Ruwon City, Incheon BBQ: Friday wait and suhyangmi rice, Heukdwaeji

⭐️Thick-cut pork belly and neck, grilled by the BBQ-master owner himself over a briquette fire, so it's tastier and easier to enjoy⭐️

It was Friday evening and I didn't feel like just going home after work, so I stopped by Ruwon City for BBQ! This time I went to Heukdwaeji Hyeongjedeul (흑돼지형제들), which is famous for thick-cut pork pre-grilled over briquettes. I'll walk you through the interior, seating, rooms, menu picks, ordering tips and my honest taste verdict, all in detail~!

Where is Heukdwaeji Hyeongjedeul Gajeong Ruwon City Main Branch? Parking and hours

Heukdwaeji Hyeongjedeul Gajeong Ruwon City Main Branch is at 15 Yeomgok-ro 464beon-gil, 1st floor, Seo-gu, Incheon. It's open daily 16:00–24:00 with no days off. You can use the building's underground garage, with up to 3 hours covered.

The restaurant is a 6-minute walk from Exit 6 of Gajeong Station on Incheon Line 2, right in the heart of Ruwon City! We drove, parked in the underground garage and headed up easily~~! (Up to 3 hours of free parking)

How long is the wait at Heukdwaeji on a Friday evening?

There was a wait when I visited on a Friday evening, and we actually waited about 20 minutes. You can join the waitlist by phone number, and Naver reservations are open until 5:30 pm, so I highly recommend booking if you can! (The wait is longer than you'd expect. People kept lining up until 8 o'clock.)

Atmosphere outside and inside

While waiting on the list, I checked out the meat fridge haha. They said they age Jirisan black pork, so I guess it's aging right here! By the way, the meat here is thick-cut style.

The place is packed with customers... I want to get in already..

Finally in! I think we waited about 20 minutes. Even though it's a BBQ place, the inside felt very pleasant, and I loved that the tables weren't sticky (you know that feeling, right? ㅜㅜ), just clean. The staff were full of energy and friendly~~ There are private rooms too, and some people were having a company dinner!

Heukdwaeji menu and what to order for two

Here are Heukdwaeji's signature menu items. Two adults ordered the 600g set plus doenjang sul-bap and we left stuffed~!

• Jirisan black pork raw neck + belly, 600g: ₩62,000
• Gochujang stew: ₩9,000
• Muksabal (chilled acorn jelly soup): ₩8,000
• Doenjang sul-bap (soybean paste rice stew): ₩6,000

How does the briquette-grilled black pork taste?

The side dishes are set out as soon as you sit down~ Heukdwaeji pre-grills the meat and brings it over, so you can just wait nicely.

They first set up meljeot (salted anchovy dipping sauce) and mushrooms wrapped in foil on the briquette fire. They told us they make the meljeot themselves with anchovies from Yeonggwang in Jeolla-do! It feels like a restaurant that doesn't cut corners.

Rice cooked with suhyangmi

My husband can't eat meat without rice, so I ordered one bowl of rice too, and they said it was suhyangmi (a type of rice)?! It had a nutty aroma, and it was delicious even on its own!

Before pre-grilling, they showed us the raw meat first. The ratio of lean meat to fat was really good.

The owner grills the meat himself at a brazier off to one side! He grills it hard over a roaring fire! (I wanted to get closer and take a photo but didn't, in case it embarrassed him ㅠㅋㅋ)

The screens in the restaurant keep showing how to eat the meat, too. They show tasty combos like seasoned chives, meljeot, salt and more haha. Little touches like this really made it feel like a restaurant that's serious about meat.

Steamed egg and muksabal also come out by default, so the sides were awesome too.

About 10 minutes later, the pre-grilled meat came out! Looks properly cooked over the briquette fire, doesn't it?

You just cut it up and eat, so Heukdwaeji is a perfect BBQ place for company dinners or dates!

Cook the deotsal attached to the pork neck until crisp

This is deotsal (the extra cut attached to the pork neck). They explained that you should cook it until it's crisp.

I dipped it in salt and ate it first, and it was really so juicy and delicious! The pork neck especially was thick, with a wonderful meaty aroma!

Wrapped in a lettuce-style wrap with meljeot is delicious too. I can honestly say this is the best BBQ place I've eaten at near Incheon.

The pork belly had a great combination of fat, lean meat and skin. The skin especially had a wonderfully chewy texture.

The cabbage wraps are the kicker at Heukdwaeji, too! Eaten with ssamjang (seasoned soybean paste), they double the flavor of the meat!!

I also took out the king oyster mushroom from the foil and cut it up. Cooked whole, it was so moist~

Finish with doenjang sul-bap

For the final carbs I ordered my favorite, doenjang sul-bap. It was packed with vegetables, pork and tofu, so hearty~

I love putting meat on top and eating the doenjang sul-bap like this haha. How do you all eat it! Anyway, that spicy doenjang sul-bap was so good..

Ordering tip for Heukdwaeji: focus on pork neck

Personally, at Heukdwaeji it was pork neck >>> pork belly! The staff also said pork neck is more the signature here. Enjoy the belly alongside, but I recommend focusing on pork neck!

• Anyone who needs a pleasant BBQ place with a room for a company dinner
• Anyone who wants to enjoy BBQ easily, with the meat served pre-grilled

I warmly recommend Heukdwaeji Hyeongjedeul Gajeong Ruwon City Main Branch to people like these!