Seomyeon BBQ restaurant with 11 side dishes: 600g pork at Don J, Busan
In short
Don J Busan Seomyeon is a Korean BBQ restaurant where staff grill the meat for you, a 5-minute walk from Exit 7 of Seomyeon Station and near the back entrance of Lotte Department Store Busan Main Branch. A 600g plate of pork neck and belly costs 38,000 won, served here with highland kimchi stew (4,000 won) and pork rice (2,000 won), and the 11 side dishes — bean sprouts, bracken fern, potato and kimchi grilled right on the pan, plus a pork cutlet sauce and crispy batter to dip in — steal the show. Between the side dishes and the grill service, Don J Busan Seomyeon is a good-value dinner spot in Seomyeon.
Good to know
- Location
- 52 Gayadae-ro 784beon-gil, 1st floor, Busanjin-gu, Busan — about a 5-minute walk from Exit 7 of Seomyeon Station, near the back entrance of Lotte Department Store Busan Main Branch
- Hours
- Sun–Thu 17:00–01:00 (last order 23:30), Fri–Sat 17:00–02:00 (last order 00:30)
- Pork neck and belly (600g)
- 38,000 won
- Highland kimchi stew
- 4,000 won
- Pork rice
- 2,000 won
- Ordering
- Self-order kiosk
- Good to know
- Groups welcome, reservations accepted, waiting area, no parking
- Price reference
- ₩4,000 ≈ $2.9 (2026-09-26)
as written by the visitor on Aug 20, 2026
Today's review is a BBQ spot I had for dinner! I visited "Don J Busan Seomyeon" near Seomyeon Station ✨ The banchan (side dishes) here were seriously the best I've had at any BBQ restaurant I've been to! And they even grill the meat for you 😲 Let's get into the review 💕
Where is Don J Busan Seomyeon, and what are its hours?
Don J Busan Seomyeon is located near the rear entrance of Lotte Department Store Busan Main Branch, about a 5-minute walk from Exit 7 of Seomyeon Station.
- Sun–Mon 17:00–01:00 / last order 23:30
- Fri–Sat 17:00–02:00 / last order 00:30
- Group-friendly
- Reservations available
- Waiting area ⭕️
- No parking
What is the restaurant like inside?
Don J Busan Seomyeon has a rustic, earthy vibe with a clear concept — great for drinking ☺️ It's a distinctive BBQ spot that would also work well for a group dinner.
Don J menu and what we ordered
Here's Don J's menu! You order via kiosk. The main menu features pork neck and pork belly, and apparently ordering deodeok (mountain bellflower root) muchim and minari (water celery) alongside is the best combo! There's also a wide range of side dishes 😛 We ordered the pork neck-belly set, gochaengji kimchi jjigae, and pork rice ✌️
- Pork neck-belly 600g - ₩38,000
- Gochaengji kimchi jjigae - ₩4,000
- Pork rice - ₩2,000
Every table had personal plates set up already, which was convenient! Ice water was also ready to go 👍
How many side dishes do you get at Don J?
The banchan (side dishes) arrived right away and the lineup was insane 🔥🔥 Four kinds you can grill together with the meat — bean sprouts, bracken fern, potato, kimchi. Plus green onion shreds, myeong-i namul (wild garlic leaves), gochu-ji (pickled chili) and more. As someone who loves pairing banchan with meat, this was so, so my thing 🤭
The sauces were also really varied, and oddly enough they gave us pork cutlet sauce along with batter, so you can dip meat in both and eat it like tonkatsu (that's wild!).
How does the 600g pork neck and belly taste, grilled for you?
✔️Pork neck and belly (600g): a set portion good for two people, and I was shocked by how thick the neck and belly cuts were. Premium selected pork with thick neck meat and savory belly.
Since they grill it for you, you just sit back and eat comfortably 🫶 It was cooking to a beautiful finish.
The visuals were insane ^^ First time I got this excited since coming to Busan. Thick pork neck and belly with bracken fern, bean sprouts, and kimchi — how am I supposed to resist that combo~
I finally tried the combo I was most curious about — the pork cutlet sauce and batter — and it genuinely tasted like tonkatsu haha. The crispy batter gave it a totally different feel from regular meat.
With so many banchan to work with, the range of flavor combos was amazing ✨ The grilled bean sprouts and kimchi were legitimately delicious ㅠㅠ and eating it with myeong-i namul and green onion shreds was also top-tier... I want it again...
Highland kimchi stew and pork rice at Don J
✔️Gochaengji kimchi jjigae (highland kimchi stew): made with aged highland kimchi from Taebaeksan and pork, simmered until spicy — ₩4,000. It was pure spicy heat, the kind that instantly makes you crave rice! It also cut through the meat's richness perfectly, and the combo of aged kimchi with meat was spot on 👌
✔️Pork rice. I meant to order plain rice, but they only had pork rice, so I tried it! It comes with gopchang-gim (seasoned laver) and soy sauce.
It was so much better than plain rice since it came with the laver! I love dipping gopchang-gim in soy sauce, and I never expected to get to do that in Busan haha.
Is Don J Busan Seomyeon worth it? Final verdict
At the end, they even gave us free ice cream 🫶 The service was great, and with both the meat and banchan being high quality, this felt like really good value for the current cost of living. I left Seomyeon fully satisfied with dinner ☺️ (I honestly wish they'd open a branch in my neighborhood!!!!)
If you're looking for a great grilled-for-you BBQ spot in Seomyeon, Busan, I highly recommend Don J Busan Seomyeon near Seomyeon Station 👍 The meat quality is excellent, the prices are reasonable, and above all the variety of banchan was amazing! It's a place where you can enjoy a hearty meal with tons of different flavors — a real hidden gem in Seomyeon I want to recommend. Definitely revisiting next time I'm in Seomyeon 🤤
Where it is
52 Gayadae-ro784beon-gil, 1st floor, Busanjin-gu, Busan, South Korea부산광역시 부산진구 가야대로784번길 52 1층
