Hongdae BBQ restaurant serving pork belly with 3 sauces: Gogi Salon

There are so many BBQ restaurants around Hongdae that picking one for pork belly can actually be a bit of a headache. This time I was looking for somewhere near Hongik University Station to eat thick-cut meat without any fuss, and ended up at Gogi Salon (고기살롱), a Hongik University Station favorite.

Gogi Salon menu and prices

The menu at Gogi Salon lists fresh pork belly (160g) for ₩16,000, fresh pork neck (160g) for ₩16,000, gabrisal (150g) for ₩17,000, and neukgansal (150g) for ₩19,000, plus set menus. You can check the menu outside the building before heading in, which I liked!

Gogi Salon isn't just a pork place — alongside fresh pork belly, fresh pork neck, and gabrisal, there's also neukgansal, flower pork neck, and even seasoned beef king short ribs, so the lineup is pretty varied. Good for a group where some people want pork belly and pork neck while others add beef on top.

Since there's such a range of meat, it's nice that everyone can be satisfied in one place — some want pork, some want beef, and it all works out here.

How to walk to Gogi Salon from Hongik University Station, and what the room is like

Gogi Salon is on the 1st floor of 60 World Cup buk-ro 6-gil, Mapo-gu, Seoul, and there's no parking. I'd only ever come here for lunch before, so this was my first dinner visit and I was curious.

It's not smack in the busiest part of Hongdae — it's in Donggyo-dong, the area between Hongik University Station and Yeonnam-dong, which made it a good spot for a date or dinner with friends. It's within walking distance of Hongik University Station Exit 2, so easy to reach by public transit. Being slightly off the main Hongdae strip, it felt less chaotic and was easy to find for dinner.

Inside, it's tidier and more put-together than your typical old-school pork belly joint, so it works well whether you're with friends or on a date.

The place is fairly spacious, and when I came for lunch, there were a lot of company lunch gatherings from other offices too!

Marinated crab comes as a side dish at Gogi Salon

I was a bit surprised that Gogi Salon serves gejang (marinated crab) as a banchan! It's sweet and spicy, and goes really well with rice.

What was especially nice was that I didn't have to keep flipping the meat myself — staff grill it for you, so it was easy to eat and chat at the same time.

Thick fresh pork belly, grilled by the staff

The fresh pork belly at Gogi Salon is clearly sliced thick, which will appeal to anyone who prefers a crisp exterior with juicy meat inside over thin-cut slices. And in a BBQ restaurant, the moment the meat arrives is really the most important part.

What I liked most was that they grill it right at your table! With pork belly, you often end up so focused on grilling it well that it's hard to actually talk to whoever you're with, but here the staff flip it at just the right time and cut it into bite-size pieces, which was genuinely convenient.

Watching the pork belly turn golden brown, the smell of grilling meat hit first. Good pork belly needs the fat to not be too chewy or greasy, chewed together with the lean meat in the right balance — and cut thick like this, the texture was great.

Three dipping sauces: salt, fresh wasabi and whole grain mustard

Something I personally loved about Gogi Salon was the range of sauces to eat with the meat. The table comes set with salt, fresh wasabi, and whole grain mustard, so you can enjoy different flavors of the meat depending on your mood.

At first I dipped it lightly in just salt to taste the pork belly on its own, then added a little fresh wasabi, which cut through the pork's fattiness nicely. Eating it with whole grain mustard added a fresher touch, and it kept the pork belly from feeling repetitive even after a while.

I really like places that offer several combinations like this instead of just one bowl of ssamjang. There are sauce containers so you can portion out whatever suits your taste, and since they also serve beef, there's even whole grain mustard sauce!!

Finishing with janchi guksu and bibim guksu

At dinner, leaving a Naver receipt review gets you a free bibim guksu (spicy mixed noodles), and the set menu comes with janchi guksu (warm noodle soup), so I tried both — and they were genuinely, seriously good. The janchi guksu has a clean broth, and the bibim guksu is tangy and pairs really well with the mu-saengchae (radish salad).

There are so many BBQ restaurants in Hongdae, but Gogi Salon stood out most for grilling the meat for you — plus, with pork belly, pork neck, and beef all on the menu, it's a great choice for a group with different cravings. The variety of accompaniments like salt, wasabi, and whole grain mustard was nice too, and being able to grill potatoes and mushrooms alongside the meat kept the pork belly from getting old.

Best of all, it's not hard to reach from Hongik University Station, so it's a solid pick if you're looking for somewhere to eat dinner during a Hongdae date, or want meat and drinks with friends. If you've been hunting for a Hongik University Station restaurant or a Hongdae BBQ spot, Gogi Salon is worth a visit for the thick pork belly alone :)