Weekend family Korean BBQ in Gwangalli: snowflake pork belly, Donbegi

On the weekend I went with my family to Donbegi Gwang-an Branch, a Gwangalli BBQ place with really good pork belly. If you think thick fresh pork belly is all the same everywhere, please come and try it. A tasty Gwangalli pork belly spot, highly recommended!! ^^

What kind of Korean BBQ restaurant is Donbegi Gwangan Branch?

Donbegi Gwang-an Branch is a large Gwangalli BBQ restaurant that uses both the 1st and 2nd floors. It has group seating for team dinners, family gatherings and company get-togethers, so it works well for those. I hear it also has private rooms, so it would be nice for a cozy family meal too. The building itself feels solid and upscale.

You can even pair wine at Donbegi, so it also suits a Gwangalli date, a special occasion, or whenever you just want good pork belly.

Donbegi's pork goes through three stages of aging over 480 hours, which they say brings out rich juiciness and flavor and gives a premium pork with outstanding savoriness. So they take pride in being not just a pork place but a specialist in high-quality pork.

Donbegi Gwangan Branch menu and prices

Set menus for 2 to 4 people

• Couple Wine Set (2 people) ₩47,000: 400g shoulder rack + 2 glasses of house wine
• Couple Mixed Set (2-3 people) ₩55,000: 400g shoulder rack + 200g pork belly or 200g pork neck
• Family Mixed Set (3-4 people) ₩74,000 👑: 400g shoulder rack + 200g pork belly + 200g pork neck
• Swapping the shoulder rack for French rack: +₩2,500

À la carte pork cuts

• French slice ₩11,000 (per 100g / 200g serving ₩22,000)
• Shoulder rack ₩9,350 (per 100g / 400g serving ₩37,500)
• French rack ₩10,000 (per 100g / 400g serving ₩40,000)
• Pork belly ₩9,350 (per 100g / 180g serving ₩16,800)
• Pork neck ₩9,350 (per 100g / 180g serving ₩16,800)
• 4mm pork neck ₩9,350 (per 100g / 180g serving ₩16,800)
• 4mm pork belly ₩9,350 (per 100g / 180g serving ₩16,800)
• Sirloin extra cut ₩8,500 (per 100g / 180g serving ₩15,300)
• Salted galmaegisal (pork skirt meat) ₩9,800 (per 100g / 200g serving ₩19,600)
• Seasoned galmaegisal ₩9,800 (per 100g / 200g serving ₩19,600)
• Honeycomb sirloin pork skin ₩5,500 (per 100g / 200g serving ₩11,000)

Rice and stew dishes

• Cold kimchi kalguksu (knife-cut noodles) ₩7,000
• Hanwoo kimchi stew ₩7,000
• Ttukbaegi kalguksu (noodles in a stone pot) ₩6,000
• Steamed egg ₩3,000
• Doenjang jjigae (soybean paste stew) ₩5,500
• Myeongran rice (pollock roe rice) ₩4,900
• Cold soba ₩7,000
• Steamed rice ₩1,000

Special menu and how to order

• Pork omakase: check the tablet or ask the staff
• Your first à la carte order must be 2 servings or more
• After that, you can order 1 serving at a time
• Table tablet ordering makes it easy

Side dishes and self-serve bar at Donbegi Gwangan Branch

Donbegi Gwang-an Branch sets all the side dishes around the grill. They come on ceramic plates rather than plastic, which feels classy.

Even the roe is seasoned with minced garlic, scallion and sesame oil, and there's radish salad, green onion kimchi and shredded Cheongyang chili, a variety of sides you rarely see at other BBQ places.

If you run out of side dishes, you can grab more from the self-bar, which is great. Many places leave theirs open for convenience, but the self-bar at Donbegi Gwang-an Branch always has its lids closed, which is neat and nice.

Do staff grill the 360g snowflake pork belly for you?

This day I ordered 2 servings (360g) of snowflake pork belly. It's named that because the scoring is so fine that the meat looks sprinkled with snow.

The big selling point of this Gwangalli pork belly spot is that they grill everything for you! The good charcoal gives strong heat, yet the air isn't smoky, because the exhaust fan is so powerful that it just sucks the charcoal smoke right up, whoosh!! ^^

How to eat pork belly with wasabi shiitake sauce and pollock roe

The staff cut the meat to a good size and even tell you how to eat it. Once the cut side is cooked, you eat it with the wasabi shiitake sauce (shiitake jang), scallion salad and shredded chili. I strongly recommend the wasabi shiitake sauce!!

The wasabi shiitake sauce was a flavor I'd never had before, but it's one that's just plain delicious, haha. Add roe on top and it's a fantastic match with the well-aged, nicely textured, juicy pork belly. I've been to a lot of BBQ places, but this was among the best pork belly I've had. Their pride in the pork's quality, the aging process and time, isn't just marketing; every bite made me feel this place really serves delicious pork belly.

Steamed egg and kimchi stew to finish

We enjoyed the meat, so of course we needed something to finish. At Donbegi Gwang-an Branch we ordered steamed egg and kimchi stew.

The steamed egg has no additives to puff it up; it's fluffy and well seasoned. It's soft, warm and a little salty, so kids eat it well too.

The kimchi stew is also packed with pork. The fatty parts were so springy and chewy that I really regretted not adding pork skin...

Actually, I'd just eaten with a friend not long before this visit, so I wasn't hungry and we ordered a small amount, since only my husband and our child were eating. But both the meat and the kimchi stew were so good that I overate, haha. You'd think a full stomach would make it hard to eat meat, but the quality was so good that I kept going bite after bite.

Is Donbegi Gwangan Branch worth it for Korean BBQ in Gwangalli?

It's been a while since I had pork belly this genuinely juicy. I've been to places with great charcoal, places where staff or the owner grill for you, and places with great sauces and side dishes, but here I ate feeling that it wasn't because of those extras; the pork itself was delicious and flavorful.

If you're a pork connoisseur and want truly delicious, high-quality pork belly, I recommend Donbegi Gwang-an Branch. ^^