Jeju black pork restaurant dinner with staff grilling: Nopo Dwaeji Aewol

First day in Aewol: black pork close by

For our first dinner on a September trip to Jeju, we picked black pork—an essential on any Jeju trip.

I searched “Aewol black pork restaurant” near our accommodation and Nopo Dwaeji Aewol came up, so here we were. It is exactly a five-minute walk from Gwakji Beach. Jeju means black pork, after all, and in my experience as a Jeju-loving human, pretty much every Jeju black pork place is delicious, so I chose somewhere nearby.

Hours: 11:00–23:00 (last order at 22:00)

Two cute black pigs welcome you in. The restaurant was quite a bit bigger than I expected.

There were diners on both sides, so I could not properly photograph the space, but the tables were nicely spread out and it looked good for groups. There actually were quite a few big families there. (It was not noisy, though! Very important information for a person who hates noisy restaurants.)

600g black pork geun-gogi and doenjang-jjigae

• Black pork geun-gogi (thick-cut pork) 600g ₩72,000
• +
• Doenjang-jjigae (soybean paste stew) ₩9,000

There were two of us, so we ordered the 600g black pork geun-gogi. Geun-gogi comes with pork neck and pork belly, and 600g is ₩72,000!

I wondered whether 600g would be enough for two, but in the end, with the doenjang-jjigae and two bowls of rice, it was exactly enough to leave us full.

Honestly, I thought ₩9,000 for doenjang-jjigae might be a little expensive, but one bite of the blue crab changed my mind. The crab was soooo sweet. Is this its sweet season? There were about three big body pieces in it.

The basic side dishes include white kimchi, spicy shredded radish, and pickles, and you can freely take more from the self-service bar. That shredded radish—the red side dish—was especially delicious. It went so well with the meat that I just kept eating it.

Halla-san, indispensable with black pork.

A staff-grilled meal of thick geun-gogi

The meat arrived super thick. It seemed to come lightly seared on the outside. What I especially liked about Nopo Dwaeji Aewol was that when you order black pork geun-gogi, a staff member grills it for you.

Do note, though, that any special cuts added after the geun-gogi have to be grilled by you!

Thick meat is hard to grill, so having someone do it meant we did not have to frantically juggle conversation and grilling. That made the meal even more satisfying. Now that I am older, I like meat grilled by someone else.

The pork neck looked fine, but when I searched blogs, the pork belly had looked a little thin in photos, so I was like hmm. In person, it was not like that at all. Super thick. I have no idea why it comes out like that only in photos.

The pork neck was cooked first. Once it was done, they moved it to the side like this. They said it gets tough if overcooked, so we hurried up and ate it. I do not know what kind of salted seafood it was, but that was tasty too.

Pickled chili peppers with wasabi: yummy combination. The side dishes can be self-refilled.

Look at that color, ahh.

A self-service bar with ssam vegetables and children's utensils

I tend to look for ssam vegetables when I eat meat, and unlike Seoul, where they feel precious, haha, at Nopo Dwaeji Aewol I loved that I could take as much as I wanted without asking separately. Unlimited garlic flakes too. They went unexpectedly well with the meat, which was fascinating. Is eating meat with garlic flakes common? I had never seen it before, at least.

Small children's forks and spoons were also set out on one side of the self-service bar, which seems great for people traveling with kids. Maybe that is why there were so many families!

A walk at Gwakji Beach after dinner

The beach is a six-minute walk away, so it was perfect for a stroll after eating. It was my first time seeing so many squid boats in Jeju—are they squid boats? This may be wrong, hehe. It made me think of that Jeju drama. While writing this, I suddenly cannot remember the title. You all know it, right? The one with Lee Byung-hun and Shin Min-a, and the child sees squid boats and makes a wish—what was it called...

The cafés near Gwakji Beach stayed open even after 8 p.m. Cafés in Jeju close early, so I had bought dessert at the convenience store right next to the pork restaurant, but I was so sad when I saw all the cafés still openㅠ Everyone, come here for drinks and dessert instead... And that wraps up a delicious first-day meal.