Charcoal pork bone grill in Daejeon: Thursday dinner for two, Yeonam

Where Yeonam Charcoal-Grilled Pork Backbone & Gamjatang is and its opening hours

Yeonam Charcoal-Grilled Pork Backbone & Gamjatang is at Daeheung-dong 225-6, Jung-gu, Daejeon (37-9 Jungang-ro 130beon-gil, Jung-gu, Daejeon, South Korea), a 4-minute walk from Jungangno Station Exit 3. It's open from 11:30am to 12am with no break time, last order is 11:30pm, and there are no regular closed days.

• Naver Reservation available (not on Fri, Sat, Sun, and not same-day)
• Groups of up to 9 people accepted; call ahead for parties of 10 or more
• Parking: no dedicated lot, use Wooridle Park public parking

9 groups waiting on a weekday night: why a Naver booking is essential at Yeonam

I showed up around 8:30pm on a Thursday and there was a huge crowd waiting outside. The Catch Table waitlist showed 9 teams waiting with an estimated 50-minute wait. But since I'd already made a Naver reservation, I walked straight in with no wait at all ✌️

The waiting list is intense even on weekdays, so I really recommend booking through Naver Reservation before you go. Plus, reserving through Naver gets you a free soda. ❗️ Apparently reservations are hard to get on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays. The table photo was taken around 10pm as we were leaving after finishing our meal, so you can see some empty seats.

Yeonam's menu and the 3 spice levels for the grilled pork bones

🍴 Here's the full menu and country-of-origin labeling at this Daeheung-dong, Daejeon favorite. Pork bone grill starts at ₩34,000, and half-and-half starts at ₩39,000. The pork bones take about 15 to 20 minutes to cook after ordering.

🍚 Rice isn't included, and extra noodles can only be added when placing your first order. There are 3 noodle options — udon, ramyeon, or rice cake. The pork bones also come in 3 flavors: salt, spicy, and black sauce — though the salt option is only available as part of a half-and-half order.

• 🌶🌶 Regular spicy is about as hot as Buldak Bokkeum Myeon (extra spicy fire noodles)
• 🌶 Less-spicy is about as hot as regular Buldak Bokkeum Myeon
• Black sauce is a Chinese-style spicy flavor made by mixing chunjang (black bean paste) with a special sauce — it's spicy too, but apparently less spicy than the less-spicy option

Wrapped cutlery and clear kiosk instructions: the details that built trust

There was a plastic shield around the utensils so you can only touch the handle when pulling them out. 🍴 Even if it doesn't really do anything, it looks more hygienic and feels more reassuring — I thought it was a really nice touch.

There was also a note on the kiosk saying they'd take complaints by phone or text and promising to make it up to you with better service, with contact info listed right there. It looked really impressive, and I already felt like I could trust this place 👍

Side dishes at Yeonam: gamjatang broth and mayo cheonsachae (seaweed noodle salad)

After ordering, the basic side dishes came out: peppers, ssamjang (dipping paste), pickled onion, gamjatang (pork bone soup) broth, mayo cheonsachae (shredded jellyfish-like vegetable in mayo), stir-fried anchovies, and salt. The salt came because we ordered the half-and-half pork bones.

The gamjatang broth was so good 🥄 that I think ordering the actual gamjatang would be delicious too, and 🤩 the mayo cheonsachae — not something you see often — helped neutralize the spiciness of the pork bones.

Medium half-and-half pork bones at 39,000 won: is it enough for two?

We ordered the half-and-half pork bones for ₩39,000, salt plus less-spicy sauce (medium), and picked udon for the noodles. The pork bones come in small, medium, and large sizes, and half-and-half is only available from the medium size up.

I figured the small size would be enough for two, so I worried that a medium plus extra noodles would leave a lot leftover — but it turned out to be just the right amount for a couple. The medium half-and-half plate came with 9 pieces of bone.

Ordered less spicy, so why was the udon add-on so hot?

🌶 I'm not great with spicy food, so I went with the less-spicy option. It cut through the richness of the meat just enough without being too hot — but the udon noodles were another story. I genuinely wondered if it was even the same sauce, because it was too spicy to comfortably eat 🥵

There was something on top of the meat I couldn't quite identify — green onions, maybe? — and I wasn't sure if it was really meant to be wrapped like that 😅 Anyway, the pork bones weren't greasy, the meat came off the bone easily, the half-and-half option was great, and honestly I liked it a lot more than the more famous place next door(?). If they could just tone down the spice a little... 😭 Next time I'll have to try the black sauce flavor and the rice balls 😋

Restrooms and payment options at Yeonam

🚻 The restroom at this Daeheung-dong, Daejeon favorite is outside the restaurant, shared with the rest of the building — men's and women's restrooms are located together.

Ontong Daejeon (Daejeon Sarang Card), Junggu-tong, and Onnuri gift certificates were all accepted, so I got to eat for a bit cheaper 😋