Dujeong-dong Cheonan BBQ with cube-cut pork jowl: Cham Dwaejitgan

Where Cham Dwaejitgan Cheonan Dujeong Branch is and when it opens

Basic info for Cham Dwaejitgan Cheonan Dujeong Branch [Address] 10 Wondujeong 5-gil, 1st floor, unit 101, Seobuk-gu, Cheonan-si, Chungcheongnam-do [Parking] Available in front of the restaurant (a bit tight!) [Hours] Daily 4:00 PM – 4:00 AM

While looking for a good BBQ spot in Dujeong-dong, I ended up visiting Cham Dwaejitgan Cheonan Dujeong Branch. It's about a 7-minute drive from Dujeong Station, and since it's right in the Dujeong-dong dining alley, it's a convenient spot for dinner or a group gathering.

When you're looking for BBQ in Dujeong-dong, it's not easy to find a place open late — but Cham Dwaejitgan stays open until 4am the next day, so it works well for dinner or that late-night craving for meat.

Inside the restaurant: seating and atmosphere

Walking in, the space felt bigger than I expected. The tables were spaced generously, making it a good spot for friends, family, or larger group dinners and company get-togethers.

What we ordered: black pork belly, pork neck and cheonjeopsal

This time we ordered black pork belly, black pork neck, and cheonjeopsal. Cheonjeopsal is actually the pork jowl (hangjeongsal) cut, but the name stood out to me on the menu since it's different from what I normally see it called.

Rice-husk smoking and the staff grilling service

The first thing that caught my eye at Cham Dwaejitgan was how they grill the meat.

They use top-grade charcoal along with domestic rice husks to smoke the meat, adding the faint aroma of the husks along with charcoal flavor as it grills.

The grill plate was also a bit different from a typical BBQ restaurant. They use a specially made grill plate designed to minimize oil splatter while cooking — and honestly, worrying about oil splashing on your clothes is a real thing at BBQ places, so I appreciated that they thought about it.

And best of all, staff grill the meat for you, so you can eat comfortably. Timing the flip and knowing when the meat's done can be stressful, but since the staff handled all of that, we just got to relax and chat while we waited.

We started with the black pork belly. It had a good amount of thickness and looked delicious, and grilling it over charcoal and rice husks gave the meat a subtle smoky aroma. The aroma and texture were clearly different from other BBQ places. Honestly, this place is really good!

I wanted to taste the meat on its own first, so I started with just salt, then alternated between wasabi, ssamjang (soybean paste dip), and the spicy sauce.

Pork neck vs cheonjeopsal (pork jowl): which tasted better?

The black pork neck had a leaner, cleaner flavor compared to the belly. If one person in your group likes the richness of pork belly and another prefers a leaner cut like the neck, this place lets everyone order what they like.

Personally, the dish I was most curious about was the cheonjeopsal. It's pork jowl, and if you love that crunchy yet chewy texture, you really have to try it here!

They cut the thick pork jowl into neat cubes, and the texture was seriously incredible. Highly recommend!

Rather than ordering just one cut, ordering belly, neck, and jowl together and comparing them made the meal more fun — each cut had its own texture and flavor.

Sauces, side dishes and potato slice wraps

Cham Dwaejitgan also had a good variety of side dishes to go with the meat.

The sauces on offer were ssamjang, spicy sauce, salt, and wasabi, and the side dishes included minari (water celery), scallion salad, garlic scapes, bean sprouts, mushroom wasabi, garlic, and chili peppers. If you like the combination of meat with minari, this place will really suit you.

For wraps, kimchi, lettuce, and perilla leaves were also provided, so there were plenty of ways to eat the meat.

They also bring out really large potato slices, and I was told to wrap the meat in them — I tried it, and honestly... it was so good! The faint potato aroma mixed with the smoky meat flavor in your mouth was seriously fantastic.

It was also nice that all the vegetable side dishes except minari are unlimited refills. The flavor changes a bit depending on which sauce you pair with each bite, so I alternated between clean options like wasabi and salt, and the richer ssamjang. When looking for good BBQ in Dujeong-dong, it's nice enough when the meat alone is delicious, but having all these side options meant I could enjoy the same meat in many different ways.

Finishing with cold noodles and kimchi stew

For dessert we had cold noodles, and the seasoning was just right — the noodles were chewy and delicious.

The kimchi stew was on the milder side, decent overall. Personally, though, the cold noodles were the real winner!

Handy extras kept in the restaurant

I also noticed a bunch of useful items placed around the restaurant for guests during the meal.

• Phone chargers
• Hair ties, disposable aprons
• Plastic covers for storing clothes
• Kids' tableware
• Wi-Fi
• Dental floss and toothpicks
• Mouthwash, breath mints
• Febreze

At BBQ restaurants, it's easy to worry about smoke smell soaking into your clothes, so having clothing covers and Febreze on hand was a nice touch when you need it.

Overall, Cham Dwaejitgan stood out for its rice husk and charcoal smoking method, the staff-grilled service, and the wide variety of sauces and side vegetables. If you're looking for a Dujeong-dong BBQ spot open late into the night, it's worth noting they're open until 4am. If you're looking for a place in Dujeong-dong to enjoy charcoal-grilled meat with that smoky flavor, I highly recommend Cham Dwaejitgan Cheonan Dujeong Branch :)