Changwon Korean BBQ combo set and fried rice: Smile Hoegwan Daebang

Where is Smile Hoegwan Daebang, and what are the hours?

• Address: 14 Gayang-ro 136beon-gil, Seongsan-gu, Changwon-si, Gyeongnam, 1st floor
• Hours: 15:30 - 23:50 (last order 22:50)
• Closed: No days off
• Parking: Street parking, or public lot next to Daebang Hwangtobang (no support)

Today's spot was Smile Hoegwan Daebang. True to the '회관 (hoegwan, hall)' in the name, the exterior gives off a retro vibe from the moment you see it.

Where do you park near Smile Hoegwan Daebang?

You'll need to use street parking around the restaurant, but this area is really hard to park in. I've almost never seen an open spot whenever I pass by 😂 If there's no space, it might actually save your sanity to just use the public parking lot next to Daebang Hwangtobang nearby instead of driving around looking. There's no separate parking support offered.

A retro dining room

The interior is on the cozy/small side. Like the outside, it's decked out with a retro feel that pairs nicely with frozen pork belly. Perfect vibe for ending the day with meat and a drink after work!

What cuts come in the small flash-frozen combo set?

Looking over the menu, we ordered the small size of the frozen combo set. The menu listed it as good for 2-3 people, but after eating it, I personally thought it was just right for two. The frozen combo set comes with pork belly, flower pork belly, five-layer pork belly, and pork neck all together, so you get to taste several cuts at once. Smile Hoegwan apparently flash-freezes premium fresh meat and processes it themselves before serving it to guests. So it was a bit different from the usual super-thin frozen pork belly you'd picture. If you're on the hunt for good naengsam (frozen pork belly) in Changwon and want to enjoy the actual texture of the meat rather than just thin frozen slices, you'll especially like this part.

The side dishes: rolled omelette and kimchi pancake

The default table setting was also a bit different from your typical Korean BBQ place. Rolled egg (gyeranmari) and kimchi pancake (kimchijeon) come standard, along with kimchi and garlic scapes you can grill on the pan alongside your meat.

The frozen combo set showed up shortly after! Several cuts arrived on one plate, and they were a bit thicker than the super-thin frozen pork belly you'd typically see at a mart.

The owner grills the pork for you — how does it chew?

It didn't seem too busy that day, so the owner grilled the meat for us himself, and all we had to do was sit back and eat. He placed the meat on the pan and seasoned it with salt and pepper, and gave it a pretty generous amount of pepper. I love pepper myself, so I didn't find the pepper flavor overpowering at all — just thought it was delicious the whole time haha.

I only took photos of the pork belly and pork neck, but eating it, the texture was clearly different from paper-thin frozen pork belly. With some actual thickness, you got a real chewy bite rather than a crispy one! Of the four cuts, the flower pork belly and five-layer pork belly were the tastiest — but somehow I don't have a single photo of exactly those two...?😅

The soy sauce and egg yolk dip

One of the things I really liked about Smile Hoegwan was this sauce! It's a soy sauce base with an egg yolk sitting in it — you pop the yolk, mix it well, and dip your meat in. The savory depth of the soy sauce combined with the richness of the yolk was such a good combination. I kept dipping generously into this sauce and pairing it with the other side dishes 😁

The free highball from the receipt review event

Smile Hoegwan Daebang was also running a Naver receipt review event. Participate in the review and you get a free highball or drink.

We joined in too, and I went with the highball. I like sweet drinks in general, so I mixed in some sprite on top — at that point I honestly couldn't tell if I was drinking alcohol or soda haha. I drank half the glass in one go.

Finishing with fried rice: how much is 2 servings?

After finishing the meat, we agonized for a while over what to eat for the closing dish. Unlike a typical Korean BBQ place, there's no naengmyeon (cold noodles) here, so we debated between soybean paste stew and fried rice, and finally went with fried rice! Since fried rice comes as a default 2-serving order, I really debated whether to order it while already full — but bottom line, I'm so glad we did. When the owner brought out the fried rice ingredients, the portion was so big I actually asked again, "Is this really just 2 servings...?" But the taste was even more satisfying. It was memorably delicious — one of the best fried rices I've had at any Korean BBQ place! We were already full from the meat, so we did end up leaving a bit, but I'd order the fried rice again for sure on a repeat visit.

Final verdict on Smile Hoegwan Daebang

When I think of naengsam (frozen pork belly), I usually picture super-thin, crispy-grilled pork belly first, but Smile Hoegwan uses flash-frozen fresh meat and lets you taste several cuts together, so it felt like a bit of a different experience. I especially liked the flower pork belly, the five-layer pork belly, and the soy-yolk sauce, and the fried rice at the end wrapped things up perfectly!

• Flash-frozen fresh meat gives a different texture from typical thin frozen pork belly
• A combo set lets you taste pork belly, flower pork belly, five-layer pork belly, and pork neck all at once
• The soy-yolk dipping sauce is rich and savory
• Definitely order the fried rice!!! 🌟