Dry-aged black pork half portion: black bone ribeye in Jungmun

While hunting for a black pork restaurant in Jeju, I found Oreumak Garden Jungmun Main Branch. Let me introduce it right away haha — it's the first place in Jeju to start dry-aging, and it's a black pork specialist with 40 years of tradition. 🤍

Location and hours of Oreumak Garden Jungmun Main Branch

• 📍Location: 12 Daepojungang-ro, Seogwipo-si, Jeju-do, South Korea
• 🕖Hours: Mon–Sat 10:00–22:00 / Closed every Sunday
• Break time 15:00–17:00, last order 21:30
• 🅿️Parking: Available in front of the restaurant

Exterior — a glass door covered in countless Blue Ribbon marks

Even from the outside the scale of the place feels huge. There are outdoor tables too, so it seemed like it'd be great to eat there in the cool weather these days, almost like a night market vibe. 🫢

Heading to the entrance, the glass door is covered with countless Blue Ribbon marks — I think this is the first time I've seen a restaurant with this many. Overwhelmed by the Blue Ribbon Survey marks they've earned every year since 2014. 🫢🫢 Walking in with my heart full of excitement - 🤍✨

Menu — dry-aged whole portion ₩87,000, half portion ₩57,000

The whole kick of Oreumak Garden is the dry-aged black pork... Dry-aged whole portion (3 people) ₩87,000 / half portion ₩57,000.

The meat menu is cleanly organized into black pork / white pork raw ribs / seasoned ribs / frozen pork belly.

For dessert-style items there's black pork kimchi stew / beef doenjang stew / anchovy noodles / naengmyeon (cold noodles, water or spicy mixed). Drinks include soju / beer / Jeju makgeolli / Udo peanut makgeolli / tangerine makgeolli / other beverages.

You can also order meal items separately: galbitang / Naju gomtang / hot pot bulgogi / single-portion jeyuk-bokkeum / stone-pot bibimbap / beef doenjang stew / sundubu-jjigae / black pork kimchi stew / naengmyeon. They say they only use pork raised in clean Jeju conditions :-)

What is dry-aging?

It's a dry-aging method that maintains constant temperature, humidity, and airflow. This process adds flavor to the meat, makes the texture more tender, aids digestion, and brings out umami. Moisture is lost during aging, so the weight decreases, and parts that dried out from air exposure are trimmed off.

Interior — arrived right after break time, full by dinner

The interior was clean and spacious. Since it's a proven favorite among locals, we went right after break time ended, but by dinner the seats filled up fast.

Meat currently aging. This place is famous for being the first in Jeju to start dry-aging.

Side dishes — earthenware egg custard and meljeot

The side dishes come out really generously too, and every single one of them was delicious, so I kept reaching for more. Especially the radish salad — sweet and tangy and so good. 👍

They serve egg custard and meljeot (fermented anchovy sauce) for dipping the meat as standard sides, but this was the first time I'd seen them served in earthenware pots. It seemed like it would go great mixed with rice too, so I tried it later and, seriously, it was a total rice-thief. ㅜㅜ 👍🤍🫢

Dry-aged half portion (2 people): black bone ribeye, black pork neck, black pork jowl

They placed prawns and garlic on the grill, with butter added for extra flavor. 🧈🤤 They told us to eat the prawns as soon as they turned red.

We ordered the dry-aged half portion (2 people), which comes with black bone ribeye + black pork neck + black pork jowl, and the thickness of the meat alone is impressive. They also give onions and mushrooms to eat alongside, and honestly, I've never eaten such delicious mushrooms in my life. Seriously. It was amazing.

The staff grilled it carefully for us, so we could relax and just eat. They started with the black bone ribeye, then the jowl.

The prawns were turning red, and the ribeye was browning nicely. The onions and mushrooms were so good I asked for more mushrooms — juice was literally coming out of them. 🍄🤍🤍🤍

The meat was so thick it looked like a struggle just to cut it. The most exciting moment, right? ✨

Finally cooked through. Doesn't it already look chewy and juicy? The first bite made it obvious right away why this place is famous. This black bone ribeye was, for me, number one. 🥩

First bite dipped lightly in salt, yum // then a light dip in ssamjang. Being a 40-year local favorite, it really was on another level.

My beloved mushrooms with shredded scallions 😋 also wrapped them properly in lettuce and ate them that way.

The finish: self-made bibimbap with all the leftover banchan

After finishing the meat, we ordered a bowl of rice and asked for a naengmyeon bowl, then dumped in all the leftover side dishes, added meljeot and ssamjang, and made ourselves a bibimbap ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ🫢 Probably no one else eats like this. But it was seriously insanely good. All the side dishes really were bibimbap ingredients! We even cut up leftover meat and threw it in — you have no idea how filling it was haha.

Cleaned out every single side dish •..•

Chewing on the fully cooked prawns shell-on was also really tasty and crunchy. 🍤🦐

We also picked up the well-cooked bone with one hand and gnawed on it.

Proof of being a local favorite is plastered all over the place. Even celebrities visit — Red Ribbon and all. ✨

To think that a place I found by chance turned out to be this good... 🤍😋 It felt like finding treasure. If you're looking for a black pork restaurant in Jeju, I recommend visiting Oreumak Garden! 🫢