Myeongdong jokbal restaurant with cheongpomuk and gimbap: Miss Jokbal

Where is Miss Jokbal Seoul Myeongdong Branch?

Miss Jokbal Seoul Myeongdong Branch (미쓰족발 서울명동점) is a jokbal restaurant right in the middle of Myeongdong's busy shopping streets(?) 🙂 I suddenly had a huge craving for jokbal (braised pig's trotters), so I went to the Myeongdong jokbal place 'Miss Jokbal'.

Busy even early, with more foreign guests than Koreans

Miss Jokbal Seoul Myeongdong Branch had a lot of customers even early on. I thought I'd come at a pretty early time, but wow, so many people, hahaha. I mean, since when have all of you been here? 😂

One thing surprised me, though! There seemed to be more foreign guests than Korean ones. All the talk around me was in foreign languages, so at first I wondered if I'd come to the right place.

I only came to Myeongdong to eat jokbal, and suddenly I'm getting a bonus overseas-trip vibe! That might be the unintended perk(?) of coming to Miss Jokbal in Myeongdong. Eat jokbal and feel like you're traveling abroad too! Two birds with one stone, right? haha

Maybe it's because it's Myeongdong, but so many foreign tourists seemed to visit. Korean jokbal is loved around the world like this! I felt weirdly proud, hahaha.

Emperor Jokbal price and the free kimchi kalguksu

For the menu, I ordered the Emperor Jokbal (황제족발) at ₩58,000, the one people order most at Miss Jokbal 🙂

It also comes with kimchi kalguksu (kimchi noodle soup) as a standard. The spicy, hot broth was great whenever the jokbal started to feel a bit greasy 🙂🙂 I always thought jokbal goes with makguksu (cold buckwheat noodles), but jokbal and kimchi kalguksu turned out to be a surprisingly good pair. The hot, spicy soup cleansed my palate so I could enjoy the jokbal to the very end!

And finally the long-awaited jokbal arrived! Can you see how tender it looks? It was glistening and so appetizing 🤤 You can feel the juiciness from the photo alone! Shine really is the life of jokbal, hahaha.

How are the side dishes? Cheongpomuk and gimbap were my top picks

✅ One of the good things about Miss Jokbal in Myeongdong is that the jokbal doesn't arrive alone: there's a variety of things to eat with it! The basic sides like muk (jelly) and gimbap (seaweed rice roll) were much tastier than I expected 🙂🙂

When the main dish is good, it's easy to treat the sides as an afterthought, but at Miss Jokbal even the standard items were tasty, which I was happy about.

The person who comes for the main dish and then eats all the sides too is me 🙋‍♀️🙋‍♀️🙋‍♀️ hahaha. The cheongpomuk (mung bean jelly) and the gimbap were my top picks 🙂 The gimbap only has carrot and egg inside, but how can it be this good? 🙂🙂🙂

Emperor Jokbal taste and the mala sauce pairing

The Emperor Jokbal at Miss Jokbal had tender lean meat and chewy skin. Need I even describe how soft it was! 🤤 I tried a glistening piece, and the mix of tender meat and chewy collagen was great. The meat was soft with no dryness, and the skin was bouncy and chewy, which made every bite fun 🫶🏻

They also had the trendy mala sauce. Jokbal is tasty on its own, but adding mala sauce gave it a different charm. With mala's numbing, tingly kick added, it tasted different from regular jokbal, and I liked that.

Jokbal with kimchi kalguksu, a stroke of genius

There was one item at Miss Jokbal I personally loved: the kimchi kalguksu. It was a real stroke of genius 👍 Between bites of jokbal, a spoonful of the kalguksu broth refreshes your mouth and you're ready for jokbal again.

If you're wondering where to go when you crave jokbal in Myeongdong, Miss Jokbal Seoul Myeongdong Branch is worth a visit 🙂🙂🙂