branch was easy to find, close to Exit 1 of Jongno 3-ga Station (Line 1) and Exit 5 (Line 5), sitting right next to Tapgol Park — a great frozen pork belly spot near Jongno 3-ga Station where you can enjoy the meal with the park's stone wall as scenery. There are also several food carts near Tapgol Gongwon Jongno 3-ga Branch, smaller than the main outdoor dining street but close enough for a first round of BBQ followed by a second round nearby.

Personally, I found it much more comfortable and enjoyable to hang out around Tapgol Gongwon Jongno 3-ga Branch than the main outdoor pocha street in Jongno, which felt overcrowded and chaotic. You still get that distinctive Jongno outdoor dining atmosphere, but with more breathing room and cleaner bathrooms than the main street.

Clean bathrooms at an outdoor BBQ spot?

Even though it's outdoor seating, the bathroom was clean and usable.

Dirty bathrooms are usually the downside of outdoor dining, but Tapgol Gongwon Jongno 3-ga Branch has a bathroom inside the restaurant that's kept clean, which made things much more comfortable. The only catch: the women's bathroom has just one stall, so there can be a short wait.

Menu and prices at Tapgol Gongwon Jongno 3-ga Branch

Tapgol Gongwon Jongno 3-ga Branch's meat menu: Tapgol Set ₩55,000 (pork belly 1 + pork collar 1 + duck loin 1), frozen pork belly ₩18,000, frozen pork collar ₩19,000, quick-frozen duck loin ₩18,000, beef brisket ₩20,000, beef short rib ₩24,000, beef chuck flap ₩24,000.

Honestly, the prices are a bit higher than fresh pork belly at a regular BBQ restaurant, but given the outdoor dining atmosphere, it's worth trying for a special dinner, date, or group gathering. The side menu also pairs well with the meat: kimchi fried rice ₩6,000, brisket doenjang stew ₩7,000, pork kimchi stew ₩9,000, steamed egg ₩5,000.

Full by 5:30pm — the seating situation

When I arrived around 5:30pm, right after opening, every seat already had customers, and the only four remaining tables filled up the moment I walked in. When you think of outdoor dining in Jongno 3-ga, you probably picture the crowded, noisy pocha street first, but Tapgol Gongwon Jongno 3-ga Branch has a calmer atmosphere, set up beside the Tapgol Park wall in a space where no cars pass, which made it feel a bit safer to eat in.

It seemed like a good spot for drinks and conversation with friends, or a casual dinner date while soaking in the outdoor dining atmosphere. Once the sun fully sets and it gets dark, the table lighting and the restaurant's interior lights add to the mood quite nicely.

Table picnic basket

Between the tables there's a picnic basket with paper cups, beer cups, soju glasses, spoons, chopsticks, and wet wipes — everything except tissues.

Side dishes and the self-serve bar

Like a traditional tavern, all the side dishes are set out at once: green onion kimchi, napa cabbage kimchi, seasoned radish, bracken fern, bean sprouts, garlic, chili peppers, wasabi, ssamjang (dipping sauce), salted squid, and pepper. Every single side dish was delicious, no exceptions, and you can refill as much as you want at the self-serve bar.

Tapgol Gongwon Jongno 3-ga Branch has one self-serve bar at each side entrance. There was no lettuce in the initial side dish setup, but I found it at the refill station. If you love wrapping your meat in lettuce, make sure to grab some from the refill zone!

Since Tapgol Gongwon Jongno 3-ga Branch sits a step away from the busy main outdoor dining street, it felt relatively relaxing to sit and eat — though because the atmosphere is so nice, a lot of people stop by to take photos, so you might end up in the background of someone's shot while you're sitting there. (Even enforcement officers on duty were taking photos while I was there...)

Frozen pork belly at Tapgol Gongwon Jongno 3-ga Branch

Of course, we ordered the signature frozen pork belly. Tapgol Gongwon Jongno 3-ga Branch uses grade-1 black pig frozen pork belly, and the thin, frozen slices grilled up quickly right on the pan. Once the thin slices hit the grill, they cooked fast — frozen pork belly always grills quickly, which made it easy to eat.

* The first two servings of frozen pork belly we ordered had some bony bits mixed in, so we had to pick out the bones piece by piece, which was a bit of a hassle — but it was so good, we forgave it haha.

Kimchi, bean sprouts, and bracken fern grilled in pork belly fat — need I say more, it's just so good (╹ڡ╹). The kimchi was seriously delicious.

Bomb-sized steamed egg

It felt like a shame to only have frozen pork belly, so we ordered the steamed egg (gyeranjjim). It came as a stone pot filled to the brim — a proper 'bomb' steamed egg. It was salty enough to work well as a drinking snack too.

Frozen pork belly definitely has a different appeal from thick, fresh pork belly. Aside from the portion feeling a bit small, it's less about biting into juicy, thick meat and more about the fun of grilling thin slices until crisp and savory, or eating them soft when only lightly grilled. After finishing round one of frozen pork belly, we asked for a boneless refill and kept going for round two until we were full.

Who should visit

• Anyone who wants a calmer, more atmospheric alternative to the main Jongno outdoor dining street
• Anyone who wants to try outdoor BBQ at least once during grilling season
• Anyone planning a special date or group dinner

If you want to spend an evening on a nice-weather night soaking in Jongno 3-ga's old alleyway charm, outdoor tables, and the smell of meat rising off the grill, give this place a visit.