Sindorim jokbal restaurant B set with a 3,000-won leg swap: The Jokbal

Looking for a good jokbal (pork trotter) spot in Sindorim? I had jokbal at a work dinner last week and, maybe because it had been a while, it was so good. Then I had plans in the Sindorim area this week, and I suddenly remembered a jokbal place I'd meant to visit before but couldn't because those plans got cancelled — so I finally went!

The Jokbal Sindorim Main Branch has its space well laid out for group visits, so it seemed like a solid choice for a work dinner. What drew me in especially was that the owner has a background as a hotel chef with 30 years of experience in the restaurant industry. Unlike typical jokbal that can smell too strongly of medicinal herbs or have a gamey edge, this place is said to use hotel-style cooking methods and its own researched recipe, so I had high expectations going in haha. Here's my review!

Clean, mild jokbal built on a hotel chef's know-how

The Jokbal Sindorim Main Branch: hours and how to find it

The Jokbal Sindorim Main Branch is open 11:00 to 22:30, with a break time from 15:00 to 16:00. There's no break time on weekends or holidays.

It's located at 1F, Sindorim 3-cha Prugio Apartment commercial building, 619-3 Gyeongin-ro, Guro-gu, Seoul, South Korea.

The Jokbal Sindorim Main Branch is about a 10–11 minute walk from either Sindorim Station or Guro Station!

Coming out of Sindorim Station Exit 5, it was convenient to catch a bus at the median stop — just one stop and you're there!

Any bus works — just get off at one of the two stops I marked above and the restaurant is right there!

It's in a very visible spot on the first floor of a mixed-use residential-commercial building. It's been a steady neighborhood favorite since 2012 — 14 years now — which made me trust the place even before walking in haha.

Inside The Jokbal Sindorim Main Branch and its group dining room

The moment I walked in, I felt a warm, tidy atmosphere. Cozy lighting paired with wooden tables gave a comfortable feel, and the tables were spaced generously so it didn't feel cramped at all.

Seats run along both sides, with just the right table spacing for chatting with your group while eating. There's also a separate space in the back that's good for group gatherings or work dinners. There were guests there so I couldn't take a photo, but it looked like a relaxed spot to enjoy a meal!

What's on the menu, including lunch sets

The menu is organized into jokbal, bossam, side dishes, and reasonably priced set menus.

There's also a great range of value lunch menus — if my office were nearby, I'd definitely want to come back!

Cabbage soybean paste soup and house-made radish kimchi

This cabbage soybean paste soup comes out simmering in a stone pot before the main dish. The sweet cabbage and spicy cheongyang chili peppers give the broth a refreshing kick. If you can't handle spice, just scoop out the chilies for a milder, easier bowl.

These are the side dishes set out before the meat arrives. A generous spread of sweet-spicy radish kimchi, fresh kimchi, chive salad, crisp lettuce and cabbage, pungent garlic, and white kimchi. The radish kimchi here is house-made, apparently, and it showed — deeper flavor that paired really well with the meat!

This is the restaurant's specialty: hall-service cold jokbal. Chewy jokbal topped generously with crunchy jellyfish and egg garnish. A tangy mustard sauce ties it together, waking up the appetite right before the main dishes arrive!

The B set with the 3,000-won front leg swap

This is the B set: glossy jokbal alongside a moist plate of 250g bossam. I added ₩3,000 to switch all the jokbal to front leg, and the portion was genuinely generous. The presentation alone had me excited before the first bite haha.

The bossam had a great fat-to-lean ratio. It was soft with no dryness, and the flavor was clean and mild with no gamey edge — really delicious.

And here's the collagen part of the jokbal, upgraded to front leg for the extra ₩3,000. Springy on the outside and irresistibly chewy inside — it made me feel like the upgrade was absolutely worth it haha. It was noticeably more moist and cleaner-tasting than the jokbal I had at last week's work dinner, and I felt really glad I'd come!

Since it's fresh jokbal boiled the same day, even the lean meat wasn't tough at all. It pulled apart smoothly along the grain, clean and mild in flavor, and I enjoyed every bite to the end!

My favorite combo was piling soft bossam and chewy front-leg jokbal onto sweet cabbage or fresh lettuce, then adding a bit of crunchy radish kimchi, chives, and garlic haha. I later learned they strictly follow a policy of receiving fresh, same-day slaughtered trotters, boiling them the same day, and selling them the same day. That probably explains why it was noticeably better than jokbal elsewhere, and made me think again about why this place has lasted so long!

If you're looking for jokbal in Sindorim that's clean, mild, and generously portioned, give The Jokbal Sindorim Main Branch a try.