Cheongju Korean restaurant with a Musimcheon window view: Ttukbangjip

Today I visited a Sajik-dong, Cheongju restaurant that only serves lunch — Ttukbangjip (뚝방집), famous for its smoky charcoal gochujang pork and rich cheonggukjang (fermented soybean stew)!

• Hours: Tue–Sun 11:00–15:00 (last order 14:00)
• Closed every Monday

Where is Ttukbangjip? Right by the Musimcheon embankment path

Walking along the Musimcheon riverside path in Cheongju, you'll come across Ttukbangjip, a cozy Sajik-dong local restaurant, its smoky charcoal aroma drifting right onto the path!

The place was spacious with plenty of tables! It had big open windows looking out onto the beautiful Musimcheon stream, which made for a really lovely dining spot✨

One dish only: charcoal gochujang pork with free cheonggukjang

Ttukbangjip's main (and only!) menu is the charcoal gochujang pork. It uses domestic pork shoulder and can only be ordered for two or more people. For meal dishes, there's kimchi mari guksu made with kimchi aged for 360 hours, plus rice!

What I loved most was that ordering the meat comes with a free bowl of savory cheonggukjang! Rice has to be ordered separately, so we got two servings of the signature charcoal gochujang pork with two bowls of rice!

Side dishes and the self-serve bar at Ttukbangjip

Right after ordering, a neat spread of side dishes was set out! Ssam greens, kimchi, pickled onions and shredded scallion salad all came out, and every single one tasted homemade — the stir-fried fish cake and stir-fried zucchini especially had just the right seasoning and were so delicious👏🏻

You can freely refill any side dish that runs low at the self-serve bar! Especially nice was being able to refill the tasty fish cake and zucchini stir-fries, along with fresh ssam greens, as much as we liked!

How did the charcoal gochujang pork and cheonggukjang taste?

A little while later, the charcoal gochujang pork with its nose-tingling smoky aroma arrived, along with the bubbling cheonggukjang!

Grilled over charcoal, it had a lovely subtle smoky flavor, and the sauce was soaked right into the surface of the meat, looking incredibly appetizing✨

The sauce wasn't too sweet or overpowering — just the right pleasant sweet-and-spicy balance that you never get tired of! Best of all, the meat had a perfect ratio of lean to fat, so it wasn't dry at all — tender and chewy in the best way. It was delicious eaten plain, with the smoky flavor filling your mouth, but it was equally amazing piled on warm white rice or wrapped up with fresh ssam greens, shredded scallions, or pickled onions👍🏻

The cheonggukjang that comes free with the meat was also excellent quality! It came bubbling in a stone bowl, packed with soybeans, giving the broth a really rich, savory depth👏🏻

Tofu and vegetables were generously added too, so spooning it up between bites was so satisfying with that rich, savory flavor! Mixing a big spoonful of cheonggukjang into the rice and topping it with a piece of meat was the kind of thing you just couldn't stop eating✨

How to join the Naver receipt review event

If you leave a Naver receipt review at Ttukbangjip, you can get a free bottle of local Cheongju makgeolli or kimchi mari guksu made with the 360-hour aged kimchi! Just ask for your receipt and scan the QR code — simple as that, so make sure not to forget when you visit and grab your free treat🙌🏻

Final take: a Korean lunch spot near Musimcheon Stream

With wide-open views of Musimcheon and a perfect meal of smoky charcoal gochujang pork plus rich cheonggukjang, this Sajik-dong, Cheongju restaurant, Ttukbangjip, made for a truly satisfying lunch! If you're looking for a delicious Korean lunch spot near Musimcheon, I recommend visiting Ttukbangjip✨