Korean BBQ near Namyeong Station: pork belly and pork skin at Muttuk

My husband and I were debating what to have for dinner and suddenly craved samgyeopsal, so we headed to Muttuk Sookdae Main Branch. We only meant to eat pork belly, but ended up adding doenjang sulbap and gopchang too — here's the properly full report, haha.

Where is Muttuk Sookdae Main Branch? 3 minutes from Sookdae Station Exit 10

Muttuk Sookdae Main Branch is at 289 Cheongpa-ro, 1st floor, Yongsan-gu, Seoul, about a 3-minute walk from Exit 10 of Sookdae Station.

It's closest to Sookdae Station, but it's also an easy walk from Namyeong-dong, which makes it convenient to find as a Namyeong Station restaurant.

Inside Muttuk Sookdae Main Branch: a warm grill house down a Cheongpa-dong alley

From the outside, Muttuk had a retro but easy-to-enter vibe. The name 'Muttuk' comes from a dialect word for 'suddenly' — the idea being that it becomes the place that suddenly comes to mind when you crave meat.

Inside, there were round tables and long bench seating, comfortable for two but also looked fine for a bigger group.

For us, who wanted to eat comfortably rather than in a loud, chaotic place, this kind of atmosphere was exactly right for a Namyeong Station restaurant. Free corkage was a nice bonus too — you can bring whatever drink you like.

Muttuk menu: Korean pork platter, beef platter and matcha pork ribs

The Muttuk Sookdae Main Branch menu was on a tablet, and there were more types of meat than expected — Korean pork platter, beef platter, matcha ribs, and more. Since we'd come for a Yongsan samgyeopsal restaurant, we started with two servings of samgyeopsal.

Two servings of samgyeopsal, grilled for you by the staff

Muttuk's samgyeopsal came as thick pork belly along with onion and mushrooms on the grill, and staff did the grilling for us, which was convenient.

The cuts were quite thick, so it took a bit of time to cook through, but since we didn't have to grill it ourselves, we just chatted with each other while waiting.

Cut into bite-sized pieces and grilled golden brown, the fatty parts were savory and the lean parts were juicy — I immediately felt it was worth coming to this Yongsan samgyeopsal restaurant, haha.

It was good dipped lightly in salt, and pairing it with kimchi or sauce changed the flavor, so it was fun switching up combinations bite by bite.

When I look for a Namyeong Station restaurant, I check not just the taste of the meat but whether they grill it for you, and this being a grill-it-all-for-you place made it much easier to eat on a date.

Chadol doenjang sulbap and an extra order of pork skin

After the samgyeopsal, we ordered chadol doenjang sulbap. Simmering away in a stone pot, the doenjang (soybean paste) rice with beef brisket and chives was rich and savory.

If you're looking for a Yongsan samgyeopsal restaurant, I'd recommend not stopping at just the meat — this combo with the doenjang sulbap is worth trying too.

We meant to stop there, but the samgyeopsal was so good we ended up adding gopchang too, hahaha. The staff grilled the gopchang on both sides as well, and it came out golden and crispy outside with a chewy texture — I was glad we ordered it as the last dish.

Who should book Muttuk Sookdae Main Branch, and on what kind of night

If you don't feel like grilling the meat yourself, or you're looking for a Namyeong Station restaurant with corkage available, Muttuk Sookdae Main Branch is worth remembering.

Going from samgyeopsal all the way to gopchang, I could kind of understand why it's introduced as a Yongsan samgyeopsal restaurant. There were several other BBQ places nearby to choose from, but we picked Muttuk because we wanted a Namyeong Station restaurant close to the station that grills the meat for you.

If you're like us and pair samgyeopsal with doenjang sulbap and still have a bit of room left, adding gopchang makes for the perfect Yongsan samgyeopsal restaurant course. We left saying we'd happily come back whenever we're craving meat — this was Muttuk Sookdae Main Branch, our Namyeong Station restaurant find.