Sunday lunch Korean BBQ in Gangnam, 4 servings for two: Bongu Hwarro

Bongu Hwarro near Gangnam Station: a Blue Ribbon grill house in its 20th year

Bongu Hwarro is a charcoal-grilled meat restaurant at Star Palace on Bongeunsa-ro 18-gil near Gangnam Station, with a Blue Ribbon certification sticker by the entrance and 20 years in business. I went to Gangnam Station to meet a friend after a while (actually I'm not even sure how long it's been haha)

We decided to eat meat, so I searched around several Gangnam Station BBQ places and figured Bongu Hwarro would be good — ☆total success☆ There's Blue Ribbon certification right by the entrance too. It's been running for 20 years and I had no idea until now..

Bongu Hwarro is running a 20th anniversary deal — 50% off additional meat orders!

Sunday at noon: 150 seats, and just the two of us

The interior of Bongu Hwarro was huge. It looked like it could easily handle group customers too — Naver info says it has 150 seats! We came for a slightly early Sunday noon lunch and we were the only customers, so we got to eat in a quiet atmosphere.

Soy-marinated crab and old-style sausage in the banchan lineup

Bongu Hwarro's basic banchan (side dishes) were scallion salad, scallion kimchi, seasoned radish, soy-marinated crab, and more. My friend had already arrived so the banchan was already set up, and the odd thing was there was no brazier on the table. I figured they must bring the brazier separately, and waited — turns out that brazier might be the secret behind why this is a genuinely great pork belly place!!!

The banchan included scallion salad, scallion kimchi, seasoned radish, soy-marinated crab, and more.

I thought it was unusual that another BBQ place served crab before too, but here they serve soy-marinated crab! And there was scallion kimchi which I love, plus old-style sausage~

And then shortly after, they brought the brazier over.

Grilling the first 2 servings of pork belly over the charcoal brazier

2 servings of pork belly

They said if you order meat matching the number of people first, everything after that is 50% off, so we ordered 2 servings first.

At Bongu Hwarro they don't grill the meat for you, so we had to grill it ourselves. My friend and I each grabbed a pair of tongs and grilled away diligently — the heat was stronger than expected so the meat cooked really well. You'd think a strong flame would feel hot on your face or something, but I didn't really feel that, so I wondered if it was actually that strong — worrying for nothing haha

With each of us holding our own tongs it felt a bit like eating naengsam (chilled raw pork belly) haha, grilling the meat was fun too.

The first bite: pork belly dipped in salt with wasabi on top

The meat cooked up nicely so I dipped it in salt with a bit of wasabi on top — it was so good I let out an exclamation on the very first bite!! So this is why they got the Blue Ribbon! Honestly the meat itself looked ordinary, but there must be some secret in that brazier. It was delicious with the julienned radish, delicious with the scallion salad too... My friend was exclaiming how good it was too, it was amazing!! Naver shows over 3,000 receipt reviews — clearly there's a reason so many people come here.

After eating enthusiastically, the grill plate got quite charred so they swapped it out. Back on with the meat on the clean plate~~

2 extra servings at 50% off: how two people ate 4 servings

2 additional servings of pork belly

Since a serving is only 150g, that wasn't quite enough, so we ordered 2 more haha. Now it's an era where two women can eat 4 servings ~_~ Still, additional orders are 50% off so it works out cheaper. I should come back again while the event is running!!

Round two of grilling begins!! haha

This round had a bit of the cartilage-mixed cut too. We'd already eaten a full round of meat but it was so good again eating more ㅠㅠ Looking at the photos again makes me want to eat it all over again...

Water naengmyeon to finish: the right size for two to share

Water naengmyeon (cold noodles)

Wondering what to have for dessert, my friend said there was a sign by the entrance calling it a naengmyeon (cold noodles) hotspot and got curious, so we ordered water naengmyeon! We ordered one to share between us and the portion was just right, and the noodles were delicious too haha. Sometimes this style of noodles turns out too bland to be great, but this place does the naengmyeon well too!!

Free ramyeon and Joripong ice cream at Bongu Hwarro

Two special things about Bongu Hwarro

There are other services too — first, they give 1 free ramyeon (instant noodles) per person! Ramyeon after finishing the meat is amazing, but we'd already had 4 servings of meat plus naengmyeon, so we were way too full to enjoy the other services, which was a shame ㅜㅜ Everyone else, please make sure to enjoy the ramyeon.........!

And ice cream is provided too! Just having ice cream alone would already be a nice touch, but they even set it up so you can add Joripong cereal on top. We were too full for this one too ㅠㅠㅠㅠ ugh, having ice cream right in front of me and not being able to eat it was so disappointing..

Is Bongu Hwarro worth a return trip for Gangnam pork belly?

The pork belly at Bongu Hwarro was so, so good. The style is different, but honestly I personally liked it even more than the thick-cut pork belly in Chungjeongno I reviewed recently haha. Next time I have plans at Gangnam Station, I'm definitely coming back! And that time, I'll make sure to try the ramyeon and ice cream I missed this time haha. Highly recommend Bongu Hwarro as a Gangnam Station must-eat *_*