Aged kimchi pork cutlet nabe at Jusangnakwon, a Hwaseong bar

Does the food at Jusangnakwon, a bar in Dongtan's North Square, actually go hard?

Hey there, this is Sio, dead serious about eating well.

After round one in Dongtan's North Square, we were wandering around looking for round two when we found Jusangnakwon. At first I thought it was just a regular bar, but once I checked the menu, the food options were way more varied than I expected.

The vibe inside Jusangnakwon and tablet ordering

There were more tables than I expected, and it didn't have that too-loud pojangmacha (street tent bar) feel, so it was comfortable to sit and drink.

Every table had a tablet, so ordering more food was instant!

And for the basic side snack, we got shrimp chips or something similar. This kind of thing is nothing special, but you pick at it before the food arrives and it disappears fast haha.

That day we ordered the aged kimchi pork cutlet nabe (₩21,900) and jjapaguri & green onion kimchi (₩5,900).

Aged kimchi pork cutlet nabe (₩21,900) — how does it taste?

Aged kimchi pork cutlet nabe, ₩21,900. It's a kimchi nabe (hot pot) with well-fermented aged kimchi and a whole pork loin cutlet simmered together. The visuals the moment it arrived were killer. The big pot is full of red broth with a whole pork cutlet laid on top. It comes out still bubbling, and just looking at it already calls for a bottle of soju.

I tried the broth first and — wow. This is a soju side dish. It's spicy with the tangy kick of aged kimchi front and center, and the broth is thick enough that you keep spooning it up. It's not just hot for the sake of hot — the aged kimchi brings out a real depth of savory flavor. There's egg mixed in too, so it's spicy but goes down smooth.

But the real star of this dish is the pork cutlet. A whole pork loin cutlet sits on top of the broth — no gamey taste, decent meat flavor, and the batter gets soaked in the kimchi nabe broth and turns moist and delicious. At first there's still a bit of crispness left, but as time passes and it absorbs the broth, it turns into a completely soft, moist cutlet.

Eat a piece of aged kimchi with the cutlet and there's no room for it to feel greasy. At first the cutlet-and-aged-kimchi combo felt a little unusual, but once I tried it, I got why they paired them. The salty, tangy kimchi cuts right through the richness of the cutlet, and the combo turned out to be surprisingly good. It's the kind of flavor that makes the soju flow. Does the food here really go hard?

Jjapaguri & green onion kimchi (₩5,900) — a solid side pick

Jjapaguri & green onion kimchi, ₩5,900. The price alone is easygoing. These days adding one extra side dish at a bar usually runs close to ₩10,000, so ₩5,900 was great to order as a side. It's jjapaguri (black bean noodles) reduced over high heat, served with green onion kimchi.

But why does jjapaguri someone else cooks always taste better? The noodles weren't mushy, they had a nice chewy bite, and the black bean sauce clung thick to the noodles. It's basically the same jjapaguri you'd make at home, but eating it while drinking makes it unusually good haha.

And the green onion kimchi served alongside — this is the real deal too. One bite of jjapaguri, one bite of green onion kimchi on top — a champion combo.

The sweet, salty flavor of the jjapaguri paired with the tangy, spicy green onion kimchi cuts the richness and keeps you eating. I don't know who thought of jjapaguri + green onion kimchi, but you can't resist it. Between drinking soju with the aged kimchi pork cutlet nabe and then eating jjapaguri in the middle, this was round two but I basically became a person eating dinner all over again.

Final verdict — how was this as a round-two bar in Dongtan's North Square

Jusangnakwon was a place we walked into casually for round two in Dongtan's North Square, and I was satisfied because the food was better than expected. The aged kimchi pork cutlet nabe was striking just from the visuals, and the taste held up too. With the spicy broth, aged kimchi, and whole pork loin cutlet combo, anyone who likes soju will probably like it without complaint.

And the ₩5,900 jjapaguri + green onion kimchi is a total recommend as a side. No price pressure to add it on, and it's perfect when you're craving carbs mid-drink. If you'd rather drink with real cooked food instead of the usual dry snack bars, this is a solid pick. Worth checking out whether you're having a meal-and-drinks round one in Dongtan's North Square, or you want a proper snack for round two.

One spoonful of the aged kimchi pork cutlet nabe and I was already thinking about soju. Does the food here really go hard?