14-day water-aged pork belly in Uijeongbu, seared crispy: Cheonpo

I used to drop by Cheonpo Hoegwan for lunch every now and then. They do a lunch special with stone-pot rice even on weekends, so I'd come here occasionally, but this time it was Friday night and I wanted a proper meat dinner, so I came in the evening. This was actually my first time ordering pork belly at Cheonpo Hoegwan, and walking out afterward, the meat was impressive enough that I thought I'd definitely come back here whenever I'm craving pork belly in Uijeongbu!

• 📍 Location 21 Beomgol-ro145beon-gil, Uijeongbu-si, Gyeonggi-do, South Korea, 1st floor
• ⏰ Hours 11:00 – 23:00
• 🚗 Parking Free parking for 2–3 cars in front of the building

What Cheonpo Hoegwan Uijeongbu Main Branch looks like inside

Trendy and cozy at the same time

Cheonpo Hoegwan stands out from the outside with its tiled roof. Once inside, the place is bigger than expected and the tables are spaced out comfortably. There's even more space further in that doesn't show in the photos, and a lot of people were there for gatherings and work dinners.

It had that mix of cozy and stylish trendiness — every table had its own grill already set up, and there was a separate self-serve bar where you could grab whatever you needed.

Cheonpo Hoegwan's pork belly: water-aged at 1.5°C for 14 days

Our pick for the day was the water-aged pork belly

We ordered the dwaeji samgyeop — pork belly aged for over 14 days in 1.5°C water. Even raw, the fat-to-lean ratio looked really good.

You grill the minari, napa cabbage kimchi, and shredded green onion right alongside the meat, and since the minari and kimchi are all-you-can-eat, that's great news for anyone who likes to load up on sides while eating meat.

And honestly, this was the best texture I've had from pork belly here. 🥓

Free beef tartare, snail-paste doenjang and minari kimchi pancake

You're already busy just eating the meat, and the extras keep coming

I also liked that Cheonpo Hoegwan gives you so much to eat besides the main dish.

The complimentary beef tartare was better than expected, and the snail-paste doenjang they give one of per table was a real treat too. It wasn't too salty, more savory, so I kept spooning little bits onto rice — and before I knew it, I was just scooping it up by the spoonful, haha.

Grilling the minari kimchi pancake ourselves was fun too. The batter itself had a chewy texture, so cooking it crisp outside while keeping it chewy inside made it perfect to pop between bites of meat.

Does the pork belly stay tender when seared crispy?

I'm not usually a fan of pork belly that's been grilled so long it turns hard, almost like it's been fried.

But Cheonpo's pork belly, even seared pretty hard with the flame kept on the whole time, stayed surprisingly tender.

The outside browned up nicely with a deeper savory flavor, while the inside kept its juices, so there was almost no dryness or toughness.

The fat also chewed soft rather than sitting greasy on top, so the balance with the lean meat was really good.

So if I had to pick the one thing I'll remember most from the Uijeongbu pork belly I ate that day, it's the texture of the aged meat!

Take a bite with well-cooked kimchi and minari piled on top, and it cuts through the richness of the pork belly so cleanly that you just keep going.

With the all-you-can-eat minari on hand, I ate really happily right up to the last bite.

Five-color bibim noodles from the weekday Naver reservation coupon

Booking a table via Naver ahead of a weekday visit got us a coupon for the five-color bibim noodles too. It's listed as a ₩7,000 side dish, but the portion looked just as big as a regular main dish, so it hardly felt like a freebie.

It came piled generously with vegetables, seaweed flakes, kimchi, and egg — a great pairing to go alongside the meat.

Normally after meat I'd order fried rice to round things off, but this time between the beef tartare, doenjang, minari kimchi pancake, and bibim noodles, there just wasn't room to order anything more.

Would I go back to Cheonpo Hoegwan?

This time Cheonpo Hoegwan left me with a new memory as a dinner spot for meat. I especially liked the pork belly staying tender down to the last bite even when seared crispy, so if I'm ever looking for a place to eat pork belly in Uijeongbu, I think I'll be back.