Seoul Korean BBQ with fermented hairtail dip in Seongbuk: Jangheungjip

Today I visited Jangheungjip, a restaurant famous for naengsam (frozen pork belly) near Seongshin Women's University. Naengsam is great when you're hungry since it grills up fast. Shall we take a look together?

Location and hours of Jangheungjip Seongshin Women's University branch

Jangheungjip, a Seongshin Women's University restaurant famous for appearing on Running Man, sits right in the middle of the university's food alley, so it was really easy to find. It's about a 5-minute walk from Seongshin Women's University station on subway line 4.

• Address: 54 Dongsomun-ro 22-gil, Seongbuk-gu, Seoul, South Korea, 1st floor
• Hours: Daily 16:20 – 02:00 next day (last order 01:20)
• Open year-round (call the store for details)
• Amenities: Group dining, reservations, Wi-Fi, high chairs, easy payment

A retro restaurant atmosphere

Jangheungjip has a retro atmosphere, with the ceiling keeping its old rafters for an old-fashioned touch, and a large painting on the wall recreating an old-time street. It all felt so nostalgic it made me smile, and the space was cozy.

How many people can the mixed medium platter feed?

The menu was fairly simple, and we ordered the budget-friendly mixed medium platter. It's said to serve 2-3 people, but the portion was quite large, so even three people with smaller appetites could probably manage. There are also lots of side dishes, so after the meat I'd recommend definitely ordering the cold noodles and fried rice too.

The restroom was tucked neatly inside the restaurant, so it was easy to use.

There were about 10 tables in total, enough space for around 40 people. The tables were spaced generously apart in the wide space, so it never felt cramped. And most importantly, with the weather being so hot these days, the air conditioning was cold enough to feel it the moment you walked in. Thanks to that, I didn't feel hot at all while grilling the meat, which was really great.

The basic table setting

So many side dishes came out that my eyes went wide. What especially caught my eye was the sausage pancake. It even came coated in egg, more than enough to whet the appetite as an appetizer.

The minari (water dropwort), aged kimchi, and bracken fern that came with the meal were truly delicious once grilled on the pan and soaked in the pork belly fat.

How the naengsam and chadolbagi tasted

Wow, look at the color of the generously piled meat! The color was really beautiful, and you could clearly see the meat quality was good. The chadolbagi (beef brisket) looked fresh at a glance, with vivid colors in both the fat and lean parts that made me gasp.

They set a stone plate on the burner with foil underneath, so there was no worry about sticking. The slightly tilted grill let the fat drain down, and that fat was used to stir-fry the vegetables — a very efficient system, I thought.

We started by quickly grilling the chadolbagi first. A combination of naengsam and chadolbagi might seem like it wouldn't go together since it's pork and beef, but they shared a common thread in being frozen meats quickly grilled.

Chadolbagi really tastes best grilled with scallion shreds! Eating the salty scallion shreds together with the fatty chadolbagi struck the perfect balance, and it was really great.

I also liked that the savory doenjang jjigae (soybean paste stew) was loaded with chadolbagi, and it was full of tofu and zucchini too, making it feel like a premium stew.

After finishing the chadolbagi, we grilled naengsam and pork neck this time. Watching it sizzle on the grill looked so delicious.

Now, we wrapped up a big bite with minari and garlic on top. As expected, the fragrant minari cut right through the pork belly's richness and added nutrition too, making it a really great match with the pork belly.

Still, nothing beats wrapping it in lettuce. We added bracken fern too, and it was so soft it was a fantastic match with the pork belly.

The galchisokjeot ordered separately

I tried the galchisokjeot (fermented hairtail guts), which can be ordered separately, and you really should try ordering this! I know some people can't eat it, but I enjoyed it so much. They gave us a generous amount so we had some leftover, and it tasted good enough that I wanted to take it home. My number one recommendation is the galchisokjeot.

Finishing with fried rice and kimchi noodle soup

At the end, fried rice is a must! They stir-fried it with minari, so the aroma was wonderful, and finely chopping up the leftover pork belly to mix in made it the best drinking snack. They even topped it with a soft-boiled fried egg — I don't know how they read my mind so well. We all know how delicious it is to pop that fried egg yolk into the fried rice, right?

The grand finale was a clean finish with kimchi noodle soup. The cool dongchimi (water kimchi) broth and kimchi completely cleared the richness from all the meat, and the properly boiled noodles and egg made my stomach feel refreshed down to the core.

Wrapping up

Wrapping up

Jangheungjip near Seongshin Women's University kept the air conditioning running cold even on such a hot day, so there was no issue at all with grilling meat. In weather this hot these days, chadolbagi and naengsam that grill up fast really seem like the best choice. If you're craving delicious meat and the weather is hot, I highly recommend Jangheungjip, a Seongshin Women's University pork belly restaurant!