Hwaseong meat restaurant: pick pork belly by weight label, Morakmorak

With that gentle autumn breeze starting to blow, I've been wanting to go out every weekend lately. So this weekend my family and I headed out to Namyang in Hwaseong for a hearty meal together. This place is a butcher-style restaurant, so besides great meat quality, you also get unlimited access to a self-bar, tacos, and bone-broth ramyeon — it's already a well-known Hwaseong City Hall restaurant.

Where is Morakmorak Jeongyuk Sikdang, and is there parking?

Morakmorak Jeongyuk Sikdang sits in a Namyang backstreet at 70 Yeokgol-jungang-ro, near Hwaseong City Hall. It's open daily from 11:30am to 11pm, and there's a private lot so parking is free.

It's known as a lunch spot for local office workers too, and it seemed perfect for anything from kimchi jeongol (kimchi hot pot) at lunch to a proper meat dinner. They also run a pickup reservation service for guests staying at Rolling Hills Hotel, so it looks convenient for anyone on a hotel staycation nearby. We drove, and having the private lot meant we didn't have to stress about parking at all.

Inside Morakmorak: a wide hall for both group dinners and family meals

Inside, Morakmorak Jeongyuk Sikdang has plenty of seating and generous spacing between tables in one big hall. The ventilation is solid too, so you can eat without worrying about smoke or smell.

The moment we walked in, the space felt huge and comfortable — none of that stuffy feeling you sometimes get at BBQ places. Tables are spaced generously and there are plenty of seats, so it works well for both group dinners and family meals. The ventilation is well done too, making for a clean, smoke-free dining atmosphere.

How do you pick your meat by weight label at Morakmorak?

Morakmorak Jeongyuk Sikdang works butcher-shop style — you look at the meat in the refrigerated display case and pick it out yourself. Each cut has a label showing weight and price; once you check it and bag it, you hand it to the counter, and they pre-grill it before bringing it to your table.

True to a butcher-restaurant system, you can check the freshness, thickness, and marbling of the meat with your own eyes before you pick it.

We picked out domestic raw pork belly with its savory juiciness, and pork neck that's mild and tender. The weight and price stamped clearly on the label gave us a lot of confidence! Once you've picked your meat, you hand it to the counter and they bring it back pre-grilled to your table.

What is on the Morakmorak taco self-bar?

The real signature move here is the Morakmorak taco self-bar. Tortillas, guacamole and salsa, crunchy nacho chips — everything you need to make your own tacos. Isn't that wild? Tacos at a BBQ place! Even before the meat hit the grill, we were already piling stuff onto plates planning how to wrap it.

Unlimited hanwoo bone-broth ramyeon at Morakmorak

The tacos were already great, but then what's this — ramyeon (instant noodles) cooked in house-made hanwoo (Korean beef) bone broth! And it's unlimited too. Now I get why this is a Hwaseong City Hall favorite.

How did the pork belly and pork neck taste?

Morakmorak Jeongyuk Sikdang serves a plate of yukhoe as a basic side dish. While we were still picking meat and checking out the self-bar, the table was already set.

By the time we finished picking meat and browsing the self-bar, the table was set — and there was yukhoe as a basic side dish! Isn't that amazing? We were touched before we'd even started grilling. Popping the yolk and mixing it in made it chewy and savory, the perfect appetite-opener before the real meat began.

The pork belly and neck we picked out came back from the kitchen pre-grilled, browned on the outside with a smoky charcoal aroma. They score the thick cuts into bite-sized pieces on a cutting board right there, and seeing the juicy cross-section made my mouth water instantly!

In the center of the grill sits a savory pot of doenjang jjigae — looking at the tabletop order screen, it seems like refills are available. They grill the pre-cooked pork belly and neck along with garlic and Korean green peppers on top, and just visually, it's an instant pass!

Because the meat comes pre-grilled, cooking time is much shorter, and it turns out crispy outside while staying juicy inside — every bite was so savory.

Wrapping the well-cooked pork belly with lettuce and radish wraps from the self-bar, to your own taste, is delicious too.

How to wrap pork belly in a taco tortilla

The combo I'd been waiting for most — the meat taco wrap! I lightly grilled a tortilla, spread guacamole and salsa on it, added a piece of nicely grilled pork belly, crumbled some crunchy nacho chips on top, and topped it off with garlic dip to taste. This combo is genuinely a treat!! The bright, tangy sauce balances out the richness of the pork belly perfectly, and the crunch from the nacho chips takes it up a notch — even the kids devoured it. It cuts right through the greasiness of the meat, so we kept going without ever feeling like we needed to stop.

No matter how full you are, you have to have the ramyeon! House-made hanwoo bone broth in a pack, cooked with instant noodles — hanwoo bone-broth ramyeon! And it's refillable too, which was so touching. The spicy broth cut right through the richness in our mouths and cleaned everything up — we didn't leave a single drop.

Verdict: is Morakmorak worth it for a family dinner in Namyang, Hwaseong?

This is a place I fell for twice — once for the generosity of serving a full plate of fresh yukhoe as a basic side, and again for the juicy, thick pre-grilled pork belly and neck loaded with charcoal aroma. In particular, the unusual taco wrap with tortillas, guacamole, and nacho chips — going beyond ordinary lettuce wraps — was a clear standout you can't find at other BBQ restaurants. If you're looking for a restaurant in Namyang or near Hwaseong City Hall, definitely stop by Morakmorak Jeongyuk Sikdang.