Bucheon Korean barbecue for pork belly with shrimp salt: Mungteong

When I was wondering where to go for delicious meat in Bucheon, I visited Mungteong, a pork belly spot near Sinjung-dong Station this time. It sits between Sinjung-dong Station and Bucheon City Hall Station, so it is easy enough to reach from either one. It is also near Hyundai Department Store and Lotte Department Store Jungdong Branch, making it a good place to stop for a meal after shopping.

More than anything, this is a place where you can try a variety of thick-cut, fist-sized grilled pork styles, so I was really looking forward to the meat before visiting. Of everything I ate that day, the juicy pork belly was my number-one pick!

There were plenty of sauces and accompaniments too, so meat lovers should be satisfied here.

Mungteong Bucheon Sinjung-dong Branch: location and visitor information

It is a 10-minute walk from Exit 3 of Sinjung-dong Station, and since it is between Sinjung-dong Station and Bucheon City Hall Station, you can use whichever station is closer. It is not far from Hyundai Department Store or Lotte Department Store Jungdong Branch either.

For parking, use the underground lot at Hiveras Building; if it is full, you can use the Old Terminal Public Parking Lot. Both reportedly offer one hour of free parking, with an additional fee of ₩400 per 10 minutes. So drivers probably do not need to worry too much about parking!

It also offers free corkage, reservations, and dog-friendly visits, so it works well as a gathering spot.

Mungteong also says it provides service according to how long you wait. If you wait more than 20 minutes, you get one canned drink; more than 30 minutes, one bottle of alcohol; more than an hour, pork skin or sausage; and more than two hours, one handful of jumeok-gui (thick-cut grilled pork).

Long waits can get boring and disappointing, but isn't it wildly thoughtful that they prepared benefits so you get something back for the time you wait..? There were chargers and convenience items inside too, and overall it felt like they were trying to make customers comfortable.

A retro atmosphere with generous group seating

Once you enter the first floor of Hiveras Building, Mungteong's distinctive retro exterior catches your eye. It has a touch of the retro vibe you might see in Seongsu or Euljiro these days, along with the comfortable feeling of a classic Korean barbecue restaurant—perfect for having drinks with friends!

There is outdoor seating too, so grilling meat outside on a nice day would have quite a good atmosphere. Inside, there are more than 10 four-person tables, so seating is generally generous. They say up to 16 people can sit together when tables are joined, making it suitable for company dinners, family meals, or visits with a group of friends.

By around 7 p.m. on the day we visited, it was nearly full. There can be a wait, so I recommend making a reservation if you plan to visit in the evening! Because we had reserved, the basic table setting was prepared in advance, and there was even a welcome message. It was a small detail, but it made me happy.

One Plate Set menu and prices

• Mungteong Jumeok-gui One Plate (500g): ₩45,000
• One Plate Set (500g Jumeok-gui One Plate + choice of stew + pork skin or sausage): ₩59,000
• Mungteong Juicy Pork Belly (150g): ₩15,000
• Mungteong Jumeok-gui One Handful (170g): ₩16,000
• Chewy special cut of the day (150g): ₩17,000
• Large Plate Set: ₩76,500
• Mungteong Jumeok-gui Large Plate (700g): ₩63,000
• Whole block of tofu country-style cheonggukjang (fermented soybean stew): ₩7,000
• Freshly cooked Mungteong Special Rice (for 2): ₩5,000
• Chilled kimchi noodle soup · nutty perilla-oil bibim noodles: ₩6,000 each
• Mungteong-Mungteong Stew (kimchi) · spicy gochujang stew: ₩7,000 each
• Spicy stir-fried pork cartilage fried rice: ₩8,000
• Cinnamon-scented pork skin · 20 cm house-made sausage: ₩9,900 each
• Sweet-and-tangy Mungteong highball (omija): ₩6,900
• Meals for preschool children and corkage for one bottle of alcohol: free

Mungteong specializes in pork, so you can order meat as individual cuts, an assortment, or a set. The jumeok-gui assortment comes as a 500g One Plate or 700g Large Plate, while individual options include special cuts, 150g juicy pork belly, and a 170g handful of jumeok-gui. Side dishes include whole-block tofu country-style cheonggukjang and freshly cooked Mungteong Special Rice.

We ordered the ₩59,000 One Plate Set that day. I liked that it came with a plate of jumeok-gui, kimchi stew, and pork skin, letting us try a variety of meat and side dishes.

Thick-cut jumeok-gui and my top-pick pork belly

As soon as the plate of jumeok-gui arrived, the first thing I noticed was, of course, the thickness of the meat.

A whole plate piled high with thick-cut meat!

The jumeok-gui assortment includes flower neck meat, pork neck, shoulder, and pork belly, and they say they use premium meat shipped directly from farms in Andong, North Gyeongsang. Mungteong advised that the meat is best eaten cooked to around 80%.

The staff grill the first round themselves, and after that you grill it yourself. I liked being able to cook it to my preferred doneness.

And what I realized while eating that day was that this was not a barbecue restaurant where only one specific cut was good—each cut had its own charm! The pork neck was clean-tasting and tender, while the flower neck meat became more nutty the more I chewed it.

The shoulder was not tough either, with a pleasantly chewy texture. But my top pick was definitely the pork belly! Its savory fat and lean meat were nicely balanced, so every bite was properly juicy. I think people who like thick-cut meat would especially enjoy this style.

The grill Mungteong uses was unusual too. It is a specially made aluminum grill, and charred spots can form as you cook, but a quick wipe with pickled radish cleans it right up. When a grill gets charred at a Korean barbecue restaurant, I worry it might affect the meat's flavor, so this was convenient too.

The fun of changing it up with meljeot and shrimp salt

Another fun part of Mungteong is its wide range of sauces and accompaniments.

There were several choices, including house special salted seafood, shiitake wasabi, shrimp salt, and barley ssamjang (seasoned soybean paste), so we could change up the combinations even with the same meat. I especially liked the meljeot (fermented anchovy sauce). It had just the right savory depth and seemed to bring out the meat's flavor even more!

Adding sliced chili pepper gave it a slightly spicy kick, and it went so well with the meat. The shrimp salt Mungteong grinds itself was delicious too. You might expect salt to be overwhelmingly salty, but it was not just salty—it had great savory flavor. I actually dipped the meat in shrimp salt most often. With all the sauces, it was fun to try every piece in a different way.

There were lots of side dishes too, including pickled radish wraps, potato salad, green onion kimchi, napa cabbage kimchi, and pickled gungchae stems, plus lettuce, chili peppers, garlic, and other wrap vegetables, so you can make wraps however you like.

It was delicious with a piece of meat topped with pickled radish wraps and green onion kimchi, and it was also nice to dip it only in salt and taste the meat itself! Ahh, every last bite was delicious, haha.

Slushie after the meal

And Mungteong is remarkably thoughtful with its service!! There are all sorts of convenience items at the counter, battery chargers are available, and there is even a slushie for dessert after the meal. A sweet, cool slushie after eating meat would be a refreshing finish for your mouth.

If you want several cuts on one plate

What I liked most about Mungteong was being able to enjoy thick-cut, jumeok-gui-style pork in several cuts. The flower neck meat, pork neck, shoulder, and pork belly all had different textures and flavors, so even one plate gave us variety. Of them all, I found the juicy, savory pork belly the tastiest. The meljeot and shrimp salt with the meat were delicious too, and the varied side dishes made it fun to change the combination with every bite.

Above all, it is conveniently located between Sinjung-dong Station and Bucheon City Hall Station, and near Hyundai Department Store and Lotte Department Store Jungdong Branch, so it is a good place for a meal after shopping. There may be a wait in the evening, so I recommend making a reservation before visiting.

It had a comfortable atmosphere for eating meat with several people, whether for a company dinner, a get-together with friends, a date, or a family meal. If you are looking for pork belly near Sinjung-dong Station in Bucheon or a restaurant for thick-cut jumeok-gui, I recommend trying Mungteong's One Plate arrangement to enjoy several cuts together! If I visit again, I want to eat the pork belly I had this time again and choose special cuts I did not get to try, one by one.