Cheolsan Station BBQ: weeknight pork jowl and myeoljeot, Snug Roastery

I wanted meat cooked out, not at home, so I finally went for a Cheolsan Station dinner after a while. I'd passed this place a few times and it always caught my eye for looking so clean. This is Snug Roastery.

Snug Roastery hours and menu near Cheolsan Station

Snug Roastery, a good spot for a Cheolsan meat feast, is open 24 hours, so it's a great choice whenever you show up.

This Cheolsan Station favorite has pork belly, pork neck, galmaegisal, and hangjeongsal all on the menu, and we went with their best-menu picks.

What we ordered at Snug Roastery

I went back and forth between kimchi jjigae and doenjang jjigae for the stew, but since I already make doenjang jjigae at home often, I picked kimchi jjigae — and it was absolutely the right call.

Weeknight atmosphere and do you need a reservation?

Even on a weeknight visit, nearly every table was full. Families out for a meal like us, and groups here for a Cheolsan-area company dinner, all mixed together — a great spot for any size party.

We'd reserved ahead, so the side dishes were already set at our table when we arrived; anything you run out of, you can refill at the self-serve bar. They also gave us a generous portion of kimchi and myeoljeot ready to go on the grill.

After we ordered the meat, the charcoal arrived — apparently they use premium charcoal for direct-fire grilling, which really brings out the meat's natural aroma and chewy texture.

Premium pork neck and whole-scallion galmaegisal, grilled by the staff

Here's the premium pork jowl and whole-scallion galmaegisal, this Cheolsan favorite's signature. It came with mushrooms and shishito peppers, and the whole-scallion galmaegisal had this striking look — skirt meat wrapped around a whole green onion.

One reason I'd recommend this place for a Cheolsan Station dinner is the service: staff grill every single piece with real care. With top-grade charcoal and someone else doing the grilling, all you have to do is sit back and eat — I was so satisfied.

The meat at Snug Roastery is aged, and it showed — tender with deep flavor. The premium pork jowl stood out for its thickness alone, and that vivid pink color made my mouth water on sight.

The whole-scallion galmaegisal cooking up beautifully, and the premium pork jowl looking thick and juicy — I was already excited for this combo, since grilled scallion brings a sweetness that plain grilled meat just doesn't have.

The whole scallion looked almost like a bone shape — the kind of thing you just want to grab and gnaw on.

The side order: pork kimchi jjigae

While the meat cooked, out came the pork kimchi jjigae. Bubbling away in its stone pot, packed with well-cooked pork and kimchi — just looking at it made me want a bowl of rice immediately.

We ordered it as a side at Snug Roastery and it turned out to have way more presence than expected — generous ingredients, and the kimchi itself was so good the broth was rich and deeply flavored.

Since the premium pork jowl is so thick, they cut it into large pieces and cook it through to the center, which keeps the juices sealed in.

While the pork jowl finished cooking, we started with the well-grilled whole-scallion galmaegisal. Eating it with the sweet, cooked-down scallion made the savory flavor pop even more without getting tiring.

How to dip: salt, myeong-i namul and myeoljeot

The first bite of meat, of course, has to be with salt. It really brings out the aged meat's natural flavor, and after that I tried it with myeong-i namul (wild garlic leaves), the house special sauce, and even wasabi.

I loved having so many ways to eat it. I've had plenty of chewy galmaegisal before, but this was my first time with the whole-scallion version — and it was even better than I expected.

The shishito peppers and king oyster mushrooms paired especially well with the premium pork jowl, and the way the juices burst in your mouth made me instantly want a drink.

I dipped it deep into the salty, savory myeoljeot, and it wasn't fishy at all. It's not one of those strong, fishy myeoljeots, so I think even first-timers could enjoy it without hesitation.

In between, I'd take a bite of the stew with kimchi and tofu, and even the kimchi jjigae had big chunks of pork in it. I made sure to enjoy that fully too.

Finishing with kimchi fried rice on the griddle

No matter how full you are, you can't skip the fried rice...!

It came fried right on the griddle, easy to eat as-is, and topped with roasted seaweed flakes and a fried egg for extra richness.

The fried egg, cooked just barely soft in the middle, gets cut up and mixed into the fried rice — that's just how it's done, right.

Even full, it kept tasting good enough to keep reaching for more, and I saved one piece of the premium pork jowl to eat with the fried rice — a perfect combo. The meat was great and having it all grilled for us made the meal effortless. That was my review of Snug Roastery.