Jongno 3-ga Korean BBQ after work at 6:30pm: Tapgol Gongwon

With this sudden autumn-feeling weather lately, I've been craving an outdoor BBQ spot so much haha! While looking for somewhere I could go right after work, I found an outdoor BBQ place at Tapgol Park in Jongno! It looked like it had exactly the vibe I wanted, so I ran over straight after finishing work! Wanted to introduce this to anyone looking for outdoor BBQ in Jongno or Euljiro!

If you want an outdoor BBQ spot with atmosphere in Jongno, I recommend the Tapgol Park outdoor tables!

Location and hours of Tapgol Gongwon Jongno 3-ga Branch

• 🏠 Tapgol Gongwon Jongno 3-ga Branch
• 📌 111 Supyo-ro, Jongno-gu, Seoul, South Korea
• Across from the east gate of Tapgol Park, about a 3-minute walk from Exit 5 of Jongno 3-ga Station
• ⏰ 17:00 – 01:00 (next day)
• 🚗 Parking at a nearby public lot

What's the outdoor atmosphere like?

Before going in, since I came here specifically for the outdoor tables, I had to check the atmosphere first, right?! Confirmed: perfect vibe for eating outside!

Right in front of the restaurant, other shops were also running their own outdoor tables, which made the whole atmosphere even livelier. The restaurants right out front were the kind run by ajummas (older female shopkeepers)!

Waiting situation

I visited around 6:30-7pm, and when I arrived there were about two tables left. For people arriving after 7pm, it still seemed like a table would open up fairly quickly if you waited?? Seating seemed to max out at 4 people and felt a bit tight.

There wasn't much room to put bags down, so I was handed a chair and set my bag on it. Packing light before visiting would make things a lot more comfortable!

Menu, basic side dishes, and the Tapgol Set

Frozen pork belly was the main menu item, and the basic side dishes came out neat and thorough, really nothing missing! They weren't included with the basic side dishes, but if you go to the self-serve corner you'll find lettuce, sesame oil dip, and more — definitely make sure to check it out!! I ordered the Tapgol Set :)

Busy, busy, fingers moving fast — isn't frozen pork belly supposed to practically fly off the grill straight into your mouth?! The kimchi was fermented just right, so grilling it alongside was so mouth-watering. I think it would've been even better if I'd ordered fried rice too! (Why didn't I think to order fried rice back then,, writing this review I'm having a small regret hahaha)

What time should you go to get seated right away?

Because the seating was so tight, and maybe because it's a place that only recently opened, the waiting line seemed pretty long, so I ate quickly and moved on to round two! When I came out after finishing, the waiting line had gotten even longer? It was around 8:30pm and 3-4 groups were standing and waiting. If you're planning to visit, arriving by at least 7pm should mean only a short wait before getting seated right away! Walked out thinking, yeah, outdoor BBQ really is popular these days hahaha.

Wrapping up

With the cool autumn breeze blowing, eating frozen pork belly like this under the stone wall(?) felt so full of atmosphere and exciting?! Jongno also has a lot of great restaurants nearby, so it's a good spot to move on to round two nearby too. This has been my recommendation for frozen pork belly at Tapgol Park :) Hope everyone goes out and finds great restaurants this fall and enjoys plenty of outdoor BBQ evenings ~