Busan Korean BBQ with grilled cheese: Daepae Maket Daeyeon

I’m craving meat. Not grilling at home—at a Korean barbecue restaurant!!

A Jeju thin-sliced pork restaurant near Daeyeon Station

My mom and I had been totally sprawled out until the afternoon, going, “What should we have for dinner... ugh, too much effort,” when we casually decided, “How about daepae?” So off we went to Daepae Maket Busan Daeyeon Branch (대패마켙 부산대연점), a Jeju thin-sliced pork spot in Daeyeon-dong, Busan. It is easy to find. It is only a short walk from Exit 5 of Daeyeon Station, so it is handy by public transport too. It faces the main road, and I had passed it so often on the bus that finding it for the first time was no trouble. Parking is available as well, so keep that in mind if you are driving? Recommended for a family meal out.

Spacious seating and children’s facilities

When I stepped inside, the first thing I noticed was that the restaurant was far bigger than I expected. At a thin-sliced pork belly place, tables are usually packed tightly together and the atmosphere tends to be hectic, but the seating here was laid out with plenty of room, so we could sit comfortably. It had an energetic overall atmosphere, but there were lots of tables, so it looked good for friends or families dining together. I especially noticed the playroom and children’s facilities, set up so family groups could use the restaurant comfortably.

Rather than flashy, the interior felt clean and made for an easy, comfortable meal. In particular, every seat had a fan—such thoughtful service, I was touched. Each table had a grill, and we sat somewhere with an easy route to the self bar too.

There is complimentary welcome eomuk-tang (fish cake soup), served in a kettle. A tip: add one spicy Cheongyang chili pepper and it becomes wonderfully refreshing and spicy.

Self-bar fee: ₩2,000 for elementary-school age through adults / ₩1,000 for ages 4–7 / free for ages 3 and under

“There’s a fee for the self bar?” I thought—but once you see it, it makes sense. And once you are here, you somehow keep going back and forth to it.

Around 30 self-bar items to pair as you like

The self bar has around 30 items. It is stocked with all kinds of vegetables, side dishes, and ingredients to grill, so you can bring whatever vegetables or extras you want and cook them alongside your meat. I also noticed the honesty scale. It is set up so you can put your ordered meat on it and check the weight yourself.

Look at the length of that self bar. With around 30 choices, it was great for picking side dishes, ssam vegetables (wrap vegetables), and more to enjoy with the meat exactly as I liked.

Jeju thin-sliced pork 500g + grilling cheese

When ordering, I could choose the thickness of the thin-sliced pork. There were two options, thin and slightly thicker. Since I wanted to try something a little different from the thin sliced pork belly I usually eat, I asked for the slightly thicker cut.

The table was so big that even after loading it with all sorts of self-bar side dishes, there was still plenty of space left.

There were lots of ingredients to grill, and I brought what I wanted: my preferred wraps, seasoned scallions, onions, and so on. The salad bar really had such a wide variety of ingredients!!

Grilling the slightly thicker Jeju thin-sliced pork

As I placed the curled slices of meat onto the grill one by one, they definitely looked thicker than the daepae I usually eat. The second they hit the grill, they started sizzling and releasing fat, yet they cooked faster than I expected. The grill was spacious too, which was great for cooking lots of things at once.

This time, with the slightly thicker cut, the meat was clearly a little wider, so it held its shape better on the grill and had a different texture from thin daepae when I ate it. Personally, I liked this style quite a lot and would want to visit again next time.

I browned the outside but did not cook the inside too dry, so it stayed nicely juicy? Daepae can turn crisp as the fat renders out if you cook it too long, but personally, I thought it was best lightly browned and eaten with grilled vegetables.

The grilled-cheese and Jeju pork combination

The Jeju pork was great, of course, but what I had really been looking forward to that day was the grilling cheese. As a cheese lover, I could not pass it up. Ordering grilling cheese with your meat gives you the fun of slipping it in between bites. When you put it on the grill and cook it lightly, the outside turns golden and it gets chewy. And this was a pretty good pairing with well-cooked Jeju pork—without being greasy. The meat’s rendered fat and the cheese’s nutty flavor come together, and the taste definitely feels richer.

Still, do not leave the cheese on the grill too long, because it can melt and run out; it is best to eat it as soon as it turns lightly golden. Cheese with grilled potatoes was especially delicious. Changing the meat thickness even slightly really made the whole eating experience feel quite different.

Finishing with bean sprouts, kimchi, and seafood doenjang-jjigae

For the third and final round of grilling, once we grilled bean sprouts and kimchi to go with rice, then ordered rice and doenjang-jjigae (soybean paste stew), we knew our full meat meal was winding down.

The seafood doenjang-jjigae was something we absolutely had to have after the meat. And it was one of the things that stayed with me more than I expected that day. Ordering a doenjang-jjigae when we eat meat is a non-negotiable rule for my mom and me. This seafood version was not just ordinary doenjang-jjigae: it had blue crab and mideodeok (sea squirt) too, making it a refreshing seafood stew.

There was even cool, sweet soft-serve ice cream to have on the way out. With these little thoughtful services and such a variety of things to eat, this was a fun meal at Daepae Maket Busan Daeyeon Branch in Daeyeon-dong, Busan—review over!!