Gwangju pork belly spot ending in kimchi fried rice: Paldo Daepae

So one evening during a nice little vacation, my husband and I both suddenly got a craving for daepae samgyeopsal (thin-sliced pork belly), so we went to Paldo Daepae — let me introduce it to you!

Where Paldo Daepae Cheomdan is and when it opens

Paldo Daepae Gwangju Cheomdan Branch is located at 110 Cheomdan-jungang-ro, 2F #206, Gwangsan-gu, Gwangju. Hours are Mon–Fri 16:00–23:00, Sat–Sun 12:00–23:00, and there's parking in the lot behind the building.

Inside, there are rows of table seats and it was cleaner than I expected~ Seemed like a good fit for families as well as for groups coming to eat meat together~?

Which six meat cuts are all-you-can-eat?

At Paldo Daepae you don't just eat one type of meat — you can bring over as many of the 6 types as you want! The cuts are: daepae samgyeopsal / daepae mokssal / ggotsamgyeop / frozen samgyeop / hanwoo daepae / wusamgyeop daepae — six total!

Even though they're all thin-sliced daepae, there are several varieties, so you can grab a little of each, try them, and go back for more of whichever you like!

The self-bar at Paldo Daepae: 8 sauces plus seasonings

The self-bar has kimchi, bean sprouts, and onions to grill with the meat, plus a good variety of vegetables like leafy greens for wraps, bracken fern, and mushrooms!

And true to the name Paldo Daepae, there are 8 types of Paldo-style dipping sauces for the meat, plus seasonings like pink salt, flower salt, pepper, curry sauce, lamb skewer seasoning, and bean powder, so you can eat it however you like!

On one side of the self-corner, there are tongs and scissors ready for eating the meat, and there's even a kids' meal tray set up~

Basically everything, from the basic table setting on, is self-serve, so we grabbed exactly what we wanted to eat — kimchi, bean sprouts, onions, wrap greens, and all kinds of sauces, all set!!😀👏🏻👏🏻 I love this kind of BBQ place with a self-bar, because you don't have to take side dishes you won't eat, and you can grab more of what you like without feeling awkward about it haha👍🏻

Starting with ggotsamgyeop, the marbled pork belly

First up was ggotsamgyeop!🌸 Maybe because of the name, but I reached for it before the regular daepae haha. The biggest advantage of daepae — since it's thin, it cooks fast, and it's got that fatty, savory flavor that I personally love! Great pick to start with, if I do say so myself haha!

Grilled it together with kimchi and bean sprouts, then dipped the cooked ggotsamgyeop in whatever sauce I wanted! And of course, you have to grill mushrooms, onions, and bean sprouts in the fat that comes off the meat — that's just the rule, right?

Drink prices: unlimited soju 5,900 won, bottles 3,000 won

And you can't eat meat without drinking, so we ordered drinks too!🍺 For anyone who likes to drink, here's the part to note — the current menu has unlimited soju at ₩5,900 per person, separately, while soju and beer by the bottle are ₩3,000 each! My husband and I only had two bottles that day so we went à la carte, but depending on how much you drink, the unlimited option might be a much better deal😉

Also got a shot of the wrap my husband made while we were busy eating haha💚 Meat on the wrap green, topped with radish, scallion salad, and ssamjang (dipping sauce), all in one bite! Yum yum!

After the ggotsamgyeop, the second round we brought over was regular daepae samgyeopsal! Of course, when it comes to daepae, you have to try the most basic daepae samgyeopsal too~ This was just as delicious as the ggotsamgyeop.

Han River ramyeon is unlimited too, with 8 kinds to pick

While we were deep into eating meat, my husband suddenly got a craving for ramyeon (instant noodles) and went off to cook some haha. At Paldo Daepae, it's not just meat — Han River ramyeon is included in the all-you-can-eat too, and when we went, there was quite a variety ready: Jin Ramen / Kimchi Ramyeon /맛있는라면 (Delicious Ramyeon) / Odongtong / Shin Ramyun / Samyang Ramen / Yeul Ramen / Neoguri, and more~! I loved that there were so many options!!

But I didn't even ask him to make Neoguri... yet he sensed I wanted it and quietly cooked my favorite haha. Moments like this make me so impressed with my husband's thoughtfulness,,!🤩🥰❤️ Having a bite of ramyeon in the middle of eating meat really cuts through the greasiness, so nice.

Soy-sauce pork belly mixed at the self-bar

And this time, my husband made soy-marinated pork belly! He used sauces from the self-bar to season the meat, let it marinate a bit, then grilled it, and it tasted kind of like dwaeji galbi (marinated pork rib) sauce?? Really good~~ Well done, husband☘️👍🏻

Finishing with kimchi fried rice and a slushy

And finally, after finishing all the meat, you know K-dessert is a must, right?!😉 We grabbed kimchi + bean sprouts + spicy all-purpose sauce + lettuce + seaweed flakes from the self-bar and fried it all up

In the remaining meat fat, chop up the kimchi and bean sprouts, add rice and sauce, and fry it all together nicely — done~~

After frying it up nicely, my husband made it into a heart shape! I was full the whole time eating the fried rice, but it was so good I just kept eating,,! You've got to try it with this recipe!! It's seriously delicious🥰⭐️

And truly last but not least, slushies!!! At Paldo Daepae you can even help yourself to slushies, so after eating until I was bursting, I finished it all off with something cool and refreshing. Meat → ramyeon → fried rice → slushie, I think we really ate everything there was to eat haha

Is Paldo Daepae Cheomdan worth it?

🤍 For ₩18,900 per person, you get to enjoy everything from meat to ramyeon, fried rice, and slushies — such great value at Paldo Daepae Cheomdan! It's a place I can eat until I'm full without any pressure whenever I'm craving daepae samgyeopsal, so I know I'll keep thinking about it! If you're looking for an all-you-can-eat cold pork belly spot in Cheomdan, I really recommend Paldo Daepae!