Chilgok 3-jigu Korean BBQ in Daegu: iberico pork neck at Mijin Chuksan

My coworkers and I decided to have a dinner gathering for the first time in a while, so we headed to Mijin Chuksan in Chilgok 3-jigu.

When you're eating with a big group, you naturally end up looking for a place with plenty of menu options and prices that won't hurt too much. That day we settled on Mijin Chuksan, which is well known for being budget-friendly.

Inside Mijin Chuksan Chilgok Branch: seating and the kids' play room

Mijin Chuksan Chilgok Branch is a BBQ restaurant on Dongcheon-ro in Buk-gu, Daegu, and the interior is spacious with a lively atmosphere. We visited around 7pm on a Thursday, and even though it was a weekday evening, there were so many customers.

It really lived up to its reputation as one of the go-to budget Korean BBQ spots in Chilgok 3-jigu, Daegu. Walking inside, the place was buzzing with diners, and there were plenty of groups clearly there for gatherings and company dinners too.

There's also a play room for kids set up near the entrance. Having a play room at a BBQ restaurant seems like it would be such a convenience for families eating out with children — the kids can play while the adults eat in peace, so it looked like a solid spot for a family meal too.

Pork belly and iberico pork neck prices at Mijin Chuksan Chilgok Branch

At Mijin Chuksan Chilgok Branch, pork belly is ₩4,900 per 100g and iberico pork neck is ₩7,400 per 100g. Once we got settled, we first ordered three servings of pork belly and two of iberico pork neck.

Since it was a group of us, we decided to try both cuts evenly. Once the meat hit the grill, it really started to feel like a proper get-together. Meat really does taste better when a bunch of you are grilling it together — chatting away, flipping the meat, popping in a well-cooked piece here and there, and before long the whole table was in a great mood.

How was the pork belly at Mijin Chuksan?

We started with the pork belly. At ₩4,900 per 100g, it was easy to order without worrying about the bill — genuinely cheap when you think about meat prices these days. Sure, I wasn't expecting anything super premium, but for the price it was plenty good. Considering the value, it was satisfying. When you're a big group eating a lot of meat, this price range is definitely a plus. That said, what we actually found more delicious that day was the iberico pork neck.

Why we ordered three more servings of iberico pork neck

We only ordered two servings at first, but once we tasted it, the pork neck was better than expected. It was tender and savory, and my coworkers agreed the iberico pork neck was tastier, so we ended up ordering three more servings later.

The fact that our follow-up order ended up bigger than our first order says it all — the iberico pork neck really hit the spot for us that day, haha.

What's on the self-serve bar at Mijin Chuksan Chilgok Branch

The self-serve bar at Mijin Chuksan Chilgok Branch has sides like cheese, wild garlic leaves (myeongi-namul), macaroni, and pineapple. You can take as much as you like, which made mixing and matching with the meat pretty fun.

One thing that really stood out at Mijin Chuksan was the self-serve bar. It's not just the meat that's affordable — there's a good variety of sides to go with it too, so it was fun grabbing a bit of this and that. Since there were plenty of side dishes and extras ready for eating with meat, it was great being able to take as much as we wanted. The stars at our table in particular were the cheese, wild garlic leaves, macaroni, and pineapple. We wrapped the meat in the wild garlic leaves, tried it with cheese, and when things started feeling a bit greasy from all the meat, a piece of pineapple cut right through it and refreshed the palate. The macaroni was oddly addictive too, haha. Being able to freely grab whatever we wanted from the self-serve bar and mix it up with the meat felt like another real strength of Mijin Chuksan.

Finishing with doenjang ramyeon: ramen noodles in the soybean paste stew

Mijin Chuksan Chilgok Branch serves doenjang jjigae (soybean paste stew) as a standard side dish, and we turned it into doenjang ramyeon by adding ramen noodles from the self-serve bar. It was the perfect way to wrap up after eating our fill of meat.

It felt like a shame to just eat the doenjang jjigae plain and call it a day, right? So later on we added ramen noodles and turned it into doenjang ramyeon. Letting the ramen noodles bubble away in the soybean paste stew turned out to be a real treat. Even after eating our fill of meat, once the ramen went in, our chopsticks started moving again, haha. Finishing with the doenjang ramyeon at the end made the whole meal feel properly complete. Ending a BBQ meal with rice or naengmyeon (cold noodles) is nice too, but this time we finished with doenjang ramyeon, and it suited the meal better than I expected.

Since it was a gathering with coworkers, the food mattered, but honestly what made it more enjoyable was getting to relax, chat, and laugh together after a while. It made sense why the place was so busy even on a weekday evening, and especially for a group gathering, the low price felt like a big advantage.

Is Mijin Chuksan Chilgok Branch worth it for a group dinner?

• Hours: 17:00–01:00
• Self-serve bar with cheese, wild garlic leaves, pineapple, ramen noodles, and more
• Budget-friendly Korean BBQ

If you're looking for an affordable place to eat meat in Chilgok 3-jigu, or a spot for a group gathering, Mijin Chuksan Chilgok Branch is worth a stop. We fell for the iberico pork neck that day, so next time we're planning to order a big batch of it from the start, haha.