Sunday dinner Korean BBQ for three in Nonhyeon, Seoul: Daepae Market

Came up to Seoul for the weekend after a while and swung by Gangnam — here's my review of Daepae Market, the already-famous 24-hour Korean BBQ spot near Nonhyeon known for its thin-sliced pork belly, Daepae Market Gangnam Nonhyeon Branch.

Where is Daepae Market Gangnam Nonhyeon, and what is it like?

Daepae Market Gangnam Nonhyeon Branch is a 24-hour thin-sliced pork belly restaurant tucked in an alley near Sinnonhyeon Station. We made a reservation and went in the early evening :) Since it's near Sinnonhyeon Station, there seemed to be a cluster of good restaurants around.

We picked Daepae Market for a light meal! The place itself is huge so it was easy to find. Located inside an alley, this is the Gangnam 24-hour Korean BBQ, the Nonhyeon pork belly restaurant everyone talks about — Daepae Market Gangnam Nonhyeon Branch.

What is on the menu at Daepae Market?

There were so many thin-sliced options. Pork jowl-neck, pork belly, pork shoulder, thin-sliced duck, thin-sliced beef brisket, even thin-sliced beef chuck flap.

Seating and atmosphere at Daepae Market Nonhyeon

At Daepae Market Gangnam Nonhyeon Branch you just sit wherever's comfortable — there are sofa seats along the wall and tables in the hall. The chairs have lids underneath that open up so you can store your bag or belongings without them absorbing the meat smell. That's a really thoughtful touch haha.

We got shown to our seats and sat down. Even on a slightly awkward Sunday evening timeslot, there were quite a lot of customers haha. Lots of gatherings and families, but it also looked like a great spot for office worker dinners on weekdays. The tables are spaced well apart and there's a restroom inside the restaurant too.

Every table has salt, pepper, and sesame oil, so it's easy to season or dip the meat as you cook it haha. Everything was clean and well maintained.

Why add the 2,000 won self-serve bar?

Daepae Market's self-serve bar is an extra ₩2,000 per person and is set up on both sides of the restaurant. There's no option for it on the table kiosk — it's charged separately when you leave. Since there are no basic side dishes included, you absolutely have to add the self-serve bar haha.

The quality of the self-serve bar totally justifies the ₩2,000 per person. Everything from various wrap vegetables to corn kernels, pickled radish, peppers, shredded green onion, pickled onion, and grillable bean sprouts, bracken fern, kimchi, and enoki mushrooms. The variety of wraps was great too hahaha. There are bowls next to it so you can just scoop what you want.

How to grill thin-sliced pork properly

A tip for grilling the meat well! It says to grill on low heat, but we grilled on high and the meat cooked in almost 2 seconds and turned into bacon — oops, so we turned the heat down and started again lol. Thin-sliced meat really does cook fast.

Order for three: 300g flower pork belly + 300g Jeju Handon belly

Here's what we ordered. All the meat is priced per 100g and the minimum order is 3 servings, so as a party of three we ordered flower pork belly 300g and Jeju heritage pork (Jeju Handon) thin-sliced pork belly 300g :) You can also request the thickness of the meat when ordering.

The meat came out right away. Even though it's frozen, the quality looked great. The fat-to-lean ratio also looked just right. What came out totaled 600g.

That's the bacon-ified meat from our first cooking mistake haha. Still, they gave us a separate plate to set the cooked meat on, so it was fine to keep chatting while eating. We decided to just take it slow and grill carefully after that.

We added bracken fern and bean sprouts too, and the enoki mushrooms grilled in the meat fat were genuinely delicious haha. I think we grilled extra enoki a few more times just by itself. There's also a spot for the fat to drain off, so it wasn't too greasy.

There were so many side dishes that we could mix and match without getting sick of anything. The vegetables were super fresh and the meat itself had no off smell and tasted great.

The biggest upside of thin-sliced meat is that it cooks fast so you can eat right away. That makes it a great spot to come to with friends.

Finishing with K-dessert self-cooked fried rice

Last but not least, the K-dessert you absolutely have to order. It's self-cooked fried rice, so you cook it yourself, and it comes with carrot, gochujang, seaweed, and even egg already mixed in. We were already full so we only ordered one serving, but the portion was still pretty big. We chopped up the bracken fern and other side dishes, mixed it all with the pork fat, and fried it up thoroughly.

Adding the sesame oil from the table is the finishing touch. We also chopped up the leftover meat and fried it in together. Even after eating meat until full, dessert stomach is separate, so it kept going down haha.

There are also plenty of other side menu items, and overall the value for money is great starting with the meat itself. I don't think this price range is easy to find in Gangnam.

The in-house slicing room and outdoor tent seats

On our way out I noticed an in-house slicing room where they slice the meat right there on the spot. It's not pre-sliced and frozen ahead of time — they slice it fresh as orders come in, which is why the meat quality was so good haha.

By the time we were leaving, they had set up all the outdoor tent tables, so the crowd had grown even bigger haha. Next time I want to come a bit later and try sitting out there haha.

Looks like a lot of celebrities come here too — there were so many autographs hahaha. If you're worried about the meat smell lingering, there's Febreze up front. If you're looking for a good Nonhyeon Korean BBQ restaurant, I'd recommend Daepae Market :) I'd definitely come back.