Torched cheese pork belly at a Namyangju valley BBQ: 2002 Witch's

You can't not go swimming in a valley in summer, haha! For the weekend, our whole family went out together — even our golden retriever! — for a little trip near Seoul. We went to "2002 Witch's Arpeggio."

Instead of the usual gochujang (red chili paste) pork belly, this place does tomato-jang pork belly — a pretty unusual dish, and one that tastes like it'd win over anyone, young or old! Plus there's a valley right out front. Let me tell you about it.

Where 2002 Witch's Arpeggio is and when it opens

📍Address: 142 Surye-ro 661beon-gil, Wabu-eup, Namyangju-si, Gyeonggi-do

• ⏰Daily 11:00–21:00
• Break time 15:30–17:00
• 🚗Free parking available
• 🐶Pets welcome

We drove there ourselves. It's near Myojeoksa Valley, and the road in goes through the mountains, so I'd definitely recommend driving. The road is a bit rough, but the parking is really well set up! A Namyangju drive plus a good meal plus a valley outing — the best combo!

How long is the Sunday wait? The second-floor swing waiting area

We visited on a Sunday. Since it's peak season for the valley these days, I called ahead, and they said weekends get busy so they recommended arriving about 30 minutes early. So we got there at 4:30, 30 minutes before break time ended. Even so, a lot of people were already there, and we were wait number 12.

We came 30 minutes early and went up to the 2nd-floor waiting area, which had some simple exercise equipment,

plus a separate area with hanging swing seats. Since it's on the 2nd floor, you can see the parking lot and the valley from up there, and it's nice and cool, so the wait wasn't hard at all.

Indoor or outdoor seats at 2002 Witch's Arpeggio?

Indoor seating

At 2002 Witch's Arpeggio, you can choose indoor or outdoor seating when you're called in. Since it's right in front of the valley, outdoor is more popular, but on a hot summer day, or when the wait is long, indoor is nice too since the tables are spacious.

There's also a simple self-serve bar set up indoors. The indoor area has floor-to-ceiling windows too, so it still feels like you're in nature.

Outdoor seating by the valley

The weather was nice when we visited, so we chose outdoor seating. There's a kiosk, and with six of us we had to split into two tables of three, but the tables themselves were spacious, which was nice.

There's a separate self-serve bar set up for the outdoor seats too.

And the best part of outdoor seating — the valley view~~~ It really is peak vacation season, and so many people were out enjoying it.

What the restrooms are like at this valley-front restaurant

When I go to restaurants by a valley, the restroom is one thing I always worry about.

It wasn't spotless, but it wasn't bad either. It was kept reasonably clean.

What we ordered and how it tasted: tomato-jang pork belly, potato pancake, pollock roe fried rice

The signature dish at this Namyangju BBQ restaurant, 2002 Witch's Arpeggio, is, of course, the tomato-jang pork belly!!

Our order:

• Tomato-jang pork belly
• Added cheese
• Potato pancake
• Pollock roe cauldron fried rice

Here's the basic table setting.

Japchae (stir-fried glass noodles) comes as a default side dish, and refills are unlimited.

And the tomato kimchi was unusual — not spicy, with a refreshing tang that was great as a palate cleanser~ You can also get unlimited refills of this from the self-serve bar.

The star of the show, tomato-jang pork belly! You can choose your spice level, and we went with Shin Ramyun spice. Really the right call!! It looked so red I thought it'd be super spicy, but it wasn't~

Grilled pork belly right in front of the valley, on vacation — perfect!

Honestly, even the regular gochujang pork belly is a pain to grill yourself. At this Namyangju BBQ spot, Witch's Arpeggio, they grill it and cut it for you~

And on top of that, they work hard to give it that char-grilled flavor~

So neatly and deliciously grilled, right?

And that's not even the end — we added cheese on top!

They melt the cheese for you with a torch so it's nice and gooey~ Such attentive service, honestly, I nearly teared up.

And finally, the finished cheese tomato-jang pork belly!

As the instructions said, we tried it plain first,

and then wrapped in a crepe too. It really was a different taste from the usual gochujang pork belly we're used to. Even though we ordered Shin Ramyun spice, it was just moderately spicy, with the tomato's savory depth pairing beautifully with the pork belly~ Plus the nutty richness of the cheese!! Definitely add the cheese~~~~

Meat alone felt like it wasn't enough, so we also ordered the potato pancake!! This thing was basically a potato-fry-pancake??? So~~~~~~~~~~~ crispy! Not just crispy at the edges but crispy like a cracker all the way through! A real treat — I'd recommend trying the potato pancake too!

And finally, a Korean dessert~

We finished with pollock roe-loaded scorched rice cauldron fried rice! The portion was really huge, so we left a bit, but you could really taste the salty savoriness of the pollock roe.

A birthday party and dipping our feet in Myojeoksa Valley

After eating until we were completely stuffed, we wrapped things up with a proper birthday celebration for my sibling, whose birthday was recently~~~ They even thoughtfully set out plates for our cake so we could enjoy it without any hassle — I really appreciated that!

After eating, we all dipped our feet in the valley together to help digest and unwind~

Our golden retriever dipped his paws in the water too!🐾

Is 2002 Witch's Arpeggio worth the trip? Final verdict

2002 Witch's Arpeggio turns out to be a Namyangju restaurant that's earned great reviews ever since 2002. If you want a delicious meal by a valley on a hot summer day, I'd recommend visiting with your family~