Sliced beef brisket at a Jongno 3-ga BBQ restaurant: Chowon

Once the weather cools down, one thing I always want to do in Jongno 3-ga is grill meat at an outdoor tent (야장, yajang). Haha, this time I went with my boyfriend for a date at Chowon Restaurant Jongno 3-ga Branch, right next to Tapgol Park. They grill everything from frozen pork belly to chadolbagi (sliced beef brisket) to hanwoo (Korean beef), and the best part is the row of outdoor tables lined up right in front of the shop — perfect vibe for a drink in this kind of weather.

We visited around 5:30pm on a Sunday, and the outdoor tables already had a wait, so we skipped the line and sat at an indoor table we could use right away. The inside was also open wide to the street, so the atmosphere was almost as good as the outdoor tent.

Chowon Restaurant Jongno 3-ga Branch hours and 90-minute table limit

Chowon Restaurant Jongno 3-ga Branch is currently open from 5:00pm to 1:00am the next day. Note that on weekends and holidays, table use is limited to 90 minutes — just so you know!

How early to arrive for an outdoor tent table in Jongno 3-ga

The biggest draw of Chowon Restaurant was definitely the yajang atmosphere. Red chairs and tables are set up right in front of the shop, facing the stone wall of Tapgol Park, so even in the middle of the city it had a surprisingly nice vibe, haha. We visited around 5:30pm on a Sunday, and the outdoor tables were already almost completely full, so we had to wait if we wanted one.

From what I saw, there were about 5–6 outdoor tables. If you absolutely want to sit outside, I'd recommend arriving a bit earlier than peak time on weekends! We were hungry, so we didn't wait and just sat inside. Luckily the doors inside were wide open too, so we could still feel the outdoor atmosphere — it wasn't as disappointing as I expected.

Chowon Restaurant Jongno 3-ga menu and set prices

The menu is simpler than you might expect. There's frozen pork belly, beef short rib, hanwoo chaekkeut deungsim (striploin), chadolbagi, and other meat dishes — if you're coming with 2–3 people, ordering a set is easier than ordering à la carte.

According to the menu when I visited, the pork belly set was ₩53,000 (frozen pork belly 270g + beef short rib 270g), and the fire hanwoo set was ₩55,000. Since there were two of us, we ordered the ₩53,000 pork belly set.

Honest review: frozen pork belly vs. sliced beef brisket

The basic side dishes were kimchi, bean sprouts, green onion kimchi, garlic, chili peppers, lettuce, and more.

From the start, we laid the kimchi out in a long strip on one side of the grill. Once it cooked in the pork belly fat, it tasted like it was practically calling for a drink...!

The frozen pork belly was sliced thin so it cooked quickly, and eating the fatty meat together with the grilled kimchi was, as always, a combo that never fails.

I went there because I like frozen pork belly, but honestly, something else turned out to be even tastier. It was the chadolbagi!

The thin slices cooked fast on the grill, with a bit of fat rising up as they cooked — personally, of all the meat we had that day, the chadolbagi was the best. I went there for pork belly and came back more obsessed with chadolbagi instead, ha.

And overall, Chowon Restaurant doesn't really have a quiet, just-eat-your-meal kind of atmosphere — it's more the type of place where you grill meat and have a drink of soju or beer, so naturally we ended up having a drink with our meal too.

Is Chowon Restaurant worth it for outdoor BBQ in Jongno 3-ga?

Chowon Restaurant was a great outdoor tent (yajang) spot in Jongno 3-ga where you can eat frozen pork belly and chadolbagi while enjoying a view of Tapgol Park's stone wall. Even though we couldn't get an outdoor table like we wanted, the indoor space was open to the street so we could still enjoy a decent version of the atmosphere. I personally liked that the restroom was clean too — small details like that matter.

That said, on weekend evenings not just the outdoor tent but the whole restaurant can get crowded, so if you're set on sitting outside, I'd recommend arriving a bit early. If you're looking for a place to date or drink with friends over meat in Jongno 3-ga's outdoor tent atmosphere, give this one a try!