Jongno Korean BBQ restaurant with a 10-minute wait: Chowon Restaurant

There's no resisting an outdoor tent (yajang) in weather like this!! My favorite season for it~~ And when it comes to yajang, isn't it always Jongno!? So my boyfriend and I went on a date to Jongno this past weekend.

Honestly Jongno has tons of restaurants with outdoor seating, but the waits are brutal to match... and it can get pretty chaotic, so it's a love-it-or-hate-it kind of area. The place I went to was sort of a happy medium(?)

Where is Chowon Restaurant, and what are its hours?

• Location: 213-4 Nakwon-dong, Jongno-gu, Seoul / 141m from Jongno 3-ga Station Exit 5 (2-minute walk)
• Hours: Daily 17:00–01:00

Chowon Restaurant is super close to Exit 5 of Jongno 3-ga Station. You pass a street lined with outdoor tent seating and it's right next to Tapgol Park, so it's perfect when you don't love crowds and chaos but still want to enjoy the yajang vibe!!

What Chowon Restaurant looks like from the street

Chowon Restaurant has outdoor seating set up right next to Tapgol Park like this. They even put little lights on the tables, so once it got dark the atmosphere was really nice!!

Inside Chowon Restaurant: indoor seats with a tent feel

There weren't many outdoor seats, but there were quite a lot of seats inside. The restroom was inside the restaurant too.

We visited on a Saturday evening, and the wait for outdoor seating was too long, so after some back and forth we just decided to sit inside and got in after about a 10-minute wait. (Not gonna admit we were just too hungry to wait, ha.)

Chowon Restaurant menu and prices

The menu itself wasn't huge, but it had all the basics. We wanted the pork belly set, but they said only frozen pork belly (naengsam) was available that day.

Honest review: 180g flash-frozen pork belly

The basic side dishes came out quickly on one tray! Lettuce, garlic, chili peppers, green onion kimchi, pepper-seasoned bean sprouts, ssamjang (dipping sauce), and kimchi.

We ordered 2 servings of frozen pork belly, and while the per-serving price isn't cheap, each serving was 180g, so the portion was generous — decent value if you think in terms of price per gram!!

And even though we were seated indoors, our table had that outdoor-tent feel!! Short wait, still got the yajang mood~~ so good!!! Ha~ a cool evening breeze with savory frozen pork belly!!!

Chowon Restaurant's frozen pork belly was cut with a bit of thickness to it. I much prefer it with some thickness rather than super thin!!

They sprinkled on the essential pepper for frozen pork belly and grilled kimchi, bean sprouts, and garlic alongside it. A can't-fail winning combo for frozen pork belly 💯

I made a wrap with grilled kimchi, pork belly, garlic, and green onion kimchi, and maybe because the pork belly had some thickness to it, it was incredibly savory and delicious.

Steamed egg and beef brisket soybean paste stew

We also ordered the steamed egg — it was slightly burnt, but the seasoning was just right and it was fluffy and tasty.

I'm dieting these days and tried to hold back, but if it's delicious it's zero calories, right...??!? In the end I caved and ordered one more serving of frozen pork belly...!

We finished with the beef brisket soybean paste stew — full of ingredients and full of that hearty, savory flavor. Soybean paste stew after pork belly is basically never bad ✨️

Is Chowon Restaurant worth the wait?

If you're looking for an outdoor-tent spot in Jongno with good atmosphere and good food, try Chowon Restaurant. Past the busy main tent alley, it's near the relatively quiet Tapgol Park, which made it nice for a date. The thick-cut frozen pork belly was savory and delicious, and 180g per serving is a generous portion, so the value wasn't bad either. It was a place where you can enjoy a good meal in the cool autumn breeze.