Icheon BBQ restaurant with marinated pork meatballs: Jeongsiljangne

Jeongsiljangne Ppalgan Gogi (정실장네빨간고기) is a must-visit near Icheon Terminal.

The old downtown area of Icheon has such a nostalgic feel that I want to explore every corner of it, but the outskirts of Icheon are also fun to dig into — wide parking lots, great taste, and plenty of cheap restaurants, so it's always a fun dilemma deciding where to start. Icheon is a region where visiting restaurants in both the old downtown and the outer roads each has its own charm.

On this day I went to a BBQ restaurant near Icheon Terminal — Jeongsiljangne Ppalgan Gogi, a place where you can grill seasoned meat over charcoal, something that's gotten hard to find these days.

What Jeongsiljangne Ppalgan Gogi looks like inside and out

Here's the exterior. The distinctive black-and-red interior design stands out — I've often seen this style at jokbal (pig's trotter) restaurants too, and statistically, quite a few of those turn out to be genuinely great places.

Here's the interior. It's clearly a good atmosphere for drinking. Round tables set up for gathering around and grilling meat together.

The weather's been so nice lately that the ventilation was great, the airflow was great, the meat was delicious, the weather was delicious, anyway, all of that. Gotta hit up the good restaurants extra hard these days to prepare for next winter, right?

Menu and prices: what we ordered at Jeongsiljangne Ppalgan Gogi

Here's the menu at Jeongsiljangne Ppalgan Gogi. I agonized a bit over what to order.

First off, we ordered the red raw pork belly and red meatballs, both with the word 'red' in the name. I figured I'd order more raw pork neck if it wasn't enough, but there turned out to be plenty. Besides that, the side menu only had two options — bowl bibimbap and udon — so I figured finishing those off would be plenty.

• Red raw pork belly (2 servings) ₩32,000
• Red meatballs (2 servings) ₩30,000
• Bowl bibimbap ₩10,000
• Udon ₩4,000
• Rice ₩1,500
• Cass beer ₩5,000
• Soft drink ₩2,500

Banchan spread as full as a hanjeongsik (Korean set-menu) table

Here's the basic banchan (side dishes). They came out like a full hanjeongsik (Korean set-meal) spread. The braised tofu was really tasty. There was also fresh vegetable salad and nabak mul-kimchi (watery radish kimchi).

Fresh lettuce, perilla leaves, soft rolled egg omelet, red sauce,

garlic, ssamjang (dipping sauce), green onion salad, and braised yeolmu kimchi (young radish kimchi) rounded out the basic setup. Honestly, these banchan alone could rival a dedicated home-style meal restaurant.

Red raw pork belly for two: marinated meat with cartilage attached

Here's the red raw pork belly for two and red meatballs for two. The portions looked bigger than expected.

Honestly, these days when you order a 2-person portion somewhere, it's often not enough and you end up thinking 'ugh, guess I need extra rice' or 'let's get another beer' — but here, just looking at what came out, the portion looked quite substantial.

We grilled the red raw pork belly first. I really love cuts with cartilage attached like this, and this happened to be exactly my type. The meat itself was tender, and the cartilage had a nice chewy texture. So you could alternate and enjoy both textures.

We grilled it up nicely on the plate. The heat was just about right. The more diligently you tend to it, the less likely you are to burn the meat, but the meat was so delicious that sometimes everyone forgot to keep an eye on it for a moment. That's how good it was.

The color looked amazing. Every single piece was well-coated in seasoning. I could just imagine how hard they had to work massaging all that seasoning in.

And honestly, in this kind of atmosphere, meat like this is even better with a slight char on the surface. Just like grilling meat in a countryside yard or on an outdoor bench.

Red pork meatballs made with pork neck

And here's the red meatballs. They're not actual meatballs — it's pork neck shaped like meatballs. Looking at it again now, it really does look like real meatballs.

The red pork belly was delicious in its own right, but the meatballs were also a real specialty. That charcoal-charred seasoning flavor paired perfectly with the tender meat.

Sides: bowl bibimbap, udon and doenjang (soybean paste) stew

We also ordered the bowl bibimbap as a side — lots of vegetables, and the bibimbap sauce was tasty. It went really well with the seasoned meat.

And I've been obsessed with udon lately, so we ordered that too. It came neatly topped with ssukgat (crown daisy) leaves, and the portion was way bigger than what you'd get at a typical snack shop. Highly recommend it whenever you need something warm to soothe your stomach.

Here's the doenjang (soybean paste) stew, which paired so well with the bowl bibimbap.

If you're looking for a great restaurant near Icheon Terminal, a BBQ spot in particular, I genuinely recommend Jeongsiljangne Ppalgan Gogi.