Korean BBQ in Jungnang, Seoul: pork belly wrapped in potato at Daepan

I went to Daepan Sotddukkeong Kimchi Samgyeopsal (대판 솥뚜껑김치삼겹살), a regular spot in Myeonmok-dong that my parents have already visited more than five times!

It was my first visit, and I was really happy with the combo of pork belly, kimchi, bean sprouts and potatoes all grilled together on one giant pot lid (sotddukkeong). The staff were really kind, and since you can make kimchi pancakes and fried eggs at the self-bar, it's a great, hearty Korean BBQ place near Myeonmok Station haha.

Location and opening hours of Daepan Sotddukkeong

Daepan Sotddukkeong Kimchi Samgyeopsal Myeonmok is at 614-1 Dongil-ro, Jungnang-gu, Seoul, on the first floor, near Myeonmok Station. It's open daily from 11:00 to 23:00, with a break time of 15:00-17:00 on weekdays.

• 📍614-1 Dongil-ro, Jungnang-gu, Seoul (1st floor)
• 🗓 Open daily 11:00-23:00 (weekday break time 15:00-17:00)

A spacious interior: good for a group dinner?

I went on a weekday evening and there were still quite a few diners. According to my parents, it's a Myeonmok-dong pork belly place that locals visit often.

The interior was bigger than I expected. The tables are fairly well spaced and there are plenty of seats for larger groups, so it looked fine for a family meal or a company dinner too.

Above all, the staff were genuinely kind from start to finish, which made the meal a pleasure :)

The menu and what we ordered

We ordered two servings of pork belly for ₩32,000, steamed egg for ₩2,000, cold young radish kimchi noodles for ₩7,000, a bowl of rice for ₩1,000 and a bottle of Chamisul soju for ₩5,000.

- What we ordered - Pork belly for 2: 32.0 Steamed egg: 2.0 Cold young radish kimchi noodles: 7.0 Rice: 1.0 Chamisul: 5.0 (prices in thousand won)

Side dishes and the unlimited self-bar

The table comes with lettuce, shredded scallion salad, pickled radish wraps, garlic, ssamjang (wrap sauce), pickled chili peppers and scallion kimchi, and you can get more from the self-bar as much as you like.

What a generous spread. With lettuce, scallion salad, pickled radish, garlic, ssamjang, pickled peppers and scallion kimchi, you can eat the pork belly in all sorts of combinations. Side dishes matter most with pork belly, right? The heavily seasoned scallion kimchi was good on its own, and it was the best match with the pork too ♡

If you run low on side dishes, help yourself at the self-bar as much as you like.

Leave food behind and you get a 1-hour talk with the kitchen auntie 😂👍

Besides potatoes and all kinds of vegetables, there's even kimchi pancake batter and eggs, so it was fun making this and that while waiting for the meat~~ The sign saying "The self corner is unlimited. Please eat as much as you like!" was oddly welcome, haha!

Pork belly on an enormous pot lid

The grill at Daepan Sotddukkeong is a pot lid much bigger than an ordinary grill: we lined kimchi, bean sprouts, potatoes, onion and king oyster mushrooms around the edge and grilled the pork belly in the middle.

I was startled by the size of the pot lid on the table. It was much bigger and heavier than a normal grill, and the surface looked smooth and glossy, as if well oiled. We put kimchi, bean sprouts, potatoes, onion and king oyster mushrooms around the edge and grilled the pork belly in the middle~

Once the meat started cooking, the pork fat ran down the lid and soaked into the kimchi and bean sprouts. That's exactly what you want from pot lid pork belly haha.

The kimchi, browned in the fat, was tangy and nutty, and the bean sprouts kept a crunchy texture that went well with the pork belly 😆❤️

The pork belly browned nicely on the outside too; cut into bite-size pieces and cooked through, it was crispy outside and chewy, and really good.

Pork belly wrapped in potato is the real treat

Take potatoes from the self-bar for free and set them at the edge of the pot lid, and they cook slowly while soaking up the pork fat.

Put pork belly, king oyster mushroom, garlic and ssamjang on a golden, fluffy potato and it's a real treat 🥹❤️ A lettuce wrap with pork belly, grilled kimchi and plenty of scallion kimchi was good too, but eating it with the potato went together far better than I expected. With so many side dishes, any combination with the pork belly was tasty haha.

My fiancé has no talent for making pancakes. It came out looking like something a mouse had nibbled on^^ haha. It tasted good though, so I'll let it slide haha.

Eating the pancake and pork belly together, we slowly started to get full~~

Steamed egg, doenjang stew and cold kimchi noodles

We finished with steamed egg for ₩2,000, doenjang jjigae (soybean paste stew) and cold young radish kimchi noodles for ₩7,000.

After pork belly, nothing cleanses the palate like doenjang stew and steamed egg~~ The steamed egg, puffed up almost to bursting, was delicious too.

I'm a doenjang stew fiend, so I really enjoyed it. The spicy stew was packed with generous ingredients haha.

To finish, the cold young radish kimchi noodles for ₩7,000! And again I was surprised by the bowl. It wasn't an ordinary noodle bowl; it came generously filled in a huge bowl that was almost like a washbasin.

Thin wheat noodles and plenty of young radish kimchi sat in an icy, slushy broth. The tangy, cold broth cleaned up my mouth after the meat.

The young radish kimchi was crunchy and plentiful, perfect to pick up with the noodles. I was already full from the pork belly and self-bar, but I kept going back for more and ended up stuffed to bursting haha.

After the meal they even gave us a yogurt drink as a complimentary dessert♡ A small touch, but a nice way to end.

Overall verdict

You can generously grill pork belly, kimchi, bean sprouts and potatoes on the huge pot lid, and at the self-bar you can make kimchi pancakes and fried eggs as well as get side dishes, so the whole meal felt hearty.

The combo of wrapping pork belly in the free potatoes is a taste I still keep thinking about. The staff were really kind, and I was happy with the final cold kimchi noodles and the free yogurt too.

If you're looking for a hearty, relaxed Myeonmok Station restaurant, a Myeonmok-dong pork belly place that's good to visit with family, it's worth a stop. I'm planning to go again with my parents soon haha.