Hwaseong Korean BBQ with gochujang pork belly: Jipbul Taebaek

I heard there was a great place in Yeongcheon-dong, Dongtan, where you could try delicious straw-fire-grilled prime beef ribs, so I rushed right over to Jipbul Taebaek. Watching them grill the meat over straw fire as soon as you order is fun in itself—and eating it is fun too!

Jipbul Taebaek near Dongtan’s 11-ja shopping district

Hours are daily from 12:00 to 23:00. It is near Dongtan’s 11-ja shopping district, with space for a few cars in front of the restaurant. You can also use your judgment and find parking nearby! It had been a while since I last had prime beef ribs, so I arrived at this Yeongcheon-dong, Dongtan spot full of anticipation!

There is a coffee machine outside, which is perfect for a cup after your meal. This popular Yeongcheon-dong, Dongtan restaurant even gets a wait on weekend peak hours, so if there is one, register at the machine in front.

The restaurant was spacious and pleasant, so I thought it would be great for group get-togethers or family meals too. The tables were well spaced, making it comfortable to dine. I visited in the early evening on a weekday, but before long it was packed with reserved parties and groups—wow. No wonder it is such a talked-about spot in Yeongcheon-dong, Dongtan!

The menu and generous banchan

• Prime beef ribs / beef rib meat / straw-fire hanger steak
• Gochujang pork belly / straw-fire pork belly / straw-fire pork neck / straw-fire whole pork jowl
• Chuck flap / Korean beef yuk sashimi / Korean beef yukhoe
• Premium pork skin / guacamole tortillas / cheese steamed egg

They say you get guacamole tortillas for leaving a Naver receipt review, and reviews say they taste even better alongside the guacamole tortillas and prime beef ribs, so be sure to join the Naver receipt-review event~~!

Jipbul Taebaek serves generous banchan (Korean side dishes)! There was lettuce salad, green-onion kimchi, shredded-radish kimchi, japchae, potato salad, and all kinds of sauces—side dishes made to go beautifully with meat. Everything was neatly prepared and there was such a variety; best of all, the staff kindly asked first if we wanted refills, so it was easy to request more!

Prime beef ribs grilled over straw fire to order

They put bracken fern and kimchi on the grill too, so you can enjoy them deliciously cooked in the meat drippings~ Jipbul Taebaek’s special appeal is that it grills meat over straw fire as soon as you order! I ordered its signature prime beef ribs and got to watch them go straight onto the straw fire. Jipbul Taebaek is a Yeongcheon-dong, Dongtan spot that is fun to watch and fun to eat at.

Prime beef ribs, deliciously grilled over straw fire! The delicate yet deep straw-fire smokiness seeped into the meat, giving it a charm quite different from the grilled meat I usually have.

After trimming the meat on the grill, they grilled it once more. Because it had been quickly seared over intense straw fire, the juices were sealed in, making the meat even more delicious.

A huge plus is that the staff carefully grill the meat themselves, so you can simply sit back and eat! When you grill meat yourself, it gets hectic and hot and you cannot properly savor it—but with the staff doing it, I could enjoy the meat even more~

The prime beef ribs looked so appetizing as they cooked. The lean meat and fat were well balanced, so they were tender and chewy at the same time. The more I chewed, the more savory flavor came through with the juices, and they were plenty delicious even without seasoning.

They cook the lean portion first to a perfect doneness and place it on the bone. Once you finish that lean meat, they grill the meat around the bone well and cut it up for you too.

The rich beef flavor with the straw-fire aroma added in was just so good~ Jipbul Taebaek’s meat was nicely fatty, moist, and chewy—so delicious!

Pile on plenty of wasabi for an extra sharp kick, and there are also various sauces, including minari and bracken-fern sauces, so you can enjoy the prime beef ribs in lots of different ways. They cut off the meat attached to the bone and grill that well too, and it was another delicacy! Its chewy tendon texture made it different from the lean meat, with a lovely springy bite.

It was chewy and savory, perfect for picking up one piece at a time! Tasting the deeply beefy prime ribs in all those different textures felt like enjoying a full, varied beef feast from one cut.

Extra gochujang pork belly and fried rice

The straw-fire aroma on the prime beef ribs was so appealing that I thought it would go wonderfully with gochujang pork belly too, so I ordered more!

The pork belly’s umami, infused with delicate straw-fire aroma and spicy gochujang seasoning, was incredible! The moment I ate it, the smoky flavor hit strongly and I thought, wow, this is the real deal~! If you visit Jipbul Taebaek, you absolutely have to order the gochujang pork belly~!

I finished with fried rice too!! They stir-fry it in the drippings left after the meat, and the fried rice itself had little pieces of meat in it, so each bite had savory meat and even more flavor.

Even though I was full, I could not stop eating that fried rice ㅠㅠ It had crispy nurungji (scorched rice) to enjoy too, so I had no choice but to finish it. Watching the straw-fire grilling show(?) as they cooked to order was fun, and the combination of gentle straw-fire aroma and savory meat was incredibly memorable! The prime beef ribs were tender with just the right chew—something any beef lover would be bound to enjoy~!