Cauldron-grill BBQ restaurant in Seomyeon, Busan: fried rice at Don J

I want to introduce Don J, a pork belly restaurant near Seomyeon Station. It's about a 3-minute walk from Lotte Department Store! And just 7 minutes from Seomyeon Station haha.

Today I'm kicking off a Seomyeon pork belly restaurant recommendation! It's honestly hard to find a grill house in Seomyeon where the staff grill the meat for you, right? But here, the staff grilled everything for us and even told us the best timing for eating the pork belly and pork neck, plus explained their own homemade sauce — such a great find in Seomyeon :)

How to order at Don J: kiosk meat platter with pork neck, belly and mushrooms

First you order through the kiosk!

You get pork neck, pork belly and mushrooms, and once they're grilled it's genuinely delicious!

What side dishes come with the meat, and Don J's special sauce

These are the basic side dishes that come out! They said if you ask, they'll bring more. Apparently that tonkatsu-style sauce is Don J's own special sauce — I'll show you later, but dipping breadcrumbs into that sauce was genuinely delicious... it really tastes like eating tonkatsu (Japanese-style pork cutlet)...

Oh, and that red container you can glimpse there is what they give you if you order alcohol! I didn't order any so I don't have a photo, ugh hahahahahaha.

Staff grill everything on the cauldron-shaped iron plate

They grill it all on this grill... you can tell just by looking that it's good. I really love meat grilled in a cauldron-shaped grill like this, so I was super excited, expecting it to be amazing, aahh.

You know how at grill houses your clothes always end up smelling of smoke? Not here at all — it was so nice. They grilled everything for us and even prepared the bracken fern, kimchi, bean sprouts and garlic, so it was super easy for us.

This is the real highlight. You all have to try this — you'll regret it if you don't.

Retro price board at Don J, from older regulars to couples

Maybe that's why there were a lot of older customers, and also a lot of couples on dates! Highly recommend this place if you want to feel that retro vibe!

I just took this because it was pretty hahaha.

This really is honey-sweet, this is just too much — the moment I ate it, I felt like I was eating soft tonkatsu. Whoever came up with this is a genius...

The owner even showed us how to eat it with salted shrimp for the best taste and grilled everything so kindly... thank you so much, ㅠㅠㅠ.

Ice water, cleanliness and the owner's little touches

It's so hot these days! Really hot! But the owner had cold ice water ready, so we could cool off the moment we walked in.

And in between, the owner kept cleaning up~ No wonder the place felt so tidy — you could tell the owner really cares about keeping the restaurant clean :)!

Finishing with fried rice and free ice cream

Oh, and here's highlight number 3 — the fried rice. Honestly, it tasted like the bibimbap my grandmother used to make :) I liked it so much I wanted to order another portion, but... I was way too full. So I just had to give up, ugh hahahaha.

Once you finish everything, they even give you a Dwaejibar (pig-shaped ice cream bar)! And it's not just that one flavor — there's an ice cream freezer at the restaurant so you can pick whatever you like!

We even took selfies in the mirror zone!!!!!! If you're looking for a tasty Seomyeon pork belly restaurant with friendly staff who grill everything for you, come to Don J in Seomyeon! We had such a fun time and left having eaten so well :) haha. Super duper duper highly recommend this Seomyeon pork belly restaurant, Don J!