Apgujeong grill restaurant with a table fire show: Yeontan Gongjang

I had a reason to visit Apgujeong recently, and since it's not a neighborhood I go to often, I really wanted a special meal there. After some serious searching, I found this old-school outdoor charcoal grill spot in Apgujeong Rodeo, Yeontan Gongjang (연탄공장), and I'm sharing my visit here.

Where is Yeontan Gongjang and how do you get there?

Yeontan Gongjang is located in Apgujeong's café alley, and we walked there from Apgujeong Rodeo Station! From a distance, the sign gave off a Japanese vibe, and I thought — huh, is this an izakaya? — but it turns out you actually have to walk through an izakaya's outdoor seating area to reach the entrance haha. Yeontan Gongjang is apparently a rib restaurant with more than 20 years of history. You can really feel that history in the sign!

Near the entrance, charcoal briquettes are set out and ready to go.

How long is the wait at 7 PM on a weekend, and what is the table fire show?

We arrived around 7pm on a weekend, and although the inside was fully packed, tables turned over faster than expected, so we only waited about 5 minutes to get in!

Once we sat down, the owner came over and did an unannounced fire show haha, apparently as a way of sterilizing the table. I was so startled I scrambled to film it, but it was such a fun, novel touch haha.

What we ordered at Yeontan Gongjang: pork king ribs for two, kimchi stew and a lunchbox

We quickly scanned the menu, and, excited by the nostalgic outdoor grill atmosphere I hadn't felt in a while haha, we went with ribs — something I don't usually order!

• Pork king ribs (2 servings)
• Kimchi stew
• Lunchbox

That's what we ordered.

The charcoal grill was set up along with the side dishes — even though the place was packed with customers, everything came out surprisingly fast!

Here come the two servings of pork king ribs! At this Apgujeong Rodeo BBQ spot, even the old-school tableware adds to the charm for a date haha.

How to grill the seasoned pork ribs

You grill the meat yourself, and since it's seasoned ribs, it burns easily over charcoal if you leave it too long — you have to flip it fast and often! We're not exactly gifted grillers, so we figured that out only after burning a few pieces haha.

They also skillfully grilled kimchi and bean sprouts in the empty space on the side.

Open-air seating with a sliding roof that closes when it rains

While we were in the middle of grilling... suddenly the roof closed! It wasn't loud, so we didn't even notice at first haha. That open-sky feeling is such a key part of the old-school outdoor grill vibe! When we asked out of curiosity later, apparently someone had mentioned rain, so they closed it haha. As long as it's not raining or too hot or cold, you can enjoy that outdoor old-school atmosphere anytime — which makes Yeontan Gongjang a great spot for a date in Apgujeong Rodeo.

In the meantime, we quickly ate the well-grilled meat and kimchi haha.

Kimchi stew and the shake-it-yourself lunchbox: plenty of rice

The kimchi stew arrived right on time! Turns out ordering stew comes with a bowl of rice too haha. We hadn't known that and had already ordered the lunchbox, so we ended up rice-rich haha. The stew isn't overly strong-flavored, but it keeps calling your spoon back!!

If you're torn between doenjang stew and kimchi stew, I'd confidently recommend the kimchi stew haha. I heard the kimchi sujebi (hand-torn dough soup) is also really good, but we were too full to order it...

Then the lunchbox showed up next — shake it up hard to mix everything together~ It really has a different charm from a regular bowl of rice haha. Eating that pink ham again after so long brought back some real nostalgia haha. It's a dish that fits perfectly with the old-school outdoor grill vibe.

And even though we were full!! Since it had been a while since we'd visited Apgujeong, we couldn't resist ordering more haha.

Add one serving of samgyeopsal and the staff swap in a fresh grill plate

We added an extra serving of samgyeopsal (pork belly), and for that they switched out the grill plate.

Since the charcoal fire is so strong, they stand the pieces up on their sides to cook them evenly all around, and alternating a bite of stew with a bite of meat is absolutely the best. Must be the power of charcoal fire?? Even the table next to us kept letting out sounds of amazement with every bite haha. Three servings of meat plus stew and the lunchbox made for such a satisfying dinner.

I never expected to find such an atmospheric old-school outdoor grill spot in Apgujeong — I'd strongly recommend Yeontan Gongjang as a date spot for Korean BBQ in Apgujeong Rodeo!! If you're looking for a fun, different kind of date right in the middle of Sinsa, Gangnam, Seoul, definitely check out Yeontan Gongjang~~