Chungjeongno Korean BBQ with Busan milmyeon: Doldam Sutbuljip

I visited a great little Chungjeongno neighborhood spot where parking was so easy, which I absolutely loved. Having to check parking every single time I go somewhere is semi-stressful for real, so 2 hours of free parking was amazing!! Reservations available / group dining available.

I went to Doldam Sutbuljip (돌담숯불집) near Chungjeongno Station for meat. This time we had 2 servings of gabrisal (pork jowl) + 2 servings of pork neck + one bowl of Busan-style mul milmyeon (cold wheat noodles in broth), whew. Everything from the meat and side dishes to the noodles was satisfying, but personally, the Busan milmyeon here was the real deal haha.

A spotless restaurant with a group-dining vibe

The first thing I noticed on walking in was how much cleaner it was than expected. Korean BBQ places use a lot of oil, so sometimes the floor is slippery or the tables feel sticky, but this place was well kept from floor to table. Seeing things like that somehow makes you feel the owner’s personality, haha. Every table has an exhaust hood, and the tables are spaced nicely, so it looked great for company dinners or bigger groups too. During our meal, reserved parties kept coming in, so it seems like a pretty well-known neighborhood favorite already.

And because the staff grill the meat themselves, I think it would be great for a company dinner too. Especially since there won’t be one junior employee stuck grilling and unable to eat properly, haha. The tables are roomy enough for groups as well. Personally, it seems like a great place to bring friends from abroad! They can have the Korean experience of charcoal-grilled pork, and since the staff do the grilling, they can eat comfortably even if they do not know how. Wrap the meat with all the Korean banchan (side dishes), then finish with Busan milmyeon—such a solid Korean BBQ course.

Gabrisal, pork neck, and side dishes

The meat menu includes Korean pork ribs, pork belly, pork neck, and gabrisal, plus beef rib meat and marinated beef rib meat. We ordered 2 servings of gabrisal at ₩18,000 each and 2 servings of pork neck at ₩18,000 each. Four servings total! Totally doable for two women, right?

For sides, there are Busan-style milmyeon, hangover ramen, steamed egg with cheese, soft tofu stew, soybean paste stew, and more, making it a nice setup for a full meal after the meat. There is also a separate lunch menu, so it looked like a good option for office workers around Chungjeongno.

Barley tea—need I say more~~

Also, even the basic side dishes came in a huge variety. At Korean BBQ places there are usually a few dishes you never reach for, but here there was plenty of variety and every single one was tasty. A whole table was filled with lettuce, myeongi namul (pickled wild garlic leaves), green onion kimchi, seasoned shredded radish, white kimchi, pancake, cabbage salad, and several sauces.

The corn cheese and kimchi-plus-bracken fern shoots, grilled on the plate, were such a good combo. The raw pork looked good from the start, and I loved that it came in nice thick cuts.

The complimentary sundubu jjigae (soft tofu stew) was tasty too. Egg dropped right in~

Staff-grilled gabrisal and pork neck

Here, the staff grill the meat for you. Before grilling, they quickly grease the grill plate with pork fat, and that was already a good sign haha. They heat the grill properly before putting the meat on, so we just got to wait comfortably and eat.

First up, 2 servings of gabrisal!

Gabrisal really keeps its signature chewy texture once grilled.

A bite of meat with myeongi namul. They also put cheese on one side of the grill, and once it melts, you can dunk the meat right in. One bite of golden-grilled pork covered in stretchy cheese.

Yum with kimchi too. Then a bite with another side dish... I kept changing up the combinations haha. Next, welcome pork neck.

Two servings of pork neck. Two servings after the gabrisal too, haha. The pork neck was also quite thick, and the meat looked excellent. Gabrisal is chewy and nutty, while pork neck feels a little cleaner and more tender. Grilled golden over charcoal, it had a light charcoal aroma on the outside while staying juicy inside—so delicious~

Ordering gabrisal and pork neck together was nice because their textures are different, so it was fun to alternate. If you like chewy meat, get gabrisal; if you prefer something lighter, get pork neck! If you want both, just order two servings of each haha.

The seasoned myeongranjeot (salted pollock roe) was so good that we got a refill.

I kept eating the myeongi namul combo, so I refilled it while the pork neck was cooking.

The unexpected number one: Busan-style mul milmyeon

And now, the long-awaited Busan-style mul milmyeon. We ordered it as we were finishing the meat: ₩6,000. Personally, this was the unexpected number one of the day.

My Gyeongsang-do girl friend took a spoonful of the broth and agreed that it tasted like the milmyeon you get in Busan, haha. The broth properly had milmyeon’s subtle herbal flavor. Some places in Seoul call it milmyeon but it is not all that different from naengmyeon (cold buckwheat noodles); here, the first bite makes you go, “Ah, this is milmyeon!” For real, there is a slight herbal taste. And I liked that the noodles were not overly thick.

The noodles and broth are delicious on their own, but you know it gets even better when you put a remaining piece of meat on top, right? The savory meat plus cool milmyeon broth was a perfect combination.

Then I looked at the menu and saw they also have yuksam milmyeon—milmyeon served with meat—for lunch, and I understood immediately haha. I had wondered why a Korean BBQ restaurant would have milmyeon as its own lunch item, but they are simply good at milmyeon. If you work around Chungjeongno, the milmyeon-and-meat combo would be a good lunch. The lunch menu also has office-worker-friendly choices such as spicy stir-fried pork with soybean paste stew, yuksam milmyeon, Korean pork kimchi stew, and bulbaek (marinated grilled meat) with soft tofu stew, so the owner clearly knows what tastes good haha.

Final thoughts

• Parking was ridiculously convenient—so good!!!!!!!!
• I loved that it was a Korean BBQ place but the restaurant was so clean.
• The owner was incredibly kind, which left such a great impression.
• The meat was in great condition and really delicious.
• It was easy and nice because they grilled it for us!!
• The side dishes were tasty too, and their combinations with the meat need no explanation. The salted pollock roe was seriously good.

The food was delicious, and seeing the owner work so hard while being so kind honestly warmed my heart.

Highly, highly recommended!!!!!!!!!!!!