Korean BBQ near Myeongdong Station after shopping: Yuktongnyeong

If you're looking for a place to eat meat near Myeongdong Station, check out Yuktongnyeong Myeongdong Main Branch, about a 3-minute walk from Exit 5. The owner (or staff?) grills the meat for you, which makes it comfortable for couple dates, friend hangouts, family meals, or company dinners alike. It was featured on tvN's Wednesday Food Talk as one of Seoul's top three samgyeopsal spots, so it's a great Myeongdong restaurant to hit before or after shopping when you want proper meat.

Hi, this is Saetbyul. When you're shopping around Myeongdong, deciding on dinner is oddly hard. You're starving after a full day of walking, but there are so many restaurants — and since it's such a touristy area, it's even harder to pick where to go, haha.

So after shopping our hearts out, my partner and I decided, let's eat meat tonight! We went looking for a meat restaurant near Myeongdong Station and ended up at Yuktongnyeong Myeongdong Main Branch, which we'd heard was featured on TV several times. My anticipation shot up when I heard it was named one of Seoul's top three samgyeopsal spots on episode 74 of Wednesday Food Talk while I was searching for the best samgyeopsal and ogyeopsal in Myeongdong! I was already craving proper charcoal-grilled Myeongdong pork that day, so choosing the menu wasn't hard at all.

Where is Yuktongnyeong Myeongdong Main Branch, and is there a wait?

Yuktongnyeong Myeongdong Main Branch is really close to Myeongdong Station. It made for a perfect route for dinner on our way back to the station after a full day of shopping and sightseeing, and it also looked convenient for grabbing lunch before starting a shopping trip.

If you're looking for samgyeopsal near Myeongdong Station on a day you don't want to walk far, the location feels pretty convenient, haha. We didn't make a reservation, and visited around 6pm on a Wednesday — luckily we got seated right away with no wait! When you're searching for a Myeongdong restaurant for dinner, waiting a long time can be tiring, so it was nice to walk straight in that day.

TV features and a Blue Ribbon: what to expect at this Myeongdong charcoal-grill spot

The first thing that caught my eye outside was the Blue Ribbon sticker. Apparently they've received the Blue Ribbon award for six consecutive years since 2021 — whoa. So this is a Blue Ribbon-rated restaurant in Myeongdong!

Having heard it's a Myeongdong meat restaurant featured on TV multiple times, I got even more curious about what kind of place it was. Once inside, I saw several celebrity autographs on the walls, which really drove home how well-known it is, haha. If you're the type who checks TV features and celebrity visits while searching for the best pork restaurant in Myeongdong, this will probably catch your eye too.

Three floors of seating: a Myeongdong Station meat restaurant that works for groups

Yuktongnyeong operates across floors 1 to 3, and it's run together with Eunseong Yang Gopchang, so you can enjoy both pork and gopchang (grilled intestines) on any floor.

The first floor we entered didn't feel especially huge, but the seating was fairly generous.

Floors 2 and 3 had tables ranging from 4-person to 8-person setups. It looked like a good fit not just for couples but for friends having dinner together or small groups looking for a Myeongdong pork restaurant. It was nice to have seating options when you want to enjoy Myeongdong charcoal-grilled pork with several people.

Sauces and side dishes at Yuktongnyeong Myeongdong Main Branch

Once we sat down, sauces and side dishes were quickly set up in full — wine salt, wasabi, salted shrimp, omija (schisandra berry) syrup, salted hairtail intestines, and ssamjang (thick soybean paste), quite a variety of sauces. Sides came out in a good range too — salad, scallion shreds, pickled cucumber, aged kimchi, garlic scapes, myeongi namul (mountain garlic leaves), and pickled perilla leaves — all sweet-and-sour-salty and well-matched with the meat. It was fun mixing and matching sauces and sides while eating Myeongdong charcoal-grilled samgyeopsal and ogyeopsal. Having so many things to pair with the meat was personally a big plus.

They put in the charcoal, and while I was busy browsing the menu, my partner was hard at work mixing the scallion shreds, haha.

Menu: samgyeopsal, ogyeopsal and moksal charcoal-grilled pork in Myeongdong

You order using the tablet set up at each table.

There's samgyeopsal, ogyeopsal, moksal, and pork ribs, along with beef options like flower sirloin and raw and seasoned king short ribs. There's also a decent range of dishes to pair with the meat, like Hanwoo (Korean beef) yukhoe (beef tartare), yukhoe bibimbap, kimchi stew, doenjang (soybean paste) stew, and naengmyeon (cold noodles). So it was easy to choose according to your taste — whether you just want samgyeopsal or want to add ogyeopsal or moksal too. It's a menu lineup that suits anyone looking for a samgyeopsal or ogyeopsal restaurant near Myeongdong Station where you can try multiple cuts at once.

We ordered two servings of ogyeopsal and one of moksal.

Staff do the grilling: why Yuktongnyeong Myeongdong is easy for a date

Here's something I personally really loved. A staff member takes care of everything from placing the meat down to grilling, flipping, and cutting it. When you go out for meat, someone usually ends up having to keep an eye on the grill the whole time, right? But here, we could just chat and wait, which was so much more relaxing. This is probably a great point for couples looking for a meat restaurant near Myeongdong Station where someone else does the grilling!

As the meat hit the charcoal, the color alone looked great, haha. It was also quite thick, so it felt like the juices would stay locked in properly.

No need to even mention the charcoal aroma rising as it sizzled and cooked, haha. That was the moment I felt it was worth coming for Myeongdong charcoal-grilled pork, haha. Watching the meat turn golden brown over the charcoal already had me drooling, haha.

Once the meat started turning golden, they cut it into bite-sized pieces, then flipped and grilled each piece individually — so all we had to do was watch and chat, haha.

Looking at this again makes me want to eat it all over again... I feel like I can almost smell it from where I'm sitting writing this blog post, haha.

How the ogyeopsal and moksal tasted

For the first bite, I deliberately skipped the sauces and sides and just ate the meat plain. The moment I bit down, the juices came through along with a deep, rich meaty flavor, and I started to understand why it's known as one of Seoul's top three samgyeopsal spots.

The ogyeopsal really stood out for the nutty flavor from the fat and its chewy texture. I expected it to be greasy because of the fat, but nope — it was so nutty and chewy that I kept reaching for more, haha. Between the samgyeopsal, ogyeopsal, and moksal, if my boyfriend and I each had to pick just one, we'd both vote for ogyeopsal!

Moksal is a cut that easily turns dry if overcooked, but this was moist and tender all the way through — it stayed delicious to the last bite. Ogyeopsal and moksal clearly have different charms, so if you want to try multiple cuts at a Myeongdong pork restaurant, ordering both together seems like a good idea.

Pairing with omija syrup, wasabi, salted hairtail intestines, or wine salt let us enjoy the same meat in slightly different ways depending on our mood. We asked for garlic, and they served it soaked in sesame oil sauce — garlic gently bubbled and cooked in the charcoal heat, eaten with the meat, was also a real treat! And our couple's top pick pairing was the pickled perilla leaves. They were so good we asked for a refill twice and wrapped the meat in them, haha. If you love Myeongdong charcoal-grilled samgyeopsal and ogyeopsal, definitely try the pickled perilla leaf combo!

Why we recommend Yuktongnyeong Myeongdong Main Branch

When you've been shopping and sightseeing all day in Myeongdong, the biggest question at the end is always "where can we go eat something good without any hassle now?" Yuktongnyeong Myeongdong Main Branch is close to Myeongdong Station so you don't have to walk far, and best of all, since they grill the meat for you, we could focus on chatting with each other and enjoy a relaxed dinner. So for us, it was a Myeongdong meat restaurant that neatly solved the usual post-shopping dilemma of where to eat.

Who is Yuktongnyeong Myeongdong Main Branch best for?

From the nutty flavor of ogyeopsal to the moist moksal, the charcoal aroma, and the variety of sides and sauces — this was a great place to properly enjoy a meat meal. For us, as a couple who wanted samgyeopsal near Myeongdong Station but didn't want the hassle of grilling it ourselves, this suited us even better.

I'd recommend this to couples looking for a dinner spot after a date in Myeongdong, anyone who wants to eat Myeongdong charcoal-grilled pork with friends, and small groups of 4 to 8 people looking for a meat restaurant near Myeongdong Station. If you're after a Myeongdong charcoal-grilling spot where staff do the grilling for you, or a samgyeopsal place near Myeongdong Station to stop by comfortably after shopping, check out Yuktongnyeong Myeongdong Main Branch!