Daejeon pork bone grill for two under ₩50,000 near Sungsimdang: Yeonam

Here's my review of Yeonam Charcoal-Grilled Pork Backbone & Gamjatang (연암숯불뼈구이), a great find near Sungsimdang in Daejeon! The bone grill here is hot at the original spice level, so if you can't handle spicy food, please choose the "milder" option!

One more thing: I've been traveling outside Seoul a lot lately, and food and cafés definitely seem cheaper in the regions than in Seoul! At Yeonam too, we ate plenty of tasty food for the ₩40,000s, and even had some left over 😋

What kind of place is Yeonam Charcoal-Grilled Pork Backbone & Gamjatang?

It's a Korean restaurant for bone grill and gamjatang (pork bone stew) in Daeheung-dong, Jung-gu, Daejeon, close to Sungsimdang. Gamjatang is everywhere, but bone grill isn't, so I'd been wanting to try it, and since I had a reason to be in Daejeon, I stopped by 😉

How do you order, and what did we get?

You can order easily by tablet at the table. We ordered a small bone grill at the original spice level, a rice ball and egg custard!

If spice is hard for you, definitely order the milder one.. It's not a sharp, harsh kind of hot, just the original hot, yep. But it's hot AND has a smoky char flavor, so my tongue was tingling lol.. Still, it was so good that I was holding the bones and eating 🍖🦴 I also liked that cups and utensils were neatly set out.

What side dishes and water come out?

The basic setup was pickled onions, anchovies, a glass noodle-type salad..? chili peppers, ssamjang (seasoned dipping paste) and a small plate! The plate was huge haha, so I took a photo!

I liked that they serve barley tea as the water. It's clean-tasting and helps tone down the spice a bit!

Free gamjatang broth

Yeonam thoughtfully gives you gamjatang broth as a freebie. Such a lovely touch (o゜▽゜)o☆ Having the broth and then the bone grill almost feels like eating gamjatang.. hahaha

Small bone grill for ₩34,000: how big and how spicy?

The bone grill and egg custard arrived. The bone grill is seriously hot! hahaha The egg custard is basically a must-order ;)

The small bone grill is ₩34,000 and comes with about 5–6 bones! The bones are really, really big and meaty! I heard there's a wait on weekends, and I can see why! haha I wonder if there's anywhere else near Sungsimdang where you can eat bone grill like this besides Yeonam..! (just a guess lol)

I put the bones on my small plate and pulled off the meat with plastic gloves to dig in. Ahh, looking at this makes me want it again, so I want to go back soon or eat it again when I'm in Daejeon around autumn.. 😉 My mouth was numb and it was tough, but it was so good that I'd happily go again with the milder option! hehehe

Is the ₩5,000 egg custard worth ordering?

The egg custard (gyeran-jjim) at Yeonam is ₩5,000 and goes well with the spicy bone grill, so I recommend it. The ratio of egg to water was just right. Fluffy and delicious 😋 Protein can calm the heat, so please do order it! φ(゜▽゜*)♪

How does the ₩5,000 rice ball come?

The rice ball (jumeokbap) at Yeonam is ₩5,000, and it comes with plastic gloves and a small plate so you shape it yourself. It seemed to have mayo + seaweed + some tuna in it..? and out it came, haha

Rice ball done! I can't make them this round, but my friend whipped these up in no time haha. I really can't make a circle like this. How do you do it, how do you make a circle?? What even is 3.14 lolololol

Restrooms, payment and parking?

I liked that Yeonam takes KakaoPay and Jung-gu Tong Pay (a local payment method). The restroom was very close too, which was nice. I love restaurants with lots of payment options (●'◡'●) Keep this in mind when you pay!

If you're craving meat near Sungsimdang in Daejeon, I recommend dropping by haha. It's close to Sungsimdang, so parking in the Sungsimdang lot and walking over would probably work well~! haha