Jongno 3-ga Korean BBQ date, half-meat kimchi stew: Cham Dwaejitgan

What is Cham Dwaejitgan Jongno Main Branch like?

Cham Dwaejitgan Jongno Main Branch is a pork belly restaurant a one-minute walk from Jongno 3-ga Station, where Jirisan black pork is grilled over rice-husk-smoked charcoal. I finally made a Seoul day trip with my partner, and since I'd heard Jongno is as hot right now as Seongsu, we went looking for a Jongno 3-ga restaurant for our date. I could almost smell the deliciousness just hearing about it..^^..

How does the weekend evening wait work?

On weekend evenings, a wait is a must..! So we got in line through Catch Table (a restaurant reservation app) before heading over. On the way there were about 3 groups ahead of us, but by the time we arrived, we were next. If you're going to Cham Dwaejitgan Jongno Main Branch, I recommend using Catch Table.

The place was full of foreign visitors as well as Koreans. It was packed with customers, and I thought, 'This really is a great restaurant.' Even so, the inside is quite spacious, so we could eat comfortably.

What are the menu and prices at Cham Dwaejitgan?

Cham Dwaejitgan describes itself as a restaurant that uses only high-quality Jirisan black pork and Boseong green pork. The signature dishes are pork belly, flower neck, cheon-gyeopsal and gabrisal, and pork neck is also available.

The main meat dishes are in the ₩10,000 range. Prices felt fair overall, and I liked that there were plenty of side menu options too.

A Naver receipt review event was also running. If you post a receipt review, you get a can of drink or fried rice as a free extra.

How are the grill and basic side dishes served?

They pile plenty of minari (water dropwort, a fragrant leafy herb) onto the grill and put a whole kimchi on too! They say they use only domestic minari, and maybe that's why the aroma was so good. And if you're Korean, you know the minari-plus-meat combo, right . . .♥

A variety of basic side dishes came out too: scallion salad, salad, vegetables, and all sorts of sauces! The side dishes are unlimited refills.

Do staff grill the Jirisan black pork belly?

We ordered the pork belly. It came with mushrooms, potato and shishito peppers, and I thought the potato was a fresh touch. The potato comes sliced, and the potato wrap is said to be famous. I was looking forward to it.

The meat looked insane . . .. Generous, thick and delicious-looking. At Cham Dwaejitgan the staff grill the meat for you too. We just sit and eat hard.

Golden brown~ Maybe because the meat quality is so good, it grilled up really nicely.

Thinking about eating it with minari already had me excited . .. . I've already eaten it and I want more ..^_^.. The staff member cut it into bite-size pieces and grilled it expertly.

Even raw, the meat looks so good. I figure it's because of the meat quality! Since it was Jirisan black pork, I was even more excited. Eat it with these 3 things, minari, bean sprouts and kimchi, and the meat just keeps going in . ..haha.. Honestly I wasn't very hungry that day, but once I got in front of the meat I got hungry ^^

Once it's cooked to a certain point, you eat it!! After grilling, the meat looked even better. Such, such delicious-looking meat.

They move the meat to one side and start grilling the potatoes too.

How did the black pork belly taste?

The black pork belly at Cham Dwaejitgan made me gasp at the first bite.. Now I get why everyone raves about black pork. I dipped my first bite in salt, and it was so good...........!! The juices really burst out, and the meat isn't tough but tender and nutty.

Minari, bean sprouts and grilled kimchi

And the minari at this Jongno Korean BBQ restaurant! With minari, you can eat unlimited meat. The subtle fragrance of minari with the meat is crazy.. And the bean sprouts were so, so good too.

Grilled kimchi, do I even need to say . . .? It's magic that wipes out any greasiness.

Lettuce wraps and potato wraps

Lettuce wraps and potato wraps!! The potato wrap especially was fresh and a better treat than I expected. The potato and meat combo is so good . . . .! Because they grill over charcoal, the smoky charcoal aroma soaks into the meat and makes it even tastier.

How is the kimchi stew at Cham Dwaejitgan?

The kimchi stew (kimchi-jjigae) at Cham Dwaejitgan is half meat, half kimchi... Amazing, right . . . Partway through the meal my appetite just exploded(?), so we ordered the kimchi stew too.

It's loaded with tofu and big chunks of meat, and the meat was nutty and delicious. Eating the kimchi stew melted away any greasiness, and it felt like a really satisfying meal.

Cham Dwaejitgan, a Jongno 3-ga favorite, is a grateful find that taught me what Jirisan black pork tastes like. If I'm ever in Jongno again, I'm definitely going back!