A regular's Paju Unjeong BBQ: thick pork neck & crab stew, Tannae

Tannae Paju Main Branch: my go-to Korean BBQ in Unjeong

Tannae Paju Main Branch (탄내 파주본점) is a briquette-grill Korean BBQ restaurant in Garam-maeul, Unjeong, and it's where I go for meat quite often. On this revisit I hesitated for a bit, but I ended up at Tannae again, and I chose the selected pork neck.

I'd been before, and somehow it's become my regular place that naturally comes to mind when I want meat, haha. I like hunting for new restaurants too, but the places you keep going back to usually have a reason.

What is the atmosphere like at Tannae Paju Main Branch?

It's not a trendy, aesthetic-driven BBQ place. It feels like a clean, comfortable neighborhood regular's spot for eating meat. Each table has its own hood pulled down right over it, and the layout works fine for a group too! Maybe because I've been a few times now, it just feels familiar when I walk in, haha.

Tannae's selected pork neck: price and what makes it special

When I come to Tannae, I recommend the pork neck, and what I had this time was the selected pork neck. It's ₩16,000 for 180g, ordered in 2-serving units. The menu even describes it as a steak-like pre-grilled pork neck with the fat trimmed and thick lean meat left, so the pork neck is clearly a main feature here.

And here's why I love the pork neck at Tannae!

The pork neck doesn't arrive as raw meat; it's pre-grilled in the kitchen. At the table you just put it on the briquette fire and cook it a little more until it's ready to eat. That's much easier than BBQ places where you're frantically grilling from start to finish.

As you can see in the photo, the pork neck comes as thick chunks. It isn't thin-sliced; the pieces are big, so you really get a meaty bite, and the outside gets golden while the inside stays moist.

So while ordering a bit of everything at Tannae is fine too, if it's your first visit I'd say try the pork neck first. Even on my revisit, I ended up back at the pork neck, haha.

Finishing the pre-grilled pork neck over the briquettes

Another Tannae signature is the briquette fire. You can see the briquettes glowing red under the grill, and you put the pre-grilled pork neck on and cook only as much as you're about to eat.

Since the meat comes pre-grilled, the wait isn't long, and instead of leaving everything on for ages, I kept pieces at the edge and ate them one by one, so it stayed warm to the end. There's also room in the middle to set the stew, so you can keep it simmering while you eat. This setup is quietly Tannae's charm.

What free stew comes with the meat at Tannae?

When you order meat at Tannae Paju Main Branch, you get one stew included, either crab doenjang stew (soybean paste stew) or pork kimchi stew. Extra stews are ₩6,000 each. This time I went with the crab doenjang stew!

It's not just a small doenjang stew plonked down; there's actual crab in it. I lifted it up to take a photo and there's a proper crab in there, haha. It also has onion and chili, and set in the middle of the briquette fire it bubbles away through the whole meal, perfect for a spoonful of broth between bites of meat.

Eat some plain pork neck, take a spoonful of hot doenjang stew, go back to the meat, and repeat endlessly. Even though it's the included stew, it doesn't feel like a token gesture, and that's another thing I'm happy with every time I visit Tannae.

Banchan (side dishes) and the self-serve bar

The basic sides at Tannae include wraps vegetables, pickles (jangajji), corn salad, garlic, ssamjang (wrap dipping paste) and everything else you need at a BBQ place. If you need more, you can grab it from the self-bar, which also has wrap vegetables and various extras.

I eat the first few pieces of pork neck plain and then move on to wraps. Put a piece of pork neck on lettuce and perilla leaf, add garlic and ssamjang, and yes, the flavor you know is the scariest, haha.

Why Tannae Paju Main Branch became my regular BBQ spot

Tannae Paju Main Branch is less an 'Instagram-worthy hotspot' you visit once and are done with, and more a place in the neighborhood you keep going back to when you crave meat.

• The meat is brought pre-grilled, so grilling is easy
• You can enjoy the pork neck thick-cut
• A stew is included
• The prices are not too burdensome by today's BBQ standards

Above all, I've already been many times and I'm still coming back, haha. This time too I left thinking, "Yeah, the pork neck here is good."

If you're looking for pork in Unjeong's Garam-maeul area, I recommend Tannae! Especially on a first visit, before agonizing over the menu, order the selected pork neck. I'll probably go again, haha.

Tannae Paju Main Branch hours, parking and payment

• Address: 73 Garam-ro, Unit 103, 1F, Paju-si, Gyeonggi, South Korea
• Weekdays 17:00-23:00
• Weekends 16:00-23:00
• Last order 22:00
• Parking available / Paju Pay and Gyeonggi local currency accepted / corkage free