Cheonan pork belly with garlic scape banchan: Cham Dwaejitgan

It's at 10 Wondujeong 5-gil, Seobuk-gu, Cheonan-si, Chungcheongnam-do, South Korea. Hours are 16:00 to 04:00, and you can park in front of the restaurant or on the surrounding streets.

Lately my weekday dinners have been light — just eggs or something small. So I was really looking forward to today!! It was Saturday, and I wanted some good samgyeopsal (grilled pork belly), so I headed to a well-known BBQ spot in Dujeong-dong.

This is "Cham Dwaejitgan," a popular BBQ restaurant in Dujeong-dong. The big signboard catches your eye right away, and the phrase written on it was especially memorable.

Smoked over rice husks for aroma, grilled over charcoal for flavor

Inside Cham Dwaejitgan Cheonan Dujeong Branch: seating and ventilation

Walking in, the restaurant was bigger than I expected, with tables spaced out comfortably. The overall black-and-wood tone felt clean but still had that classic BBQ-restaurant feel, and every table had its own grill and ventilation setup. At a BBQ place you always worry a bit about the smoke and smell, but there was a large ventilation system on the ceiling, so the meal felt fairly comfortable throughout.

What comes free in the 0-won service, including kids' tableware

One thing that caught my eye before we even started eating was the '0-won service' sign. Kids' dishes, palate-cleansing candy, disposable aprons, plastic bags for storing your clothes, Wi-Fi, toothbrushes and toothpicks, deodorizer, chargers, glasses cloths, and even hair ties — wow, literally everything you'd need before a BBQ meal was ready and waiting. It felt like such a thoughtful touch for guests. I imagine having kids' dishes on hand is especially welcome for families eating together.

Why the aroma is different: rice-husk smoking plus charcoal grilling

Now for the actual grilling. (Though honestly, the staff grill everything for you, haha.) What you see under the grill is the rice husk. Grilling meat directly over charcoal versus grilling meat that's gone through a smoking process inevitably makes a difference in aroma, and tasting it myself, the subtle scent coming off the meat was pretty appealing.

Boseong nokdon pork belly and jowl with garlic scape salad

We ordered one serving each of Boseong nokdon pork belly and Boseong nokdon pork jowl. The side dishes came out first. There was ssamjang (dipping sauce) and various sauces, but the garlic scape salad tossed in what seemed like a soy-based dressing was a side dish I'd never seen at another BBQ restaurant. It paired incredibly well with the meat. You could also grill it alongside various ingredients like potato, mushroom, and peppers. And kimchi, minari (water celery), and bean sprouts could be grilled together too, which made it even more delicious.

There's a self-bar for the basic side dishes, so if you run low, you just go refill them yourself. Since the ingredients are fresh, I ended up going back not just once but two or three times.

Staff grill the meat, and you wrap it in sliced potato

The staff grilled the meat deliciously from start to finish. They put sliced potato on the grill alongside it, and once the potato was cooked through, wrapping the meat in it turned out to be a real delicacy, haha. The pork belly and jowl were both domestic, and they were cut into generous chunks that looked even more appetizing.

Once it's sizzling and cooked just right, you can wrap it in lettuce, wrap it in potato, or eat it together with kimchi, bean sprouts, and minari — it's all a real treat.

Finishing the meal with soy sauce egg rice

After finishing the meat, I had to think it over — cold noodles or doenjang (soybean paste) stew? In the end I went with something nostalgic and light: soy sauce egg rice.

Soy sauce egg rice, the kind your mom used to make when you were little — you all know it, right? Egg, soy sauce, a bit of mayonnaise, and a sprinkle of seaweed flakes, all mixed together. There's nothing like polishing off a bowl of this. Fried rice or cold noodles can feel a bit heavy after BBQ, but having something like this as a side menu made me feel a little less guilty(?) about the meaty meal.

We often eat pork without really knowing which cut is which. At Cham Dwaejitgan, the popular BBQ restaurant in Dujeong-dong, I picked up some basic knowledge on that front too.

Who should eat at Cham Dwaejitgan in Dujeong-dong, Cheonan?

Cham Dwaejitgan, the popular BBQ restaurant in Dujeong-dong, seems like a great fit for anyone wanting to enjoy meat in a slightly different way than the usual samgyeopsal. The biggest standout is the rice-husk smoking that infuses aroma into the meat before it's grilled over charcoal, and there's real fun in grilling thick pork belly together with kimchi, bean sprouts, minari, and various vegetables. It's the kind of place where, once you start putting a piece of meat, grilled kimchi, minari, and sliced potato together, your chopsticks just keep moving! If you're craving a satisfying, delicious meat meal in Dujeong-dong, Cheonan, I recommend Cham Dwaejitgan.