Myeongdong Korean BBQ with craft beer, family dinner: Yuktongnyeong

This is a post about a recent trip to Myeongdong with my family, where I finally had proper pork belly after a while 🧡 When people think of Seoul's Myeongdong, it's usually all about shopping, but you also end up looking for good places to eat while sightseeing. Among the many Myeongdong restaurants, I went to Yuktongnyeong Myeongdong Main Branch, a place that's been featured on TV multiple times!

It's close to Exit 5 of Myeongdong Station, and the staff grill the meat for you, which made it really easy for a family dinner! This place was also featured on tvN's Wednesday Food Talk episode 74 as one of Seoul's top 3 pork belly restaurants, so if you're looking for a Myeongdong spot known for pork belly, you may have already heard of it!

My mom and dad both loved it, and after trying everything from pork belly to pork neck, I understood why it's been loved for so long. Here's my review of Yuktongnyeong Myeongdong Main Branch, a long-standing old-school restaurant right in the middle of Seoul's Myeongdong (´▽`ʃ♡ƪ)

📍 Yuktongnyeong, close to Exit 5 of Myeongdong Station, is famous enough that there's always a wait ✨

Where is Yuktongnyeong Myeongdong Main Branch, and do you need a reservation?

Yuktongnyeong Myeongdong Main Branch is at 37-2 Myeongdong 8na-gil, Jung-gu, Seoul, really close to Exit 5 of Myeongdong Station! It's open daily 11:30-23:00, last order at 22:15, and there's no parking. Groups are welcome, restrooms are separated by gender, and there's WIFI.

Come out of Exit 5, walk along the Migliore building, turn into the alley by Twosome Place, and it's right there on your left! It's not far from the station and it's also close to Myeongdong Shinsegae Department Store, so it's a great spot to head straight to after shopping if you suddenly think, 'I want pork belly today!'

Since we visited with family that day, I made a reservation ahead just in case... and by the time we finished eating and left, there were quite a few people already waiting outside 👀 (I was pretty surprised, though of course it makes sense given how good it is). Since it's such a famous Myeongdong restaurant, if you're planning to visit on a weekend or during meal times, I'd recommend booking ahead if possible. Naver reservations are available!

One thing that caught my eye from outside the restaurant was the Blue Ribbon Survey sticker! Yuktongnyeong Myeongdong Main Branch has apparently received the Blue Ribbon award for 6 consecutive years since 2021, which got me even more excited before even walking in 🩵 Combined with the fact that it's been on TV multiple times, I was already curious why so many people come here before I even stepped inside! Once inside, the walls were covered with autographs from everyone from lawmakers to celebrities, which made it clear this really is a long-standing famous place!

Three floors, with the craft beer taps on the 2nd floor

Yuktongnyeong isn't just a pork restaurant — it also runs Eunseong Yangkkopchang (grilled beef tripe) together, so you can sit anywhere from the 1st to the 3rd floor, and all of them serve both meat and tripe.

So the place was bigger than I expected, with plenty of seating! We ate on the 1st floor that day, but the 2nd floor had good seating too, and there was something special up there: Yuktongnyeong's own house-made craft beer tap! 🍺 We were curious so we tried it later, and it was surprisingly good — if you're going for the meat, you really should try the craft beer too... phew... more on that later 😎

Yuktongnyeong Myeongdong menu, prices and side dishes

Once we were seated, I looked over the menu first, and Yuktongnyeong has more than just pork belly (samgyeopsal) — there's also five-layer belly, pork neck, pork ribs, sirloin, and raw king ribs, among other meat options!

• Premium Black Pork Six-Layer Belly (schisandra-aged) ₩20,000
• Axe-Bone Pork Belly (schisandra-aged) ₩49,000
• Gwanggaeto Black Pork Belly (schisandra-aged) ₩17,000
• Gwanggaeto Black Pork Neck (schisandra-aged) ₩17,000
• Gwanggaeto Handmade Pork Ribs (schisandra-aged) ₩18,000

Those looked like the main meat options, so we started by ordering 3 servings of schisandra-aged Gwanggaeto black pork belly, then added 1 more serving! (And since I wanted to try pork neck too, added 1 serving of that haha.)

Besides the meat menu, there were also plenty of finishing dishes like yukhoe (Korean beef tartare) and yukhoe bibimbap, kimchi stew and soybean paste stew, naengmyeon (cold noodles), and more! So it's not just a meat-only place — you can pick finishing dishes to your taste too. What really struck me looking at the menu was that it wasn't just a huge list for the sake of it — it felt focused on the quality of the main meat!

Looking at the drinks menu, there was the craft beer 🍺 I mentioned earlier. Of course they had soju and regular beer too, but here they also have IPA and weizen on draft — those were the taps I'd spotted on the 2nd floor. We got curious and ordered one of each haha.

They brought us aprons, water, and wet wipes right away — since grilling over charcoal can splash oil, I put on my apron right away too lol.

After a short wait, the basic side dishes to go with the meat started coming out one by one! The sauces alone were impressive: salt, wasabi, salted shrimp, schisandra syrup, salted hairtail intestines, and ssamjang (thick soybean paste)!

And there was such a wide variety of side dishes too — salad, shredded scallions, pickled cucumber, aged kimchi, garlic scapes, wild garlic (myeongi) greens, and pickled sesame leaves. My mom's palate is a bit picky, so seeing her happily eat through the side dishes made me proud. Personally, when I go to a barbecue restaurant, I care not just about the meat but also how well the side dishes and sauces pair with it — and at Yuktongnyeong, I felt like the sides were built to bring out the flavor of the meat (✿◡‿◡)

Staff grill the black pork belly and neck at your table

Now it was time to actually eat the meat! We started with 3 servings of pork belly, and as soon as it came out, the color of the meat was just so gorgeous 👀 It had good thickness too, and there was another great thing here — the owner or a staff member comes right to your table and grills the meat for you!

Having someone grill the meat for you at a barbecue restaurant is genuinely so convenient lol. We didn't have to worry about timing at all — the owner watched the meat, flipped it, cut it into bite-sized pieces, and grilled it all the way through, so we could just relax and eat.

When I visited, there were quite a few foreign tourists too, and it was nice to see them eating comfortably even though it was probably their first time with unfamiliar food, thanks to the staff grilling for them! Given that Myeongdong draws so many foreign tourists, having this kind of grilling service seemed like it would make things much easier for everyone.

The charcoal-grilled pork belly had a good thickness but was cooked through perfectly inside too, ㅠㅠ (looking at the photos again is making me drool...)

The moment I took a bite, the juices burst out and the deep, meaty flavor came through strongly — it was genuinely jaw-dropping delicious 🥹 From the very first bite, you could really taste the quality of the meat itself, and I understood why it's been famous for so long as one of Seoul's top 3 pork belly restaurants on Wednesday Food Talk ㅠㅠㅠ

And there's a combination you absolutely have to try at Yuktongnyeong — schisandra syrup with pork belly! At first I honestly thought, 'Schisandra syrup with meat?' but once I actually tried it, it went surprisingly well together!!!! The sweetness of the schisandra syrup brought out the meat's savory aroma even more (●'◡'●)

What do Yuktongnyeong's house IPA and weizen taste like?

We also tried Yuktongnyeong's craft beer, which my dad and fiancé especially loved! We ordered one IPA and one weizen. The IPA was less bitter than expected and had a light feel, making it easy to drink alongside the meat. The weizen had a subtle banana aroma — a proper wheat weizen, which I loved. Everyone kept saying, 'The beer here is actually really good?' lol, so if I come back, I'll definitely order the craft beer again!

Why the pork neck didn't turn out dry

We also ordered more pork belly and pork neck. Honestly, I'm not a huge fan of pork neck — it's a leaner cut, and if it's overcooked, it can feel dry to me ㅠㅠ But Yuktongnyeong's pork neck was genuinely much better than I expected. Maybe because the owner grilled it instead of me, even with more lean meat, it wasn't dry at all — it was juicy!!!

The juices came through more richly than expected when I chewed it, and I thought, 'Huh? The pork neck is actually good?' lol. Whether you already love pork neck or, like me, don't usually go for it, this is worth trying — it was actually a great menu item for tasting the quality of the meat itself.

Finishing with tojang jjigae (soybean paste stew)

And the dish that completely won my mom's heart — the soybean paste stew (toenjang jjigae)!!! Honestly, this is a flavor any Korean would love. Even though we were already quite full from all the meat, once the stew arrived, we found ourselves reaching for rice again — pure magic ㅠ. There was a generous amount of beef inside, and personally, I especially loved the tofu and zucchini.

The zucchini especially went so well with the soybean paste broth — I mashed it a little into the broth and ate it with rice, and it was genuinely delicious!!! This is the kind of dish I'd want to order again along with the meat next time I visit ㅠ. If you come here, be sure to try the soybean paste stew too!! It's delicious from the very first spoonful, so you'll love it ㅠㅠ

Is Yuktongnyeong Myeongdong Main Branch worth it for a family dinner?

• The meat quality is insane 💛💛💛
• Staff grill everything for you, so convenient!
• Don't skip the finishing soybean paste stew — it's genuinely, properly delicious.
• A great Myeongdong spot for a family meal with parents.
• A real find in Myeongdong that I want to revisit ㅠㅠㅠ

We visited with family that day, and everyone said they were happily full and satisfied haha. Seeing my mom and dad enjoy the meal so much made me really proud. Having eaten there myself, I understood why it's a long-standing, beloved old-school restaurant in Myeongdong that's been featured on TV multiple times. The staff grilling everything for us made it so convenient, the meat's own flavor was excellent, and the overall combination of side dishes and the soybean paste stew was great.

If you're looking for a good pork belly or five-layer belly restaurant in Myeongdong, which has an overwhelming number of restaurants, Yuktongnyeong — known as one of Seoul's top 3 pork belly spots — is worth a visit. It's great for a hearty meal with family, and also a good stop after department store shopping or sightseeing in Myeongdong. Saved to my list of Myeongdong restaurants to go back to next time I'm there ❤️🧡💜