New tomato-jang kalguksu at a Namyangju BBQ: 2002 Witch's Arpeggio

₊˚ Arpeggio, a Namyangju creekside outdoor BBQ spot famous for tomato-jang pork belly ˚₊

2002 Witch's Arpeggio: location, hours and parking

• 🍅Location: 142 Suryero661beon-gil, Wabu-eup, Namyangju-si, Gyeonggi-do, South Korea
• 🍅Hours: 11:00–21:00 / last order 20:00, break time 15:30–17:00
• 🍅Dogs welcome 🐾
• 🍅Parking available (at the restaurant and across the street)

If you're from Namyangju, you know 2002 Witch's Arpeggio.ᐟ🧙🏻‍♀️🪄🍅 I've been a regular here for ages and went back for a fall visit🍂. It's great in summer too, but coming in the cool autumn gives it a whole different vibe — healing in nature, so it's a place I crave every season⍋⋆*

What is tomato-jang pork belly?

Arpeggio is famous for gochujang (red chili paste) pork belly-★ but here it's not the usual gochujang sauce — it's made with a paste of tomatoes and pork jar-aged for 48 hours, so it's really 🍅🥓tomato-jang pork belly❤︎

Outdoor creekside seating by Myojeoksa Valley

Set along the road to Myojeoksa Valley, the outdoor tables give you full creekside open-air dining vibes. Sitting in the mountains, cool breeze, the sound of water, birdsong🕊️ — total japchae for the soul❤︎⸒⸒⸜( ˶'ᵕ'˶)⸝

It's a Namyangju creekside BBQ spot that's perfect for briefly escaping the city near Seoul and relaxing in nature over healthy tomato-jang pork belly.

Menu and the three spice levels

The signature tomato-jang pork belly and cheese tomato-jang pork belly both come with 3 adjustable spice levels, and there's a ★new menu★ — tomato-jang kalguksu noodles just launched-.ᐟ They also sell potato pancake as a side and a kids' set with tteokgalbi (grilled short rib patties).

⋆⁺Write a review and you'll get free stone-pot pollock roe fried rice, so definitely take part. ⋆⁺There's also a guide for the best order to eat the tomato-jang pork belly in, and it's fun to follow along step by step.

Side dishes, including tomato kimchi

You could almost call it a tomato restaurant — 🍅tomato kimchi, tomato-jang, perilla leaf jang, japchae (glass noodle stir-fry), rice paper crackers, pickled radish, and all kinds of fresh lettuce wraps🥬. So many sides to pair with the tomato-jang pork belly, and it was great being able to mix and match to my taste ˶ᵔ'ヮ'ᵔ˶

Ordering cheese and jar-aged pork belly half and half

⁎Cheese tomato-jang pork belly, 1 serving ⁎Jar-aged tomato-jang pork belly, 1 serving — we ordered the plain tomato-jang pork belly and the cheese version half-and-half-🧀🍅🥓

The super friendly witches grilled the pork belly perfectly from start to finish.ᐟ We just got to zone out watching the creek and listening to the water, letting them handle everything — so nice ෆ(՞ ⌯'ᵕ'⌯ ՞)ෆ ̖́-

The grill was already hot, and then a fire show on top of it-.ᐟ.ᐟ🔥🔥 Pork belly with that smoky char, how good can it possibly get,,(*´ ˘ `*) that sizzling sound,, it's driving me crazy

At the end, they piled on plenty of mozzarella and gave the cheese that same smoky char.ᐟ Pork belly under a cheese blanket,,❤︎ 48 hours jar-aged so the meat just melts.ᐟ

It's not gochujang flavor but tomato-jang, so it's fresh and never cloying — a genuinely different, delicious taste. Regular gochujang pork belly has that strong, heavy gochujang flavor that can get tiring after a while, but tomato-jang has none of that, so I could eat cleanly all the way through🍅

I followed the guide for the best way to eat tomato-jang pork belly★ and the two best combos were wrapping it in pickled radish + seaweed, and ★cabbage wraps.

How does the new tomato-jang kalguksu taste?

I also ordered the newly launched tomato-jang kalguksu (knife-cut noodle soup).ᐟ Kalguksu made with tomato-jang,,?!🍅🍜 I had zero idea what it would taste like before trying it — a truly one-of-a-kind noodle dish, which made me even more curious.

Arpeggio is 100% serious about tomatoes,, this isn't regular kalguksu noodles — it's house-made tomato noodles.ᐟ.ᐟ Tomato goes into the dough itself, so the noodles are tomato-colored-🍅

★★★★★ genuinely delicious,, genuinely ★★★★★ Spicy powder comes on the side so you can adjust the heat to taste — being a spice lover, I dumped a ton in, and it got spicy-sharp enough to feel like a hangover cure, so good.ᐟ( *'ч' *)っΨ At first I imagined something like tomato pasta, but nope.ᐟ.ᐟ It's totally kalguksu built for the Korean palate🍅🍜

Stirring rice into the kalguksu broth

A flavor you just want to mix rice into,, so I did-🍚 I was supposed to save room for fried rice,, but before I knew it there was a spoon in the tomato-jang kalguksu with rice mixed in( ˶°༥°˶ ) The rice went down so easily that I,, couldn't save stomach space for the fried rice,,

Like soft tomato porridge(?) — not quite risotto, weirdly Korean in feel, hearty and totally hit my taste🍅

Is 2002 Witch's Arpeggio worth the trip?

A creekside outdoor table, the cool sound of running water, a distinctive tomato-jang pork belly, and tomato-jang kalguksu to finish it off, full and satisfied at 2002 Witch's Arpeggio-❤︎ If you're near Seoul and want to enjoy an outdoor creekside BBQ vibe in nature with a pork belly you won't find anywhere else, this Namyangju valley tomato-jang pork belly spot is worth a visit 🧙🏻‍♀️🪄🍅🥓🍜🍚

+ After eating at Arpeggio, show your receipt right next door at café The Forest for 20% off drinks⁺⋆