Guro Korean restaurant for spicy jokbal after work: The Jokbal

Today, after work, I visited The Jokbal Sindorim Main Branch (더족발 신도림본점) near Guro Station with my wife. I usually order jokbal (braised pork hock) delivery at home, but today I was craving the restaurant instead of delivery, haha. So I talked my wife into coming with me.

It was a 5-minute walk from Guro Station, and parking was free for up to 2 hours and 30 minutes. I was also told that groups, delivery, and local currency payments were available.

The Jokbal Sindorim Main Branch near Guro Station

I found The Jokbal while looking for a jokbal place near Guro Station. They say it is hotel-style jokbal made by a Chosun Hotel chef and the No. 1 jokbal seller in Sindorim—how could I not visit? Hahaha. The restaurant is on a main road, so it was easy to find, haha.

Maybe because I got off work late, lots of customers had already eaten and left, haha. We were the last dine-in customers because of the time, but delivery orders kept coming in, haha. It really lived up to being Sindorim's No. 1 jokbal seller.

Ordering half-and-half jokbal and rice balls

We settled at a table and looked over the menu. If you've come to a jokbal hotspot, you have to eat jokbal, right??

We ordered half-and-half jokbal and rice balls. I usually eat only jokbal, but I had a lot of stress today and was craving buljokbal (spicy pork hock), haha. We got the half-and-half jokbal, but bossam (boiled pork wraps) or a set menu would have been good too.

They also sell lunch dishes. The selection and prices looked good, so it seems like a nice spot for lunch too.

They were also running receipt-review and KakaoTalk events. If you write a receipt review, you can get tray makguksu (buckwheat noodles) and a tasting portion of cold jokbal as a free service, and if you add them on KakaoTalk, one bottle of alcohol is free!! You can spend a moment joining the event to get makguksu, cold jokbal, and a bottle of alcohol, so of course you should join, right?? Haha.

Refillable side dishes in the dining room

A little later, they brought out the side dishes: wrap greens, radish kimchi, seasoned chives, and bean sprout soup. The best thing about eating in the dining room rather than getting delivery is that you can refill the sides, hahaha.

I don't usually eat cold bean sprout soup, but since the chef made it, it was delicious again, you know?? Hahaha. It went especially well with the spicy jokbal. When it got hot while eating the buljokbal, a sip made the heat disappear—seriously so good, haha.

Rice balls are a must with spicy jokbal

Rice balls are indispensable with spicy jokbal. The powder sprinkled on top of those rice balls was seriously so delicious, hahaha. It tasted like the seasoning powder I mixed into rice as a kid?? Maybe because it had been so long, it was wonderfully savory and salty.

At home, I usually scoop it up with a spoon, but since we had come all the way to the restaurant, I shaped it nicely into balls, hahaha. Of course, this kind of busywork is my job ^^

Tender jokbal and spicy buljokbal

A little later, our half-and-half jokbal arrived.

Sindorim The Jokbal said it receives fresh pork hocks slaughtered that day, simmers them with 15 premium ingredients, and sells them the same day.

Maybe that's why it had such an incredible sheen. Eating it at the restaurant definitely felt different from delivery.

The jokbal had absolutely no off smell; the meat was so tender and the skin was delightfully chewy. It practically melted in my mouth.

At home, I ration my wrap greens, but since refills were available here, I made wraps to my heart's content. Maybe it was the chef's recipe, but adding chives and radish kimchi together made it so delicious.

Buljokbal is the best for stress. Even though it came as part of the half-and-half jokbal, the portion was huge.

The spicy jokbal had lots of big pieces of lean meat, and the skin was tender too, so it was tasty. It was a little spicy because it was buljokbal, though. A sip of bean sprout soup at moments like this is the perfect match, hahaha.

You have to eat spicy jokbal with rice balls, hahaha. The rice balls balanced the heat of the buljokbal nicely, and it was delicious wrapped up together.

The radish kimchi was so good that I got lots of refills. They said it is made in-house with Jeju winter radish and aged at a low temperature for 48 hours; it went so well with the jokbal and was delicious, haha.

I totally recommend Sindorim The Jokbal for a date, gathering, or work dinner near Sindorim or Guro Station.

They said takeout currently comes with a ₩2,000 discount plus a free drink, so takeout seems like a good option if you live nearby.