Late-night Seoul Korean BBQ with no wait in Seongsu: Seongsu Teojeon

Seongsu Teojeon Ttukseom Main Branch: the Seongsu pork belly spot with a line down the stairs

I'd walked past this place before and remember seeing a line stretching all the way out past the stairs, wondering what on earth it was. Turns out it's a famous pork belly spot around Seongsu/Ttukseom — I wondered how good it could possibly be to draw a wait like that, and then I finally got the chance to find out haha.

After eating, I totally understood why the line was so long. This Seongsu Station restaurant, Seongsu Teojeon, is not something you'd regret waiting for. Luckily, since we went late, we got in with zero wait!

Walking in, we were greeted by pork slabs sleeping (?) in the aging fridge by the entrance, so I snapped a photo.

Why your clothes don't smell of smoke at Seongsu Teojeon

The interior 📷️ had the floor-to-ceiling windows wide open, giving it a really open feel. Thinking back, there really wasn't much smoke for a barbecue place. I sniffed my clothes when I got home expecting the usual smoky smell, but there was zero — and oddly enough, they smelled really nice instead. Where did that even come from...?

The Popular Set: 55,000 won for 500g of pork belly and premium pork neck

What we ordered at Seongsu Teojeon Ttukseom Main Branch was the Popular Set (pork belly, premium pork neck 500g + vegetable set for two) for ₩55,000.

How to order and eat well at Seongsu Teojeon

Tips for grilling the meat — though since the staff handle everything for you, you don't really need to know them haha.

Side dishes, hairtail jeotgal and garlic salted shrimp sauce

Seongsu Teojeon serves green onion kimchi, wild garlic leaves, and white kimchi as basic side dishes. Green onion kimchi can feel overwhelming when the scallions are too thick, but these were thin and tender, so they were easy to eat and tasted great too.

Especially good were the hairtail jeotgal and garlic salted shrimp. The hairtail jeotgal was seriously delicious, and the salted shrimp mixed with garlic and olive oil was amazing too. Just so charming.

Pork belly and premium pork neck grilled by the staff

Wow. Out came pork that looked delicious at first glance, along with the vegetables I love><

There was a cute illustration showing how to grill the meat, but the staff handled all of it for us.

Minari and vegetables grilled in butter

They actually grill the minari in butter. Once the other vegetables are cooked enough, you move them over to the buttery spot on the grill and it's absolute honey.

Oh, and one important thing! If you write a photo review, they give you a spicy hangover ramyeon or a drink as a service!!

Here's the staff member grilling our meat — really attentive haha.

First bite of pork neck: how is pork neck this good?

We started with the pork neck first, and honestly, how can pork neck taste this good? I'm not usually into pork neck, but this was seriously delicious.

The hairtail jeotgal is a must! The funky jeotgal flavor isn't too intense, and it has just the right craveable kick, so even people who usually don't like jeotgal would probably like this.

I alternated between dipping in the hairtail jeotgal and the garlic shrimp sauce, and eventually started piling both on at once lol. Delicious thing plus delicious thing equals ridiculously delicious.

The zucchini, mushrooms, and other vegetables — no need to even say. The butter added even more flavor, making them even better!

The main event: pork belly, juices and fat-to-meat ratio

The pork neck was already really good, but once I had the pork belly, I felt like pork belly is just the best lol. Full of juices, and the ratio of fat to meat was perfect. For a while now, I'd been finding thin pork belly grilled at home tastier than this thick style, but eating it at a good restaurant is a whole different story. So, so delicious><

Pork belly is something I eat often, but it had been a while since I enjoyed it this much. Sometimes you go in expecting a place to be amazing and end up disappointed once you actually eat there — since it's such a common dish both at home and out, expectations run high and it's hard to come away genuinely impressed. But I was in awe the entire time I was eating.

There's an izakaya right above this place too, so this whole building must have something going on. Everything here is just so good... Seongsu Teojeon, a Seongsu Station restaurant I enjoyed so much. Highly recommend it if you're looking for a great Korean BBQ spot around Seongsu/Ttukseom.