Hapjeong pork BBQ, 2cm neck cut and self-fried rice: Gim Sukseong

This weekend I decided I absolutely had to eat pork belly! So I made a reservation and headed to Gim Sukseong Hapjeong Branch, a Hapjeong Station favorite.

38 Yanghwa-ro 8-gil, Mapo-gu, Seoul, South Korea (1F) Hours: 11:30 – 1:00 AM the next day Group-friendly, reservations available

Where is Gim Sukseong Hapjeong Branch? 200m from Hapjeong Station Exit 3

Gim Sukseong Hapjeong Branch sits about 200m from Hapjeong Station Exit 3, so it's very accessible and easy to reach by public transit.

There's a cluster of good restaurants and bars nearby, so it's the perfect spot for round one before heading out for round two haha.

Menu and prices at Gim Sukseong Hapjeong Branch

There's also a Gim Sukseong Special set where you can try pork belly, special pork neck, gabrisal, and kkodeulsal (chewy cartilage cut) all on one plate. And the side dish lineup was seriously incredible. Ganjang gejang rice with corn cheese buldak — how could that not be good?

Inside Gim Sukseong Hapjeong Branch and its outdoor tables

The inside of Gim Sukseong Hapjeong Branch has a retro-tinged, neighborhood old-school vibe — the kind of cozy, comfortable place you can drop into anytime the craving for pork belly hits.

It's outdoor drinking season again, isn't it? Maybe that's why the window seats looking outside are so popular haha. There are outdoor tables too, so grilling meat and knocking back somaek with the breeze blowing sounds amazing.

Korean pork cross-aged for more than 20 days

The restaurant's name is literally Gim Sukseong (aging), so it would be disappointing if they didn't have a proper aging chamber haha. They say the pork goes through 4 days of dry-aging plus 16 days of wet-aging — over 20 days of cross-aging total — to reach peak flavor.

Side dishes: pa-kimchi (green onion kimchi) and seasoned raw crab

This place really knows what it's doing. I love that they give one sauce per person, and there are even two kinds of kimchi. They even have pa-kimchi (green onion kimchi)! I was already sold on the place just from the basic table setup.

They even bring out ganjang gejang (soy-marinated crab) as a side dish?! The flesh was plump, the seasoning wasn't spicy at all, just sweet-savory, and it woke up my appetite before the meat even arrived.

Gim Sukseong Special2, ₩56,000: the 2cm premium pork neck

Gim Sukseong Special2 (₩56,000)

The Gim Sukseong Special2 is a set of pork neck plus limited-edition aged pork, letting you enjoy several cuts at once.

The special pork neck was so thick I thought it was a steak haha. It boasts an incredible 2cm thickness. No wonder pork neck is their signature.

Grilling service: staff cook every cut for you

Thick cuts are hard to cook through evenly, but Gim Sukseong has a grilling service where staff cook everything from start to finish.

With an expert's touch, they get the perfect doneness and even cut it into bite-sized pieces! They grill the whole spread at once so you can focus entirely on eating.

They also put on potatoes, mushrooms, kimchi, and minari (water dropwort). Later I got extra pa-kimchi and garlic to grill separately, and the pa-kimchi was seriously the real deal, so good.

As someone who insists on vegetables with meat, the potatoes grilled crispy like chips were amazing, and the slightly wilted minari's bitter, subtle aroma was addictive.

How the pork belly, gabrisal and pork neck tasted

Premium aged pork on another level. The thickness alone proves the quality of this top-grade domestic Korean pork.

The pork belly, with just the right ratio of lean meat to fat, was grilled golden — crisp outside, juicy inside! It wasn't greasy since the fat was moderate, and the first bite burst with savory juices from the thick cut.

Dipped in the reduced, deeply flavored myeolchijeot (fermented anchovy sauce), it was salty and packed with umami. The sauce wasn't too salty or fishy at all — total game changer!

The gabrisal had a soft yet chewy texture that was really appealing. Compared to the pork belly, it was a bit leaner with a deeper, nuttier flavor.

Surely no one out there doesn't know how good meat is with shiitake mushroom wasabi sauce, right? Ever since I got hooked on this combo, I've loved any Hapjeong Station restaurant that offers shiitake wasabi sauce.

Pork neck can easily turn out dry, but this one was cooked just right — tender, moist, and satisfyingly filling in the mouth.

Honestly, the banchan (side dishes) played a big role here. Mixing and matching them with the meat meant I never got tired of eating haha.

Finishing with ₩4,000 self-fried rice

Self-fried rice (₩4,000)

What do you finish a pork belly meal with? Fried rice, obviously. They even gave us an egg to crack in the middle and fry ourselves haha, they really know what people want.

After diligently shaking the pan, my boyfriend-of-5-years-blogger-companion shaped the rice into a cute heart. Five years of dating a blogger and now he frames the shot without even being asked — so proud^^~

It was fried so well, fluffy and loose enough that you could feel each individual grain of rice! Not gonna lie, I cracked open one more bottle of soju just for the fried rice haha.

With thick, premium aged pork grilled to perfection by the staff, of course it was delicious haha. Before it gets any colder, run to Gim Sukseong Hapjeong Branch near Hapjeong Station for some outdoor somaek and BBQ!