Sunday night open-window pork belly in Bucheon Sinjung-dong: Cham

Cham Dwaejitgan Bucheon Sinjung-dong Branch is a 24-hour, open-every-day pork belly restaurant just 364m from Exit 3 of Sinjung-dong Station, right in the middle of the Sinjung-dong food alley. Corkage is free, too.

Isn't a cold beer of soju with some grilled meat at a breezy outdoor spot or pojangmacha (street tent bar) after work, now that the evening wind is finally cool, basically the definition of small happiness..? I'd always been curious about this huge-looking pork belly place in Bucheon's Sinjung-dong food alley every time I walked past, so my husband and I finally went to Cham Dwaejitgan!

Both side windows were wide open, and I thought the atmosphere for having a drink while feeling like you're eating outdoors was really great!!

Why both windows stay wide open at Cham Dwaejitgan

The biggest feature of Cham Dwaejitgan Bucheon Sinjung-dong Branch is that both side windows are thrown completely open. I'd been craving pork belly since the day before and finally couldn't hold out any longer — with the weather being nice, we went.

The first thing I thought walking in was, wow, this is really spacious!! These days, walking into a stuffy BBQ place with the doors shut just traps smoke and heat, but here the breeze drifted in nicely, and it genuinely felt like sitting at an outdoor pojangmacha.

The tables were also big and set close together, which made it feel perfectly suited for group work dinners from nearby offices or a noisy gathering of friends — very much a Bucheon Sinjung-dong pork belly spot optimized for that.

The cauldron-lid grill plate and the side dishes that come with it

The basic setup at Cham Dwaejitgan is one sauce set per person. Wasabi, salt, spicy sauce, ssamjang (thick soybean-chili paste), garlic, mushroom wasabi, and more were all prepared, so it was fun picking and choosing what to dip into.

And vegetables and pickled peppers can be taken unlimited from the self-bar!

They also pile kimchi, seasoned bean sprouts, and a generous amount of minari (water dropwort) around the base of the cauldron-lid-shaped grill plate — thinking about how they'd soak up all the meat drippings while grilling.... yeah, this was guaranteed to be delicious.

And!! There was a meat-aging fridge right inside the restaurant, and knowing that the meat we'd be eating that day had probably aged in there made me want to eat it right away.

We ordered from the T-order tablet at each table, and it was convenient that each serving of meat could be a different cut. My husband and I each wanted a different cut, haha, so we ended up ordering Boseong Nokdon pork belly and black pork neck!

Boseong Nokdon pork belly and Jeju black pork neck

The meat we ordered! Thick and delicious-looking. Alongside it comes king oyster mushrooms, gochu (green chili peppers), and thinly sliced potato to grill together.

This Bucheon Sinjung-dong pork belly place offers a full staff-grilling service! That was actually one of our reasons for coming. Having someone else grill your meat for you.. that's just so convenient!

The heat on the grill plate was quite strong, so the meat browned quickly. They control the heat with real charcoal underneath the plate, which I think made it cook even better..!

They also said the specially made grill plate keeps oil from splattering.. and coming home, I checked and it was true! Not a single splatter of oil! I really wanted to take one of those grill plates home with me...

With the cool night breeze coming through the window and the sizzle of meat on the grill, I really wanted to knock back a beer-and-soju cocktail, but..! Remembering tomorrow's Monday, I made do with a zero-calorie cola instead.. It's exactly the kind of Bucheon Sinjung-dong pork belly vibe that's perfect for meeting up casually with neighborhood friends and chatting loudly over a meal..

The meat was cooking up nicely... and these days we've gotten into taking proof-of-life photos! An obligatory delicious-looking shot before digging in.

Mushroom wasabi sauce and the staff's pick, sliced potato

Before eating, I discovered a little ritual for enjoying the meal properly..?! There was something explaining what each sauce in front of me was, so I checked it out. And the sliced potato is even the staff's recommendation..! I tried everything, but personally the mushroom wasabi was really delicious to me!!><

I tried it plain first to taste the pork belly's signature savoriness, then dipped it in salt..! I deliberately went for salt before ssamjang. Save the bold flavors for later!

My husband.. was eating so intently that..

I tried it with the well-grilled minari too, and also with wasabi on top! I think I'm more of a wasabi person than a minari person. If we'd come with the older generation, they'd probably prefer the minari more!

Potato wraps and Jirisan kudzu cold noodles

There was a note posted about how to enjoy the pork belly best, so I tried following it — grilling thin potato slices until golden and wrapping them around the meat with grilled kimchi to make a 'potato ssam (wrap)', which turned out to be a surprisingly special treat! The potato grilled up nice and crispy, and paired well with the meat.

Right when things were starting to feel a bit greasy, the Jirisan kudzu cold noodles arrived, topped with a layer of icy slush. Cold noodles really are the best match for fatty meat!

Wrapping meat, kimchi, and noodles all together cuts the greasiness and loads you up with carbs, you know..?!

And me.. thinking about my health a bit late in the game.. I also wrapped some in lettuce and perilla leaves.. Still, I managed one lettuce leaf and two perilla leaves today.. not bad.. and wrapped this way, it was super delicious too!

Fried rice to finish: with or without kimchi?

And if you're Korean, no matter how full you are, the K-dessert of fried rice is non-negotiable! When you order fried rice at Cham Dwaejitgan, they make it right where the kimchi was grilling.

If you want any leftover kimchi or bean sprouts mixed in, just leave some aside and ask, but I'd recommend not adding them since the fried rice's basic seasoning is already generous! Adding extra ingredients might make it a bit too salty..! Anyway, we finished the meal fully stuffed after that fried rice~!

On the way out, I noticed a free amenity box by the register with floss, hair ties, mouthwash, and candy, so I grabbed a lollipop on my way out! Cham Dwaejitgan in Bucheon's Sinjung-dong was a great spot to enjoy a relaxed drink with the windows thrown open on a nice-weather night in the Sinjung-dong Station food alley, soaking up that outdoor-eating feeling!