Korean BBQ with a live seafood tank in Gwangju: Sangnok Hoegwan

Sangnok Hoegwan: charcoal-briquette pork grilling in Taejeon-dong, Gwangju

Sangnok Hoegwan Yeontan-gui Taejeon Branch is a charcoal-grill pork restaurant right next to the underpass at the entrance to Taejeon-dong, Gwangju, Gyeonggi. It's a place I go to sometimes when I'm craving pork belly — one of the increasingly rare spots that still grills meat over actual charcoal briquettes.

This place is always packed. The parking lot in front of the building was full of cars, so I had to wait for one to pull out before I could park.

Even from the entrance, the smell of Sangnok Hoegwan's charcoal grilling was already making my mouth water.

Why Sangnok Hoegwan has a live seafood tank inside the dining room

Walking in, it's a pork restaurant, but there's a seafood tank right there full of fresh, live seafood. Being a meat place with seafood too really widens your options.

Sangnok Hoegwan menu and prices

The pork platter (dwaeji hangeun) is 600g for ₩36,000. The nice thing is you can order cuts individually, 100g at a time, whichever part you're in the mood for. The beef platter (so hangeun) is 600g for ₩49,500, and beef cuts can also be ordered in 100g portions.

They also had cheese scallop, scallop, sea squirt, fan mussel, grilled abalone, and live octopus. And fresh shrimp, which is in season in autumn.

The pork platter is what I order every single time. It was the first thing I tried here, and it's so good I keep sticking with it. Maybe next time I'll branch out and try something else.

The round tables and chairs have an old-school feel, but nothing vintage-shabby about it — the place is clean. It's a BBQ restaurant, but it's well maintained, which makes it a pleasant place to sit.

Even on a weekday, tables kept filling up one by one. This place always surprises me with how busy it gets. Lots of friend groups, and families with kids too, coming in for a meal together.

Basic banchan and the self-serve side bar

These are the side dishes they bring out as standard. Everything else you grab yourself from the self-serve corner.

Once we loaded up from the self-serve corner, the table looked properly full. Around then the meat we ordered showed up too.

The ₩36,000 pork platter. I order it every time because it's delicious, but I really should try other things too. My husband kept glancing around and noticed other tables eating pork ribs and grilled shrimp too. Sangnok Hoegwan is a meat restaurant, but people seem to order a lot of the fresh seafood as well. Wish we'd known before ordering — we'd have tried something else too.

The oiled garlic from the self-serve corner comes wrapped in foil, ready to be set on the grill. We also grabbed wasabi and soybean powder.

We also grabbed canned pineapple — something I always pick up when I come here, either wrapped with the meat or lightly grilled over the fire, both delicious. Pork and pineapple go really well together; the pineapple cuts the greasiness and adds a refreshing note.

This is the side dish that gets picked up first once it's on the table — a tangy, seasoned dish that really wakes up your appetite.

Kimchi and seasoned bean sprouts also go on the grill — once warmed through, they get tucked into the lettuce wraps.

What cuts come in the 600g pork platter?

The charcoal fire is this place's signature. As soon as you sit down, they bring the burning briquettes to your table — total old-school vibes.

The pork platter comes with a variety of cuts — pork belly, neck, jowl, pork skin, skirt meat and more.

Time to properly get grilling over the charcoal.

Pork skin went on the grill too, and I got impatient with the thick cuts, so I sliced them up to speed up the cooking.

The charcoal seemed weak at first, but as we kept grilling the heat picked up and everything started cooking faster.

Pork grilled to a nice golden brown. Dipped in sauce, or wrapped generously with lettuce and other greens —

I've discovered how good pork skin really is here. The chewy texture is already great, but coated in soybean powder it's nutty and savory the whole way through.

Finishing with bibimbap and doenjang jjigae

Bibimbap (mixed rice) is a must-have at Sangnok Hoegwan. The bubbling doenjang jjigae (soybean paste stew) is ₩2,000 and tastes clean and savory. After all that meat, bibimbap feels like the necessary finish to cut the richness.

Is Sangnok Hoegwan in Taejeon-dong worth a visit?

This is the real-deal spot that comes to mind whenever I'm craving meat. The charcoal-fire atmosphere is great, and between the mood, the heat, the smoke, and especially how fresh and tasty the meat is, Sangnok Hoegwan is a solid Taejeon-dong favorite.