Hapjeong outdoor BBQ patio with ugeoji soup and soju: Jeongyukdo

Today I visited Jeongyukdo in Hapjeong. Hapjeong is near my house so I come around here all the time, but I only just found out this place existed.

Where is Jeongyukdo's triangular outdoor patio near Hapjeong Station?

Right behind Hapjeong Station, they've made great use of a triangular space to set up an outdoor patio (yajang). I walk past this alley every day and never once thought to step inside haha ㅠㅠ I guess it's better late than never...

The weather lately has been perfect for enjoying an outdoor patio, so I decided this was the place and went right away.

We couldn't choose our table — they said seating fills up from the left in order. For the basic side dishes, they set out mu jjanji (pickled radish), pepper pickles, seed jeotgal (salted seafood), salt, wasabi, whole grain mustard, sliced onion, and sliced green onion.

These days it seems like a lot of places use TagHere instead of paper menus, letting you order from your phone.

Room-style seating and fierce charcoal heat inside Jeongyukdo

On my way to the bathroom I peeked around inside — the interior was mostly room-style, with each room holding about 5 tables, which seems like a good setup for group gatherings as well as regular guests. When we visited there were quite a lot of group customers too.

They set a round grill plate over the charcoal, and the heat was seriously intense. It stayed so hot until we finished eating that I found myself wondering if I should ask them to remove some charcoal instead of adding more haha.

What comes in the handon set and the review-event ugeoji sulguk?

For the Korean pork set, you could choose between meljeot (fermented anchovy sauce) or doenjang jjigae, but since there was ugeoji sulguk (dried radish green soup) as the review event item, we went with meljeot. It came out in a stone bowl with just a few vegetables mixed into the meljeot sauce. Personally, I'd recommend the doenjang jjigae instead.

The Korean pork set comes with about 500g total combining galbisal, pork neck, and pork belly.

Here's the ugeoji sulguk that came with the review event. Isn't this way too generous for a free item? I expected something thrown together, but this alone was enough for a full meal.

They topped it with pork neck and galbisal

I tried the soup right away and the broth was so refreshing and delicious. Quality good enough to open a dedicated ugeoji soup restaurant? There's plenty of meat and plenty of ugeoji in it, so this alone could easily go with a whole bottle of soju.

While eating, I cut up the fully grilled meat and tried a bite — the taste was solid. Feeling the cool breeze on the patio while grilling meat on the hot plate and sipping soju made me genuinely happy. With mixed-grill sets, the portions are often uneven with one cut dominating, but here the three cuts came out in almost equal weight, which I appreciated.

Finishing the meal with Jeongyukdo's hangover ramen

Lastly, we ordered a bowl of hangover ramen. True to its name, it had dried pollack and bean sprouts in it — refreshing and spicy in a way that actually made me want one more bottle of soju before sobering up.

Even though it's in the Hapjeong-Hongdae-Sangsu triangle commercial district, the prices were reasonable and the outdoor patio had a great atmosphere. The meat quality was solid and you could tell they put thought into the side dishes — I think the jeotgal we ordered was squid jeotgal and seed jeotgal, and I asked for more of those to eat with rice, which was delicious. I'd recommend ordering the Korean pork set with doenjang jjigae, and definitely try the hanwoo ugeoji soup review event if it's available — the taste was great and the portion was huge. If you want to grab grilled meat and soju around Hapjeong, I'd recommend this place.