Seoul Korean BBQ: 5 servings of frozen pork belly for two, Gyodaepae

Sometimes you just get a craving for thin-sliced pork belly out of nowhere. This day I was meeting a friend, and when we looked for a spot that was convenient for both of us, near Gyodae Station turned out to be perfect.

Now that I think about it, thin-sliced pork belly places don't seem as common as they used to be, and it's been a while since I've had it myself. Once the craving hit, I couldn't stop thinking about that thin grilled meat eaten with kimchi and bean sprouts lol.

So I looked around Gyodae Station and found Gyodaepae. It happened to specialize in exactly the thin-sliced pork belly I was after, so my friend and I decided to have a proper meal there after a long time.

Gyodaepae hours and the walk from Gyodae Station

Gyodaepae is open Monday through Saturday, 11:30–23:00, with a break time from 15:00–17:00 and last order at 22:00. Closed every Sunday!

• Separate restrooms for men and women, group-friendly, waiting area
• Reservations, wifi
• No parking available

They also sell fresh (chilled) thin-sliced pork, not just frozen. But I was in the mood for frozen for old times' sake, haha.

It's about a 6-minute walk from Exit 14 of Gyodae Station.

Thin-sliced pork belly grilled with kimchi and bean sprouts on a cauldron-lid griddle

From outside, the teal-colored Gyodaepae sign really caught my eye, so it wasn't hard to find. There was a standing menu board by the entrance, and outdoor tables set up as well.

Right in front of the restaurant there were these outdoor tables. On a nice day, grilling meat outside seems like it could have some atmosphere, right? These days when it's still hot or cold, indoors is probably better, but in spring or fall this spot looked pretty good too.

Inside Gyodaepae: the dining room and self-service bar

Going inside, true to a thin-sliced pork belly place, each table had a round grill in the middle. The overall vibe was comfortable for coming to eat meat casually, and the tables extended further back than I expected, so there was more seating than I thought.

Rather than a flashy, dressed-up BBQ restaurant, it felt like the kind of space suited to casually meeting up like my friend and I did, or to a group grabbing drinks together after work.

On one side there was a self-bar. Side dishes good for grilling with meat, like kimchi and bean sprouts, were laid out, so it'd be easy to grab more if you run out.

On one wall there was ground pepper and a utensil holder set up like this — look at it. They'd attached a square board to the table like that so there wouldn't be a lack of table space.

What's on the Gyodaepae menu?

The menu was broadly split into meats, lunch menu, and sides. The meat section had the Gyodaepae set, Korean beef yukhoe (raw beef tartare), chilled thin-sliced pork belly, chilled thin-sliced pork neck, and frozen thin-sliced pork belly.

For lunch they sell a cheonggukjang (fermented soybean stew) set and a kimchi stew set. The sides were also composed of things good to add one at a time while eating meat — from sweet buldak noodles to steamed egg, fried rice, rice, and truffle jjagyeti.

Looking at the menu, it felt like a collection of exactly the things you'd want when you're eating meat and think, 'I want something else too' lol. Since thin-sliced pork belly was our goal that day, we started by ordering 2 servings of frozen thin-sliced pork belly.

Which side dishes come with the meal?

Gyodaepae's side dishes included radish salad, scallion salad, ssamjang (dipping sauce), a special sauce, garlic, kimchi, bean sprouts, and lettuce wraps. While waiting for my friend they set up the side dishes first, and there were more varieties than I expected as standard.

I especially like perilla leaves and scallion salad when eating meat, so I was happy to see both>< I can't resist putting scallion salad on a piece of meat and wrapping it in perilla leaf.

How to grill frozen thin-sliced pork belly, and how it tastes

After a bit, 2 servings of frozen thin-sliced pork belly came out. The thinly sliced meat was neatly arranged, and the color looked good too, so it looked tasty even before grilling. It's not exactly a dish you eat expecting some new flavor... but you all know — a familiar taste can be scary good lol.

Before grilling, they gave us separate pork fat to oil the griddle with. We rubbed the fat around while the cauldron-lid stone plate heated up, letting the oil render out.

Once the temperature came up, we put the thin-sliced pork belly on all at once. Kimchi and bean sprouts couldn't be left out, so we grilled those alongside it, haha.

The advantage of thin-sliced pork belly is, as always, the short wait. Since it's so thin, it cooks quickly without needing to flip it over and over like regular pork belly.

The kimchi and bean sprouts needed a bit more time, so I tried a piece of the meat first. With frozen thin-sliced pork belly, if the meat quality isn't great, you sometimes get that dry or mushy falling-apart texture when you chew. That's exactly what I was worried about, but here there was almost none of that. Even thin, the meat kept its texture, and the more I chewed, the more a savory flavor came through — better than I expected. I thought, 'Oh, they must be using decent meat.'

After waiting a bit longer, the kimchi and bean sprouts we'd set aside cooked up nicely too. The kimchi was a bit sour for my taste, but grilling it with the meat actually helped the tanginess cut through the richness. Adding the bean sprouts on top brought a crunchy texture that softened the sourness even more.

Chatting with my friend and picking at things one piece at a time, the first 2 servings we ordered disappeared in no time. We said 'should we get a little more?' — turns out it wasn't a little. 3 more servings, please lol. In the end, the two of us ended up eating 5 servings of thin-sliced pork belly. Maybe because it's thin, it just kept going in, haha.

Steamed egg and rice ordered alongside the pork

When we added the 3 more servings of meat, we also ordered a steamed egg and a bowl of rice. Scooping the steamed egg with a spoon, it split apart softly but still had a slight bounce to it, not too runny.

Eating meat and then having a spoonful of warm steamed egg felt like it gently reset my palate, so my hand kept reaching for it. I thought it'd be great just piled generously on top of rice too. We polished off the additional 3 servings the same way, chatting away with my friend.

Who is Gyodaepae best for?

Part of it was probably that it had been a while since I'd had thin-sliced pork belly, but I was satisfied that the texture I'd worried about with frozen thin-sliced pork was barely noticeable, and that we got to grill kimchi and bean sprouts along with the meat. We'd originally planned to eat just a light 2 servings, but the fact that we snapped out of it and had eaten 5 servings between the two of us might be proof of how good it was lol.

We agreed to come back here next time we're craving thin-sliced pork belly. If you're looking for a no-fuss spot to grill meat near Gyodae Station, or if it's a day you want to properly enjoy thin-sliced pork belly with kimchi and bean sprouts on a cauldron-lid griddle after a long time, Gyodaepae is a solid choice.