Jongno3-ga Korean BBQ then an Ikseon-dong round two: Cham Dwaejitgan

As Ipchu (the start of autumn) passes and Chuseok approaches, the mornings and evenings have turned cool, and outdoor drinking spots near Jongno3-ga have become the hot place to be. It's not the Galmaegi alley, but there's a great pork belly restaurant near the Piccadilly theater by Jongno3-ga Station, so let me introduce it — Cham Dwaejitgan Jongno Main Branch, a go-to Jongno pork belly spot.

How long is the Friday 6pm wait at Cham Dwaejitgan Jongno Main Branch?

There was already a wait at Cham Dwaejitgan Jongno Main Branch at 6pm on a Friday. I braced myself since the place is so popular, but a friend who arrived earlier had already put our name down, so we got in quickly. You can join the remote queue through the CatchTable app, so if you're planning to show up after 6pm, book ahead on CatchTable. From what I saw on Friday, there was no wait until 5pm, but online waiting opened up a bit after 6.

Where is Cham Dwaejitgan Jongno Main Branch, and when is it open?

• 🧭 Location: 2-1 exit of Jongno3-ga Station, 1st floor of Piccadilly CGV theater
• ⏰ Hours: Daily 12:00 - 23:00
• ✅ Bookable, CatchTable remote queuing available

It's a 2-minute walk from exit 2-1 of Jongno3-ga Station!! Super close. It's on the first floor of the CGV Piccadilly building. I got a little lost, but it's on the left side as you face the CGV building. Just head into the alley on the left!!

There's a waiting area set up outside. Maybe because it was Friday, but the line was packed from about 7 to 8pm. This is exactly why it's a go-to Jongno pork belly spot!

The meat fridge at the entrance and the mood inside Cham Dwaejitgan

The first things you see as you walk into Cham Dwaejitgan Jongno Main Branch are a fridge dedicated to meat, the counter, and a coffee machine. The fridge was packed with meat that looked really fresh. You can feel the freshness just by looking at it. Jonggak and Jongno have tons of BBQ restaurants and plenty of famous ones, but there's really no other pork belly spot this close to a station!! With prices this good too, I think I'll become a regular.

Customers kept streaming in and out, from reservations to walk-ins. Turnover was so high there was never an empty table.

This is what the inside vibe felt like! It was so packed with people that I couldn't really get good photos because of everyone's faces.

Menu and prices at Cham Dwaejitgan Jongno Main Branch

At Cham Dwaejitgan Jongno Main Branch, pork belly and pork neck are 16,000 won each. Really good value considering today's prices, right? Looking at the menu, they keep it to just a few types of meat to maintain freshness.

• ✅ Boseong Nokdon pork: pork belly, flower pork neck, thousand-layer pork belly, gabrisal
• ✅ Black pork: five-layer pork belly, pork neck

At a BBQ restaurant, meat quality obviously matters, and compared to the outdoor-drinking spots, the quality at Cham Dwaejitgan Jongno Main Branch looked way better. They say they use high-quality black pork from Jirisan and Boseong Nokdon pork.

The six promises of Cham Dwaejitgan posted on the wall

The 6 promises of Cham Dwaejitgan

• 1. Charcoal - only top-grade charcoal is used
• 2. Only domestic rice husks used with minari
• 3. Black pork - only top-grade black pork shipped directly from Jirisan
• 4. Ingredients - all side dishes and ingredients are prepared fresh the same day
• 5. Grill plate - a specially made grill plate that prevents oil splatter
• 6. Except for the dishes served first, all banchan are self-serve

Seeing the 6 promises posted on the wall made me trust the fresh meat and vegetables even more. It's a great spot to recommend for friend gatherings or wedding-invitation meetups. Since the staff grills the meat for you, it's really easy to treat people!!

Pork grilled by the staff, with a glass of soju-beer

At Cham Dwaejitgan Jongno Main Branch, the staff grills the meat on the plate and moves it to the side plate so it doesn't go cold. There were plenty of side dishes — bean sprouts, kimchi, potatoes, minari and more — so it was great to enjoy alongside the meat.

Still warm out, so cheers with a round of soju-beer~🍻

Since the staff grilled the meat, all we had to do was eat. Grilled bean sprouts turned out to be so tasty. Any side dishes running low could be topped up from the self-serve corner, so we enjoyed plenty of vegetable wraps too.

Round two in Ikseon-dong: autumn outdoor-drinking mood

After eating at Cham Dwaejitgan Jongno Main Branch, we walked toward Ikseon-dong for round two, and since it was cool out we drank outdoors. From pojangmacha to beer bars to rooftops, there were tons of young people out enjoying autumn, and the table next to us had three Japanese women. Turns out foreigners enjoy soju too!