Skin-on pork belly and cold noodles at Seocho BBQ spot Yuksam Maeul

Yuksam Maeul Nonhyeon Station Main Branch, where wrapping golden-grilled pork belly cooked on a cauldron lid in all kinds of vegetables was genuinely fun

Where Yuksam Maeul Nonhyeon Station Main Branch is and what the room feels like

Yuksam Maeul Nonhyeon Station Main Branch is about 301m from Exit 8 of Nonhyeon Station, a 3-minute walk. I went for dinner with a friend and it wasn't hard to find at all — and since you get to enjoy meat with lots of different vegetables, it's a great match if you're looking for ssam (wrap) food near Nonhyeon Station.

The interior had plenty of tables, each fitted with its own grill and hood. The space felt spacious overall with comfortable seating gaps, which made it easy for two of us to have a relaxed dinner. Since it stays open late, it also seems like a good option for a post-work meal or a Nonhyeon Station work dinner.

Yuksam Maeul Nonhyeon Station Main Branch: address, hours, prices

• Address: 51-4 Sinbanpo-ro 47-gil, Seocho-gu, Seoul, South Korea, 1st floor
• Hours: Mon–Sat 10:00–5:00 (next day) / Sunday 10:00–22:00
• Location: About 301m from Exit 8 of Nonhyeon Station

How much for two? The skin-on pork belly order

What we ordered that day was 180g x 2 servings of skin-on pork belly for ₩36,000, 2 bowls of rice for ₩2,000, Hamhung-style spicy cold noodles for ₩10,000, and a Zero Coke for ₩3,000. The total came to ₩51,000.

Eating pork belly and rice, then finishing with cold noodles, made for a hearty meal for two, and having the mussel doenjang stew included free made it a reasonable overall deal.

What comes with it: wrap vegetables and side dishes

As soon as we sat down, a long plate came out piled with several kinds of wrap vegetables. There was lettuce and perilla leaves as well as broad cabbage-like leaves, all arranged and looking fresh.

Shredded green onion, seasoned bean sprouts, kimchi, and pickled onions were also served alongside — good pairings with the meat. What I liked was that it wasn't just one type of wrap over and over; you could mix and match vegetables and sides to your taste. True to a proper Nonhyeon Station ssam spot, the variety of vegetables meant you could switch up the flavor while eating.

Skin-on pork belly vs ogyeopsal: what's the difference?

Mibak (未剝) means 'skin not removed,' so it's nearly the same cut as ogyeopsal (five-layer pork belly). Depending on the vendor, it's called either skin-on pork belly or ogyeopsal.

The skin-on pork belly arrived as a thick cut with the skin still attached. The layers of lean meat and fat were evenly distributed, and each strip was quite sizable.

We put the pork belly on the wide cauldron-lid grill and grilled some kimchi alongside it. As the meat cooked, the surface turned golden brown and the fat became translucent.

After cutting it into bite-sized pieces and grilling a bit more, the edges turned savory and crisp while the center stayed juicy. The thickness gave the meat real presence when you bit into it, and the skin had a pleasant chewiness.

On rice, in lettuce, in perilla leaf: the best ssam combinations

We tried the well-grilled pork belly on rice first. The savory flavor of the meat plus rice made for a hearty bite, and adding the grilled kimchi naturally cut through the richness.

For the lettuce wrap, we piled on rice, meat, pickled onion, and ssamjang (wrap sauce) all at once for a big bite.

For the perilla leaf, we kept it simple with just meat and onion — the fragrant perilla aroma paired really well with the pork belly. With so many kinds of wrap vegetables, even the same meat was fun to eat differently each time.

The free river snail and seafood doenjang stew

The mussel and seafood doenjang (soybean paste) stew that comes free with a meat order was generously loaded with tofu, zucchini, and onion, plus seafood like crab and clams.

Scooping up the broth, there was a generous amount of mussel meat, and the refreshing seafood flavor blended well with the savory doenjang. It was great to have a warm spoonful alongside the rice, and eating it between bites of meat cleansed the palate nicely. Rather than feeling like a basic complimentary side, it had enough substance to work as its own dish.

Finishing with Hamhung-style spicy cold noodles

To finish, we chose Hamhung-style spicy cold noodles. The well-mixed noodles were topped with cucumber, radish, boiled egg, and garnish, with the seasoning evenly coating the noodles.

The noodles were refreshing with a crowd-pleasing flavor that's hard to dislike. After the pork belly, having cool noodles was a satisfying, clean way to wrap up the meal.

Is Yuksam Maeul worth it? Final verdict

This was a spot where we got to enjoy a whole spread — various wrap vegetables, thick skin-on pork belly, a seafood-packed doenjang stew, and cold noodles. If you prefer balancing meat with plenty of vegetables and rice rather than just eating meat alone, it's a good choice for a ssam-style meal near Nonhyeon Station. Yuksam Maeul Nonhyeon Station Main Branch, where you can eat comfortably in a spacious dining room, is worth a visit if you're after a Nonhyeon Station pork belly spot with a wide variety of wrap vegetables and plenty of meat.