Myeongdong jokbal restaurant with corn paper mala wraps: Miss Jokbal

Where is Miss Jokbal Seoul Myeongdong Branch?

Miss Jokbal Seoul Myeongdong Branch (미쓰족발) is on the inner side of Myeongdong's main street, so it's easy to get to. It's a 5-minute walk from Euljiro-ipgu Station or Myeongdong Station, which makes it a great spot for coworkers, group get-togethers or dates haha

I hadn't been to Myeongdong in a long time, and wow, every restaurant was packed with foreigners. Out of all of them, we went to Miss Jokbal, which is famous as a jokbal (braised pork trotter) place~

What is Miss Jokbal Myeongdong like at dinner time?

The place is really spacious. We got there around 6:30 p.m. and every table was full (you can reserve too!). Maybe because it's Myeongdong, there were a lot of foreign tourists as well.

Miss Jokbal menu and what we ordered

The menu is varied: jokbal, bossam (boiled pork wraps), jeyuk (spicy stir-fried pork), yukhoe (beef tartare), makguksu (buckwheat noodles), naengmyeon (cold noodles) and more. They also sell a lunch set for one (barley rice, soft tofu stew, jeyuk and so on).

• Small garlic jokbal (37.0)
• Miss steamed egg (4.0)
• Fish roe rice ball (4.0)

You order at the table~

Before eating, we studied the guide to the tastiest way to eat it. Follow this order and it's perfect.

How to eat the free kimchi kalguksu at Miss Jokbal

Kimchi kalguksu (knife-cut noodle soup) comes as a standard starter, and the noodles are served separately.

Once the broth boils, drop in the noodles and cook them. It was spicy and refreshing, so good as an appetizer lol. It really woke up my appetite!

You can't eat jokbal without a drink, right? ㅜ So we ordered 2 glasses of draft beer too ㅎ It was so cold and refreshing that all my tiredness melted away haha

Complimentary salads, side dishes and sauces

The salad is a free side dish too, and for a side it's a huge portion. It was fresh and tasty with the jokbal. The dressing tasted like a yuja (citron) dressing?

The side dishes were dried radish, glass noodle salad, scallion salad and a variety of sauces. Miss Jokbal has lots of sauces. There was even a mala sauce! From the left: mala, salted shrimp, ssamjang and hoisin sauce~

They light solid fuel under the plate so you can keep eating the jokbal warm to the very end haha

Is the small garlic jokbal at Miss Jokbal spicy?

The garlic jokbal has no spiciness at all, and a thick layer of sweet garlic sauce comes piled on top. Here comes the star! The garlic sauce covers the jokbal like a blanket, and the garlic aroma hit my nose the moment it landed on the table. It wasn't the sharp sting of raw garlic, but a sweet, subtle garlic scent..?

From every angle it's seriously generous.. and this is the small size.

The jokbal was so tender. The lean meat melts, and the skin is soft and chewy! The special garlic sauce has no heat at all?! It's sweet like its aroma and just adds savoriness, so it never overpowered the taste of the jokbal.

Fish roe rice ball and Miss steamed egg

The fish roe rice ball has pickled radish, flying fish roe, crumbled seaweed and sesame oil. Nutty seaweed plus fish roe.. I don't need to tell you, right haha Putting jokbal on top of the rice ball was nutty and went together so well ㅎ

The steamed egg comes topped with a few small shrimp, and it was mild and so good. The seasoning was just right!!! When your mouth gets tingly from lots of garlic sauce, soothing it with the soft steamed egg is perfect!

How to make corn paper wraps with mala sauce

Miss Jokbal unusually gives you corn paper. Wrap up a combo of corn paper + mala sauce + hoisin sauce + vegetables~ It's a delicacy among delicacies!!! The taste is totally different from lettuce wraps!! Maybe because of the mala sauce, it even had a bit of a Chinese-food feel?? Please really try it!!!

There are plastic gloves in the drawer.

Verdict on Miss Jokbal, down to the mini trotter

Finally, I armed myself and went at the mini trotter ㅎ The fatty skin part was way beyond chewy, it was chew~y! lol

It's garlic jokbal, but I kept alternating between mala, salted shrimp, dried radish and other sauces, so there was no time to get sick of it. It felt like eating a new dish every time?? I think foreigners would find it easy to enjoy too haha It's a certified Myeongdong jokbal favorite!