Jecheon galbi restaurant with spicy pork galbi and crab: Deojinji

We came to play at Forest Resom, and kept passing Deojinji Sutbul Galbi on the way in and out.

It's a little outside downtown Jecheon, but the huge restaurant appears right after you pass the Bakdalgae Recreation Forest sign.

We skipped breakfast that day and were figuring out what to eat for a late brunch when we picked Deojinji Sutbul Galbi, a place we'd bookmarked as a good spot near Jecheon Forest Resom.

Maybe because it was a weekday afternoon, we got seated right away with no wait.

From the Bakdalgae rest stop to Deojinji Sutbul Galbi

Deojinji is apparently a charcoal-grill restaurant that took over the site of the old Bakdalgae rest stop. Probably because it used to be a rest stop on the old national highway, the building itself is quite large and the parking area looked generous too.

Right from the entrance it felt hearty. There were various snacks laid out, and my mom and sister were thrilled to spot the chapssal-oksusu (glutinous corn) we'd been hunting for.

While I was taking photos I spotted what it actually was and burst out laughing haha. There was a big rice cooker full of puffed corn kernels — they'd seen the sign that said 'world's warmest special corn kernels' and assumed it meant actual corn.

The moment we opened it, it was just packed with puffed rice snacks, which was so funny. I ended up filming it to show them haha.

Inside Deojinji: a spacious, spotless hall

Walking in, the place was much bigger than I expected. The tables had generous spacing and the overall vibe was clean, making it comfortable for a family meal.

The hall is big enough that it looks like it could handle large groups without a problem.

And there was a tablecloth on the table — it's been a while since I've seen that too.

Somehow that touch felt oddly nostalgic.

Damyang-style pork galbi, the family's unanimous order

The moment we saw the menu, we all agreed on pork galbi (grilled short ribs), unanimously.

Damyang-style pork galbi and tteokgalbi are the main dishes, and since they said it comes already grilled over charcoal, I was looking forward to it.

Plenty of places have you grill your own meat, but on a trip, even grilling meat yourself is a bit of a chore. I liked that this charcoal meat comes out already grilled so you can just eat it easily.

After ordering, we waited a bit and a table full of neat, tidy side dishes arrived.

Side dishes at Deojinji: soy-marinated and seasoned crab

There were quite a lot of side dishes, and each one was plated cleanly, so it looked great too. What especially caught my eye was the crab. Both soy sauce crab and seasoned crab came out.

It had been a while since I'd seen a place serve two kinds of crab as side dishes. The soy sauce crab wasn't too salty and was delicious, and the seasoned crab had a mild flavor too, making it easy to eat as a side.

My youngest sibling said she wanted more of the seasoned crab — if we'd stayed one more day we could have eaten our fill, which was a bit of a shame. Every side dish had a flavor that kept drawing our hands, so we were picking at this and that even before the meat arrived.

Sizzling charcoal-grilled pork galbi on a stone plate

While we were still eating the side dishes, the charcoal-grilled pork galbi followed.

It comes with onions laid on a hot stone plate and the meat placed on top, which grabs your attention visually right away. It arrives still sizzling, so the smell hits you too.

Meat someone else grills for you is still the best. Charcoal galbi that's grilled for you — how could it possibly not be good? Meat grilled by someone else tastes amazing~~ haha.

The meat was tender with no gamey smell, and the seasoning wasn't as strong as I expected. My mom especially loved it, and you know the rule — if mom likes it, it's a good place. That's basically a universal law haha. The charcoal aroma was well soaked in too, so it was tasty even eaten plain.

Eating it together with the onions added a sweetness that paired well.

Is the spicy pork galbi worth ordering too?

My husband ordered a separate serving of spicy pork galbi. The spicy galbi here is quite unique.

It felt like the base pork galbi seasoning had gochujang (red chili paste) sauce brushed on and grilled, but it wasn't as spicy as I expected.

You could taste the distinct gochujang flavor in the spicy pork galbi, and that actually made you keep reaching for more.

Thanks to that, my mom and sibling, who don't usually go for spicy food, could each try a few pieces too. My sibling especially loved it wrapped in lettuce, saying it tasted even better that way. I tried a piece of galbi wrapped too, and yeah — galbi really is meant to be wrapped.

With the charcoal-scented meat and the wraps on top, a single bowl of rice suddenly felt like not quite enough.

Finishing with cheonggukjang and rice

Cheonggukjang came out along with the side dishes, and it was quite delicious too.

It had that savory, salty taste like something you'd eat at your grandmother's house as a kid. Salty but not overly sharp — it had been a while since I enjoyed cheonggukjang this much.

Overall the food felt tidy and carefully prepared, and you could sense that they put real care into every single dish.

An easy drive from Resom Forest in Jecheon

After the meal we planned to also visit Mokgul Cave, so we drove there ourselves, but there's also a free shuttle running to Resom Resort.

If you're staying at Forest Resom and looking for somewhere to eat, taking the shuttle here seems like a solid option. We drove this time, but next time I want to try the free shuttle pickup service.

A spacious dining hall, neatly prepared food, and above all not having to grill the meat yourself made it a pretty convenient meal on a trip. If we come back to Jecheon Forest Resom, this is a place we'll definitely revisit.

Next time I'll try the free shuttle, and taste some of the menu items we missed one by one.