Charcoal-grilled pork in Paju: Tannae Paju Main Branch

After a weekend, one-night-two-day water-play trip with my friends, I was soooo hungry, you know? My boyfriend had also finished about two weeks of gastroenteritis life(?) and said he wanted meat for the first time in ages. While searching, we saw that Tannae Paju Main Branch charcoal-grills its meat, so we rushed right over 💨

Tannae Paju Main Branch hours and parking

It’s open 17:00–23:00 on weekdays and 16:00–23:00 on weekends. Parking is available with parking support, and Paju Pay is accepted too ☺️

There is paid parking in the alley behind the restaurant, and they provide parking support. If it’s full, use Garam Village Public Parking Lot—it’s free on weekends ⭐️

~ Paju Pay accepted ~

A menu at every table

Menu

Here’s the restaurant menu~ When you visit, you can spot the owner’s thoughtfulness everywhere. First, every table has a printed menu, so you don’t have to do the awkward little peek! to see one :) From marinated king-size grilled pork to pork neck, pork belly, pork jowl, and pork skin. The menu may look short, but it has exactly the good stuff to choose from. Yarr~~

Banchan and meljeot

Side dishes

These are the side dishes they set out by default. Oh my goodness, cabbage as a basic side dish! Cabbage is good for digestion, so eating it before a meal can protect your stomach. There were also pickled onions, seasoned lettuce and perilla leaves, corn salad, green-onion kimchi, and more 🤍 I can see why it’s popular for family meals 🤤 They also told us to boil the meljeot (fermented anchovy sauce) over the charcoal for one minute, then take it off and eat it.

It already smells delicious~~

A self-serve bar to fill up your way

Self-serve bar

Beyond the basic side dishes, you can pick up all sorts of things you like at the self-serve bar. Salt, soybean powder, and so on are thoughtfully labeled, making it hygienic and easy to use—what a wonderfully thoughtful owner 🎶

Can you see all these sauces? Personally, I think wasabi on meat is the kick, and I loved that it was ready at the self-serve bar so everyone could eat however they like.

Ordering par-grilled pork belly and pork galbi

You order directly, and we started with two servings of pork belly and one serving of pork galbi (marinated pork ribs). When you order meat, you get either kimchi jjigae (kimchi stew) or doenjang jjigae (soybean-paste stew) as a service item—choose one!! If it’s not enough, just order more :)

At Tannae, the owner personally par-grills the meat at the entrance. Since they grill it right in front of you, waiting isn’t boring, and it feels so reassuring to eat it.

Not long after ordering, they bring out the par-grilled pork belly, already bursting with charcoal aroma~~🤤

Once the par-grilled pork belly has cooked a little, the par-grilled pork galbi comes out too. Normally, you can’t eat them at the same time when you grill marinated meat on the grill, but because it arrives par-grilled like this, we could eat pork belly and pork galbi together. I loved that 😆

With rice, one bite became two and two became three—wow, it was seriously, seriously, seriously delicious. The meat itself was high quality, and the charcoal gave it that fire aroma, so the flavor was just amazing. It wasn’t overly fatty either, and why was the rice so good???? They must use great rice. The rice was honestly just a total winner.

Adding pork jowl and pork skin

In the end, we added pork jowl and pork skin, haha. You know that plump, bouncy texture of pork jowl, right? When I took a proper bite, the springy texture and nutty flavor were superb. Such a yarr feeling.

The pork jowl disappeared in no time… But it was okay. The par-grilled pork skin came right out, haha. Honestly, I don’t usually order pork skin because it splatters everywhere on the grill and feels greasy, but my partner said we should try it, so I said yes! Pork skin calls for soju… but we drove, so cider had to do instead.

Ahhh, wow, it was really delicious. Everyone, let me give you one hot tip.

Brush pork skin with garlic sauce

Among the basic sauces, brush this garlic sauce onto the pork skin and grill it. It is seriously, seriously, seriously delicious. Pork skin with soybean powder is of course a classic, but at this Tannae meat restaurant, try grilling it after dipping it in garlic sauce. It’s truly yarr. The owner didn’t tell me this—it’s purely my own thought—so please give it a try.

When it comes to eating, I’m a woman with an advanced degree… hahaha

From Cheongha to zero-sugar drinks

As a little break, if you’re wondering what alcohol Tannae Paju Main Branch sells, look right here.

From Cheongha to Starlight Cheongha, Starlight Cheongha Rosé, and Saero Omija, they had such a variety. Honestly, soju is difficult for alcohol newbies like me. Not many meat restaurants sell Cheongha, but this one does!!!!

They even had zero-sugar drinks nicely stocked.

Why it works for both family meals and dates

There’s a wide pedestrian path in front of the restaurant, so you can properly go for a walk after eating. The weather was so nice that you could enjoy it outdoors too ㅠㅠ

I seriously, seriously recommend Tannae Paju Main Branch, where you can enjoy an incredibly kind owner, high-quality meat, rice, stew, and many side dishes. It’s great for family meals (there’s a high chair!), and because the meat comes par-grilled, it’s also so good for a date. On the way out, the owner told us pork neck is a popular menu item. The only popular item the two of us didn’t eat, haha. Next time, we’re definitely trying the pork neck!!