Gyeongju Hyeongok BBQ dinner with a 6-year-old: Ddeoggogi Ttaenggijae

An AI robot pre-grills the pork belly at this Gyeongju Hyeongok pork restaurant, Ddeoggogi Ttaenggijae.

On days when we want to eat pork in Hyeongok, we often don't bother going far and just settle it near home. There are several pork restaurants around the apartment complex, so we pick depending on what we're craving that day, and one place our family often ends up at is Ddeoggogi Ttaenggijae.

As the name suggests, the springy, chewy dwitgogi (back meat) is tasty, but what we order most often when we come here is the combo platter that lets us eat thick whole pork belly and whole pork shoulder together. This time too, we went with our usual order and the three of us had a hearty dinner.

Why we keep going back to Ddeoggogi Ttaenggijae in Hyeongok

There are several pork restaurants in the commercial strip in front of our apartment complex. Even though they're all clustered close together, each has its own character, so we pick depending on what we feel like eating that day, and Ddeoggogi Ttaenggijae is a Gyeongju Hyeongok pork restaurant our family has visited on and off for a while.

It used to operate out of a smaller space, but it has since expanded into its current location. Even from the outside, the place has clearly grown a lot bigger. In a neighborhood with several other pork restaurants nearby, the fact that they expanded beyond their old space tells you there are regulars who keep coming back. We're the same — we come when we're craving dwitgogi, and also on days we want pork belly or shoulder.

Inside the expanded dining room and the menu

After the expansion, the interior became much more spacious. There are quite a few tables and the space is divided up nicely, so it's good for a family dinner out.

High chairs are also available. We've come here with our kid several times, and when you go to a pork restaurant with a child, there's a surprising amount to think about — from a high chair to side dishes the kid can actually eat.

It's nice being able to skip that stress since we've already been here a few times and know what to expect. The menu includes dwitgogi, whole pork belly, whole pork shoulder, whole pork jowl, and combo platters where you can eat several cuts together.

True to the name, we've tried the dwitgogi a few times too, and its distinctive springy, chewy texture is pretty good. But the menu we order most often here is the whole pork belly and pork shoulder combo platter, 700g for ₩55,000.

Since you can eat pork belly and shoulder at once, with three of us it naturally becomes the order of choice.

The side dishes: pickled Jerusalem artichoke to steamed egg

One thing I love about this Gyeongju Hyeongok pork restaurant is the side dishes. From lettuce wraps and scallion salad to kimchi, pickles, and salted hairtail intestine sauce, there's plenty to pair with the meat.

I especially really eat a lot of the pickled Jerusalem artichokes here. The crunchy texture is great, and popping one after eating the fatty pork belly cuts through the richness so well that my hand keeps reaching back for more.

And then there's the salted hairtail intestine sauce. It's good draped lightly over meat, but I also like eating it on its own. Lettuce, a perilla leaf, a scoop of white rice, and just a bit of the sauce — I can polish off a whole meal with that combo alone, even though I came here for the meat.

What's especially welcome when we come with our kid is that a steamed egg dish comes free with the meal. This time I didn't realize that and added an extra order of steamed egg, but a staff member who's worked here a long time let me know first, saying, "Steamed egg already comes free once, so I took that extra one off." I nearly double-ordered without knowing, so I really appreciated her catching it.

When we go to a pork restaurant with our kid, spicy side dishes often aren't something we can all share, but the soft steamed egg comes standard and the vegetables are fresh, which makes it easy to get food into our kid. My husband seemed to be the one who ate the most of the seasoned greens, including my share!

The 700g pork belly and shoulder combo, pre-grilled by AI robot

One thing that stands out at Ddeoggogi Ttaenggijae is the AI robot pre-grilling system. An AI robot using cameras and sensors pre-grills the meat over charcoal, so even the thick whole pork belly and shoulder come out already partially cooked.

What we ordered was the whole pork belly and shoulder combo platter, 700g. Since it comes pre-grilled, all you need to do at the table is cut it into bite-sized pieces and finish grilling it to a nice golden brown.

The pork belly is savory, and the shoulder has that thick, chewy bite, so it's fun to alternate between the two. We just kept eating, topping pieces with the pickled Jerusalem artichokes and the salted hairtail intestine sauce, and cleared the whole platter in no time.

Our kid didn't just get fed pieces — she wrapped her own lettuce wraps like a pro. She'd stuff two pieces of meat in at once, to the point where I wondered if it would even fit in her mouth.

And the person who'd been looking forward to the meat more than anyone that day was my husband. He'd been watching his diet while training for a marathon, and this happened to be a day he could actually eat properly, so the three of us had a relaxed, satisfying meal for the first time in a while.

Finishing the combo platter with doenjang jjigae and rice

After eating meat, rice is a must to finish things off. That day our family ordered the whole pork belly and shoulder combo platter 700g along with doenjang jjigae (soybean paste stew) and two bowls of rice. The stew was packed with hearty ingredients, including crab. The broth leans spicy, so a spoonful when the pork belly starts feeling greasy clears your palate right up.

Normally I like dumping rice into the stew and eating it like a doenjang rice porridge, but I held off this time. Instead I kept slurping down the hot doenjang jjigae. Maybe because we'd just eaten meat, but alternating a spoonful of rice with a sip of the spicy broth was so good.

Between the combo platter, doenjang jjigae, and rice, our family of two adults and a six-year-old ended up completely full without ordering any extra meat. Bottom line: all three of us finished the meal stuffed.

When traveling, we spend so much time hunting down good restaurants, but back in our own neighborhood, the best thing is being able to walk out in slippers and eat somewhere genuinely good. A place where, whenever we feel like meat for dinner, we don't need to go far — we can just stroll over as a family, eat until we're full, and come home. Having a pork restaurant like this nearby might just be one of the perks of neighborhood life.