Hongdae pork restaurant after an escape room: ogyeopsal at Chopilsal

How close is Chopilsal Pork Grill Hongdae to Hongik University Station?

Chopilsal Pork Grill Hongdae Branch is a pork barbecue restaurant on Donggyo-ro in Mapo-gu, Seoul. Walk one block from Exit 1 of Hongik University Station, turn, and it's right there. Hours are Monday to Thursday 12:00–24:00, Friday to Sunday 12:00–02:00.

After an escape room with a friend that had us cracking up the whole time, I wanted grilled pork for dinner for once, and out of the countless restaurants and BBQ joints in Hongdae, I picked Chopilsal Pork Grill Hongdae Branch. It's near where The Climb Hongdae B and Boulder Friends used to be, both gone now, so there's a bit of nostalgia here for climbers — hahaha.

The bright red sign catches your eye from far away near Hongik University Station. It was right around dinner time after a 60-minute escape room that started at 5:35, and with the windows open, the smell of grilling meat drifted out — I was already a bit hungry, and that just made it worse. Growl—

Chopilsal's side dishes and two pa geotjeori refills

Chopilsal Pork Grill Hongdae's side dishes were mostly pickled and seasoned things that go well with meat. Of what was set out after we were seated, the wild garlic salad was, of course, delicious, and the seasoned radish was really my type. After all that thinking during the escape room (?), I was hungry enough that I kept picking at the sides bit by bit even before the meat arrived — haha.

There's no separate menu — you just order by checking the acrylic board at your table, front and back.

My favorite, pa geotjeori. I refilled this twice. Honestly, I think I ate half the first serving before the meat even showed up — haha. My friend doesn't eat green onions, so it was entirely mine, and since I already love green onion salad, I refilled it twice on top of that.

Since pork skin is on the menu here, the dipping sauces included injeolmi bean powder too.

Grilling ogyeopsal and dwitgogi with extra garlic

What we ordered first at Chopilsal Pork Grill Hongdae was ogyeopsal (pork belly) and dwitgogi (pork neck). We decided to eat the meat first and then think about whether to add pork skin.

The pork belly came out first, so it went on the grill right away with the mushrooms. What's on the right in the photo was, I think, salted shrimp, but neither of us ate it so we just cleared it away later. We forgot about it for a bit and it had shrunk way down, so we pulled it off before it burned — haha.

Next, the king oyster mushrooms that came with the dwitgogi bowl went on the grill too, and since garlic grilled in pork fat is essential when eating pork, we asked for extra garlic and tucked it in between the meat pieces to grill. When I was younger, garlic only worked for me minced and mixed into sauce, and I never really ate it grilled in fat either, but now that I'm older, well-cooked garlic is fine and I enjoy it. I guess it was just the doneness I didn't like before — hahaha.

I topped the nicely browned, delicious ogyeopsal with pollock roe, wrapped it in wild garlic salad, wrapped it in perilla-leaf kimchi radish, and — not pictured — paired it with my favorite green onion salad too, eating it all up thoroughly and happily. We finished off the rest of the pork belly, then dug into the second round of dwitgogi. I was so focused on keeping the grilling going that I forgot to take photos of the dwitgogi cooking — haha. The king oyster mushrooms, the garlic, the pork belly, the dwitgogi — everything was so, so good, ugh.

The pork skin at Chopilsal arrives fully grilled

The pork skin at Chopilsal Pork Grill Hongdae comes out already fully grilled, cut up and placed on the grill ready to eat. We were pretty full by the time we'd worked through most of the meat, but pork skin couldn't be skipped so we ordered it. Grilling pork skin yourself is honestly pretty tricky — it curls up, splatters everywhere, total chaos — haha. So it being served already grilled was such a relief.

Wonderfully chewy pork skin, with the outside browned and just crisp enough on top — amazing. Dipped in the spicy sauce and injeolmi bean powder, it's on a whole other level.