Gangdong jokbal restaurant, free makguksu on a weekday: Iseon Hwaduk

📍8 Yangjaedae-ro 147-gil, Gangdong-gu, Seoul, South Korea

⏰️Daily 12:00–23:30

Where to park at Iseon Hwaduk Jokbal Bossam near Myeongil Station

Iseon Hwaduk Jokbal Bossam Myeongil Branch has room for a total of 3 cars, split between the space in front and the parking area beside it. Since the space isn't very big, I used the nearby Myeongil-dong public parking lot instead — the parking fee was on me. For what it's worth, that public lot has plenty of room.

I visited on a weekday evening and it was already busy. Judging by all the delivery orders going out too, this place has clearly become a neighborhood favorite.

The terrace seats and what is set on each table

The terrace tables at Iseon Hwaduk Jokbal really caught my eye. With the weather turning cool these days, sitting outside on the terrace enjoying the breeze while eating jokbal sounded perfect — but sadly the outdoor tables were full, so I'll save that for next time.

Every table has both a gas burner and a solid-fuel burner. Having these set up at each table means you can keep your jokbal warm the whole time you're eating it.

At the self-serve corner there's the standard dried radish salad and baek-kimchi (white kimchi), plus sliced chili, garlic and salted shrimp — and you can even help yourself to lettuce.

The order: large wood-fired front-leg jokbal

Order — Wood-fired jokbal, front leg (large)

The default side dishes were dried radish salad, chive salad, baek-kimchi and cabbage kimchi, along with ssamjang, salted shrimp, lettuce and sliced chili and garlic. Every single one of them pairs perfectly with jokbal.

Why the jokbal goes back into the wood-fired oven

True to its name, Iseon Hwaduk grills its jokbal once more in a wood-fired oven before serving. I watched them grilling the jokbal in the oven tucked into the back of the kitchen — I'd never seen jokbal finished in an oven before, so I was already looking forward to the taste.

Everything from the large jokbal to the makguksu came out in generous portions.

Once the jokbal comes out of the oven, they set it on a burner with solid fuel so you can keep eating it warm all the way through. Temperature really matters with food like this, so being able to keep it hot the whole time was great.

Before I get into how it tasted, take a look at this shine first. Even after a second grilling in the wood-fired oven drove out the fat, the jokbal still had a glossy sheen. It wasn't greasy at all — just the right amount of moisture left behind.

Free sundubu-jjigae and the review-event makguksu

Iseon Hwaduk Jokbal also gives you sundubu-jjigae as a default side. Being a free add-on didn't mean small portions or weak flavor at all — it was generous and had a clean, spicy kick that was excellent. Thanks to it, there wasn't a single moment where the jokbal felt heavy.

I took part in the review event and got makguksu as a freebie. Most restaurants running review events just throw in a drink, but here you can actually choose makguksu as your complimentary item. I was surprised at how generous the portion was, considering it was a review-event freebie.

It was basically the same as if I'd ordered a full bowl of makguksu on its own. Between the default sundubu-jjigae and the review-event makguksu, the side dishes alone were a full meal. Definitely take part in the review event and grab that makguksu.

How the lean wood-fired jokbal tasted

First I tried it with the classic pairing, chive salad. Since it's grilled once more in the wood-fired oven, the fat gets rendered out, making the jokbal wonderfully light.

It's clean and springy, so you can keep eating without it ever feeling greasy or getting tiresome. On top of that, there wasn't a trace of gamey smell — genuinely perfect jokbal.

I mixed up the makguksu from the review event and ate it together with the jokbal — and honestly, jokbal with makguksu needs no explanation.

It went great with the dried radish salad side too, and it's just as good wrapped in lettuce. Mixing and matching all these combinations, I somehow ended up demolishing the whole thing in no time. Eat jokbal the wrong way and you can end up feeling greasy and gross afterward, but here — thanks to the extra oven-grilling and all the side dishes to mix things up with — I finished full and genuinely satisfied.