Gamjagisal 48-hour dry-aged pork, single portion at a Busan BBQ

Today's story is about a famous, always-waiting BBQ spot in Seomyeon: Dwaejinamu Sarang Geollyeone.

Dwaejinamu Sarang Geollyeone

Down an alley from Seomyeon Station Exit 12, waits via CatchTable

Dwaejinamu Sarang Geollyeone is famous for its gamjagisal (pork skirt meat). It's a well-known Seomyeon restaurant that always has a wait.

They've moved to a bigger space down the alley across from Jeonpo Elementary School! It's also close to Seomyeon Station Exit 12, so it's very easy to get to.

Inside there are about 8–9 tables. We came around 5pm on a Sunday and only one table was left — full house! We got lucky and were seated right away. Right after us, people started waiting, haha. Waiting is done through CatchTable.

There's also a seat with the window open, which gives it an outdoor-tent (yajang) kind of feel.

The menu: order meat one portion at a time

Here's the Dwaejinamu menu. The main item is gamjagisal, but they also sell gochujang pork belly and pork skin! And you can order each meat one portion at a time. A lot of places require a minimum of two portions, so being able to try whichever meat you want in single portions is a real plus.

Whole gamjagisal, green onion gamjagisal, dry-aged gamjagisal, fried tofu pocket gimbap — we ordered the basic gamjagisal plus the limited items. There's also a good variety of side dishes to go with the meal.

Banchan, tofu pancake, and pollack roe

After ordering, the charcoal comes out along with the basic side dishes: green onion salad, pickled perilla leaves, perilla pesto for dipping, and pollack roe.

When you order alcohol, they bring it out in an ice bucket — a nice touch that keeps drinks cold. It gives the place a good old-school (nopo) atmosphere.

There's a tofu pancake among the side dishes — lightly pan-fried tofu topped with pollack roe. Genuinely delicious! A nice little palate warm-up before the meat.

Three kinds of gamjagisal, all grilled by the staff

Our meat arrived. From the top: gamjagisal, green onion version, and dry-aged. Look at that gorgeous gamjagisal.

The great thing about Dwaejinamu is that staff grill everything for you! Gamjagisal especially has little fat, so it gets tough if grilled wrong — but with them handling it, there was no worry at all, which made things very convenient.

They grilled the whole gamjagisal and green onion first. I love the green-onion-stuffed meat series, and since it's a limited item, I couldn't resist ordering it.

The meat cooking to a lovely color. The green onion gamjagisal I was most looking forward to — high expectations here.

Once cooked just right, they cut it up for you. All the staff were super friendly and even showed us the best way to eat it, so the whole meal felt great.

First bite with salt — gamjagisal this tender?

Once fully cooked, the meat is set aside ready to eat. You can dip it in salted shrimp sauce or perilla pesto depending on your taste.

I'd recommend the first bite with just salt. Wait, can gamjagisal really be this tender? The juices burst out and it melted in my mouth. Best gamjagisal I've ever had.

The green onion gamjagisal I'd been looking forward to. The crunch of the green onion balanced the meat really well and tasted great together. Since the meat is quite clean-tasting, dipping it in the house special sauce was also good.

The eating method the staff highly recommended

Grilling the pickled perilla leaves and wrapping them around the meat was ridiculously good. Grilling burns off the sour tang of the pickle and leaves just the crisp perilla aroma, which paired really well with the meat.

Every table has tips posted on how to enjoy the meat best, so try it your own way too.

The 48-hour dry-aged gamjagisal was the best of all

Another limited item: the 48-hour dry-aged gamjagisal. Apparently it's aged a full 48 hours to maximize the flavor of the gamjagisal — a premium cut.

The cut of meat was large, and they grilled it for quite a while. I found myself worrying, pointlessly, that they shouldn't grill so much gamjagisal for just one person, haha (turns out there's a reason it takes that long).

Of the three gamjagisal types, the dry-aged one was my favorite by far. Truly tender, packed with juice — the moment your eyes light up over gamjagisal. Now I get why they grill it so long and carefully.

So moist and delicious. Especially good with wasabi and perilla pesto — total flavor bomb.

Who knew there was meat better than pork belly? Even my friend, who's not really into meat, raved about it. We ended up adding another portion of the dry-aged version. The portion was pretty big too, but it was so good it just kept going in, haha.

Finishing the meal: ₩2,000 mini doenjang stew and fried tofu pocket gimbap

Once we were reasonably full on meat, it was time for carbs. We ordered the mini doenjang stew (fermented soybean paste stew) and fried tofu pocket gimbap. The doenjang stew is only ₩2,000, so it's a low-commitment order — recommended if you want some broth with your meal.

Next up, the fried tofu pocket gimbap. The tofu skin is thin and tears easily, so I'd recommend eating it with a spoon.

It's packed with egg garnish, and the texture paired quite nicely with the tofu pocket. At first I thought, hmm, this is really mild — but the more I ate, the more it grew on me in a strange, addictive way.

We know our flavors, and it was even better loaded up with wasabi and mayo on perilla leaf — a whole new taste. Genuinely addictive gimbap! There are plenty of other rice/meal menu items too, so if you come with a group, ordering a variety could be fun.

To sum up

The dry-aging process was on display — gamjagisal and pork neck were aging in a dry-age chamber, and the gamjagisal itself was clearly kept fresh.

• Recommended if you're looking for a great meat spot in Seomyeon
• Worth a visit if you're tired of pork belly
• Even on weekdays it's busy, so waits at dinner are basically a must
• Plenty of meat options beyond just gamjagisal
• I only had gamjagisal, but the gochujang pork belly and pork skin also seem to be popular signature items
• The restaurant is clean and friendly, and having the meat grilled for you makes eating very convenient

Next time I'll definitely try other cuts. I'm 100% coming back.