Late-night Hapjeong Korean BBQ: pork ribs and 4 soju at Champpoppo

It's Meoggdalpaeng (먹달팽이)! I go around Hapjeong and Sangsu constantly, weekday or weekend, and this time I found a restaurant near Hapjeong Station that immediately went into my saved list haha🥹 I hit this place after work on a Friday night for the perfect after-work drink. Recommending it to anyone looking for a good jjokgalbi (pork rib) spot in Hapjeong.

Where is Champpoppo Jjokgalbi Hapjeong Branch, and when is it open?

📍Location: 77 Yangwha-ro 6-gil, Mapo-gu, Seoul — this is 'Champpoppo Jjokgalbi' Hapjeong branch! A charcoal-grilled jjokgalbi specialist, known for that smoky char. Naver Reservation is open until 9pm, so if you're worried about waiting, I'd recommend booking ahead!

📍Hours: Mon, Tue, Wed, Thu 17:00–24:00 / Fri, Sat, Sun 17:00–01:00

There are two kinds of jjokgalbi — soy and marinated — plus set menus (pasta or rice ball with steamed egg included). They also sell galmaegisal (skirt steak), chicken feet, pork skin, and various rice dishes.

A 10pm weekday visit: inside Champpoppo, group tables included

I was surprised there were still so many customers even at 10pm on a weekday. They can flexibly set up tables for 6, 8, or even bigger groups depending on party size, so it works well for casual hangouts, dates, family gatherings, and even group work dinners.

The retro-style interior felt like a comfortable neighborhood eatery. The staff were especially attentive and kind, which made the meal feel great. No matter how good the food is, unfriendly staff make you hesitant to return — but here, both the food and the service were satisfying, so I definitely want to go back💛

You order via tablet at the table. The set menus are a better deal than à la carte items and the composition is great, so we went with the chiletan set.

📝The Naver receipt review event gives different benefits depending on how many people write reviews. Notably, if 3 people write reviews, you get a free serving of galmaegisal!

The free side dishes at Champpoppo: chicken porridge and corn cheese

A jjokgalbi spot with a great spread of basic side dishes

Cabbage salad, pickled onion, corn cheese, baek-kimchi (white kimchi), diced radish kimchi with bean powder, mayo sauce, spicy sauce. I love places that give you corn cheese,,🥹💛 A bite of corn cheese when your mouth's tingling from the marinated ribs is pure heaven.

And they give you chicken porridge as a base dish, too — amazing. It has that savory egg-porridge feel, so I kept going back for more,,,😍 Warming up my stomach beforehand meant the jjokgalbi didn't feel heavy at all.

They add charcoal for you, and even though we ate for a long time, the heat lasted the whole meal. Seems like they use high-quality, strong charcoal❤️🔥

The jjokgalbi comes pre-grilled once, so it takes about 15 minutes! While waiting, you can grill the pork skin and potato slices. The pork skin was incredibly chewy — I was surprised on the first bite! Dipping it in bean powder plus sauce is the best👍🏻

Chiletan set at Champpoppo: how smoky are the soy and spicy ribs?

Meeting a jjokgalbi packed full of smoky char-fire flavor-!

Chiletan set (2 soy, 1 marinated jjokgalbi, chiletan rice ball, bomb steamed egg). Since it comes pre-grilled, you only need to grill it 2–3 more minutes before eating, which was convenient. The owner recommended enjoying the soy version first before the marinated one since the marinated is spicier — advice I followed to the letter.

Even after piling the grill full, this much jjokgalbi remained! It's 3 servings, but the portion was generous. Looking at the glossy sheen of the sauce is making me hungry all over again,,🤤

And when I took my first bite of the jjokgalbi, I genuinely gasped. The umami of the soy sauce coated evenly over the ribs paired so well with the smoky char flavor. The meat was already slightly separated from the bone, so it was super easy to pull apart. There was a lot of meat clinging to the bone too, so it lasted a good while haha🥰

It's delicious eaten with pickled onion, and even better dipped deep in the marinated sauce,,❤️🔥 Most importantly, there wasn't a hint of pork gaminess, so I ate happily and satisfied.

Can you dial down the spice of the chiletan rice ball?

The chiletan rice ball is loaded with flying fish roe, cartilage, and seaweed flakes. Since they said it's about Buldak-level spicy, I asked when ordering if they could tone it down. The staff said yes right away, and I ended up with a less-spicy rice ball somewhere between Shin Ramyun and Buldak level!

The cartilage was also infused with smoky char and was really delicious,,😋 I've always eaten jjokgalbi with only flying-fish-roe or tuna rice balls before, but adding cartilage maximizes the smoky flavor and the seasoning was spicy-savory too, so I kept reaching for more.

Champpoppo's bomb steamed egg

The set menu includes jjokgalbi + rice ball + steamed egg all together! Isn't that such a packed composition! The steamed egg had cheddar cheese on top, giving it both saltiness and cheese flavor to boot🫶🏻

At places that aren't good at steamed egg, you often get a burnt taste that makes you put your spoon down. But here it was fluffy, cloud-like steamed egg with zero burnt taste, so I kept scooping it up! This place isn't just a jjokgalbi expert — they're masters of rice balls and steamed egg too..👏🏻

Four bottles of soju for two: how well do the ribs drink?

We really planned to drink lightly, but somehow the two of us ended up finishing four bottles of soju,,🤪 If the food isn't good, you don't feel like drinking much, but here everything from mains to sides was so good the soju just kept going down🩵

Rice ball + baek-kimchi + sauce-loaded jjokgalbi = truly a festival in your mouth. How can every single bite be this good..😭

The marinated jjokgalbi lets you choose between regular or extra-spicy, so even spice-shy people can give it a try! At the regular level, it was about as spicy as Shin Ramyun — totally manageable. With moderate spice and smoky flavor baked right in, it's seriously addictive❤️🔥

The sweet mayo sauce pairs much better with the marinated version than the soy one. It neutralizes the spiciness and that mayo richness is out of control good..😍

While we were mindlessly gnawing on bones and going 'so good, so good,' the staff swapped in a fresh grill plate for us. They checked in to see if we needed anything, which made the meal feel even better.

Even though I felt like I was about to burst, I still wanted to keep drinking, so we ordered an extra serving of soy jjokgalbi. As soon as it arrived, that deep smoky aroma hit again~!😤 Cook time is 15 minutes, so order it ahead of time — pro tip!

We ate full and happy right to the very end. It's been a while since I got this stuffed on jjokgalbi alone, and the satisfaction level was off the charts. People often think jjokgalbi doesn't give you much meat for the price, but here the ribs are thick-cut with plenty of meat and the portions are generous, so I'm definitely coming back! If you're looking for a great jjokgalbi restaurant near Hapjeong Station, I recommend 'Champpoppo Jjokgalbi'!