Jongno Korean BBQ birthday dinner set: Tapgol Gongwon

Jongno 3-ga outdoor dining, packed at 6 p.m.

I went to Tapgol Gongwon Jongno 3-ga Branch, a great spot for frozen pork belly near Jongno 3-ga Station!!

Isn’t this outdoor pocha-style atmosphere insane.....🥹 It was absolutely perfect for weather like this. It had been so long since I’d eaten at an outdoor tent-style spot like this,,,🤤 (We have to enjoy this golden weather as hard as we can‼️) We went right at dinner time, around 6, and luckily, the place became fully packed just as we got in! Nice timing, hehe. Nobody can resist outdoor pork belly in this weatherㅜ

Ordering the Tapgol Set and sides

Here’s the menu. I liked that you can choose anything from pork belly and pork neck to sliced duck and beef, depending on your taste. There were three of us, so we ordered the best set menu, the Tapgol Set (pork belly + flower pork neck + sliced duck), for ₩55,000 haha. We also added beef brisket soybean paste stew, steamed egg, and two bowls of rice!

The basic side dishes come in a little basket? kind of thing. There’s kimchi, bean sprouts, bracken fern, green onion kimchi, shredded radish salad, and salted seafood!

At first I wondered what that picnic basket on the side was, but it held all the things we needed, like spoons, chopsticks, and cups!! You share it nicely with the table next to you, lol.

For any extra side dishes, just use the self-service bar haha. The grilled kimchi was so good that we got a refill,,,, but the bean sprouts are delicious too.. Make sure to grill them together~

Grilling sliced duck through pork neck

Ta-da, the meat comes out after just a little wait! I liked having different kinds rather than only one cut haha. It was frozen, so the value for the amount was a little disappointing. Still, the outdoor atmosphere was so good that I’ll allow it! From left to right: duck -> pork belly -> pork neck.

We put the kimchi on too. My friend was busy pouring beer, lolllll. You just can’t resist pork belly and beer at an outdoor spot 🍻

A tip for making room at a table for three

The tables are a little small, so there isn’t loads of room! So we just took the basket away. Once we did, there was so much more space🥹 If you have a larger group and are short on room, I recommend moving the basket!! We sprinkled on a little pepper as it started cooking too~~ Looks delicious, right?🤤

We grilled away. We browned the bracken fern and kimchi in the meat fat, and honestly, this combination cannot fail... The meat had no off smell at all and was soooo good!!!!

While the meat was grilling, the steamed egg and beef brisket soybean paste stew arrived too! I’m someone who always has to have stew with grilled meat, and it was savory and delicious. The steamed egg was soft too, so I kept reaching for it.

Outdoor dining with lanterns and a stone wall

The atmosphere is so nice,,,, I think it feels even more cozy because it’s in Jongno. Eating while looking at the lanterns and stone wall made it even better. On cool evenings like these, grilling meat at an outdoor spot is more fun than eating at an indoor Korean BBQ restaurant.

The essential final course at Korean BBQ: fried rice

The final course you can never leave out at a Korean BBQ restaurant! We couldn’t possibly skip fried rice, right?

They finely chopped up the leftover meat, kimchi, bean sprouts, and bracken fern, then stir-fried everything together haha. Scraping up even the rice stuck to the grill plate is pure perfection ^_^

And because it was my friend’s birthday, we had cake too! We ate the cake and took our leftover trash with us. If you want to have a drink with friends or your partner and enjoy delicious grilled meat at a retro outdoor spot in Jongno in weather like this, I think you should definitely visit at least once!! When the weather’s nice, go go for outdoor pork belly 👍🏻👍🏻