Songpa Korean BBQ with minari refills: Minari Naengsam

As a Munjeong office worker, I went straight to Minari Naengsam after work. A coworker had already been and said it was good, so after our club activity we headed right over for dinner!

Minari frozen pork belly at Munjeong M State

Minari Naengsam (미나리 냉삼), a great frozen pork belly spot in Munjeong, is on the first floor of the M State building, behind the escalator. The four of us ordered four servings each of flower frozen pork belly and fresh pork belly. The flower frozen pork belly was thin, so it cooked quickly and was great wrapped with minari or vegetables; the fresh pork belly was thicker, with more pronounced juices and pork aroma. After comparing them, the fresh pork belly tasted better👍 I’ll get into that in more detail below!

The minari was unlimited, so we got two extra rounds, and the mustard-leaf kimchi, green-onion kimchi, and napa cabbage kimchi were all delicious. They allow corkage, and soju is ₩5,000, making it a nice place for a Munjeong work dinner.

How we ordered the flower frozen pork belly and fresh pork belly

You order from a tablet at the table. This was my first time seeing frozen pork belly called flower frozen pork belly: apparently it is thin-sliced frozen pork made by rolling up and quick-freezing Korean grade-one-or-higher female pork.

We started with two servings each of flower frozen pork belly and fresh pork belly. Each piece of flower frozen pork belly was bigger than regular frozen pork belly!!😃 And the fresh pork belly looked really fresh.

The banchan (Korean side dishes) were seasoned shredded green onion, mustard-leaf kimchi, and green-onion kimchi. The grill also came with cooked napa cabbage kimchi and minari.

Two servings of flower frozen pork belly (₩14,900 per serving)

Two servings of fresh pork belly (₩15,900 per serving)

Flower frozen pork belly for wraps, fresh pork belly for juices

It looks different from ordinary frozen pork belly right from the shape, doesn’t it? It was cooking beautifully on the grill. Since it is thin, it definitely cooks fast!

It was easy to tuck minari or shredded green onion inside the meat and eat it in one bite. The seasoned shredded green onion was also so good, dressed in a sauce they have tweaked deliciously over eight years👍

Because the flower frozen pork belly is thin, it has less juicy moisture. But it works so well wrapped with minari, shredded green onion, and kimchi! The side dishes here are seriously delicious, sob. Every kind of kimchi was insanely good👍

It was so good that we ordered two more servings🎶🎵 That frozen pork belly flavor that periodically comes to mind🥰

Then came the fresh pork belly. It had intense juices and pork aroma. Even when I first ate the flower frozen pork belly, it was delicious, so I did not expect a big difference from the fresh pork belly. But after eating the fresh pork belly and then ordering two more servings of flower frozen pork belly, the difference was clear.

Thanks to its thickness, the fresh pork belly was moist with juices and had lots of pork aroma. It was tasty dipped in sesame oil sauce, and it also went well wrapped with minari and lettuce. There was Maldon salt too, and a little dip of that now and then was nice as well👍

The flower frozen pork belly was great for wrapping with minari and vegetables, while the fresh pork belly had a deeper meat flavor on its own. We ate frozen pork belly → fresh pork belly → frozen pork belly → fresh pork belly, and when you eat frozen pork belly after fresh pork belly, you can really tell the difference! Both are good, but going from juicy to not juicy leaves you feeling a little lacking? Personally, I recommend eating the fresh pork belly after the frozen pork belly!

Minari refills and fried-rice sides

We put the napa cabbage kimchi on the grill to cook, and got an extra refill of mustard-leaf kimchi separately. If you like mustard-leaf kimchi, it is great with the meat😋 The minari is unlimited, so we asked for two more rounds. You cannot order it on the tablet; you have to ask directly✨ (Though the staff here are very shy.) The minari is so fragrant right now, and eating fresh pork belly in a wrap with it cuts the meat’s rich fattiness beautifully👍

Fried rice is of course the proper finish to a meat meal👍 We ordered minari fried rice separately. We ate fried rice with finely chopped minari and kimchi alongside chopped fresh pork belly😋

It had a slight margarine aroma(?)

We also ordered a steamed egg as a side! When you are eating meat, steamed egg and doenjang-jjigae (soybean paste stew) cannot be left out either :-)

How was it for a Munjeong work dinner?

Minari Naengsam in Munjeong is a place to eat flower frozen pork belly, which has a different shape from ordinary frozen pork belly, with unlimited minari. The meat was tasty, but so were the side dishes, minari, and sides such as steamed egg and doenjang-jjigae. I recommend it for a Munjeong work dinner too, though the restaurant is a little small, so it cannot fit a large group!

The weather has been nice and cool lately, so I recommend it for a drink on the way home from work or as a gathering spot too😃 ₩5,000 soju is a reasonable price! If I return, I want to try the beef brisket and pork jowl.