Mapo Seoul Korean BBQ with scallion kimchi: Mapo Gui Madang

The day I craved a hearty pork belly dinner after work

After work, I wanted a properly filling pork belly dinner, so I went to Mapo Gui Madang Seogyo Direct Branch (마포구이마당 서교직영점). There are days when getting off work makes you crave a real meal like meat, you know? ㅜㅜ While looking for somewhere to have dinner between Hapjeong and Hongdae, I ended up at this pork belly specialist.

Mapo Gui Madang Seogyo Direct Branch location and hours

Address | 49 World Cup buk-ro, Mapo-gu, Seoul, South Korea Hours | Daily 16:00–22:30

This place is known for pairing Jeolla-style scallion kimchi with pork belly, and apparently it is a pork belly specialist backed by 30 years of know-how. The introduction calling it one of Korea's three top scallion-kimchi spots especially caught my eye. Pork belly is pork belly, of course, but I got really curious about meat eaten with scallion kimchi.

Frozen and thick-cut pork belly options

The prices felt relatively easy on the wallet, so it was a nice place to come for meat after work.

• Frozen pork belly (old-style pork belly), 200g ₩9,900
• Thick-cut pork belly, 200g ₩13,900

The frozen pork belly is easy to enjoy in an old-style pork belly format, but we wanted something thicker that day, so we ordered the thick-cut pork belly.

Jeolla scallion kimchi with pork belly

The one thing you cannot leave out here is, of course, the scallion kimchi. Gui Madang says its chef prepares everything in-house, including the Jeolla scallion kimchi, and the scallion kimchi served with pork belly is said to be one of the restaurant's signature charms.

If you keep eating pork belly on its own, it can get a little rich, but the pungent, refreshing flavor unique to scallion kimchi makes it so much more delicious. The pairing of fatty pork belly and kimchi is one that is hard to go wrong with, whenever you eat it.

Our generous dinner order for two

• 3 servings (600g) thick-cut pork belly
• Jjagyechi
• Anchovy kalguksu
• Rice
• 1 bottle of Chamisul

The two of us visited, and rather than eating only pork belly, we decided to make it a generous dinner with side dishes too.

Charcoal-seared pork on a natural-stone grill

One of Gui Madang's features is that the meat does not go straight onto the grill. It is first seared over Chiaksan charcoal, then finished on a natural-stone grill at the table. Since it comes partly cooked, it felt like the grilling time was a little shorter, and we could finish cooking it to an ideal eating state at the table.

You can order the thick-cut pork belly in 200g portions, and we ordered three servings for a total of 600g. It was cut thick, so it definitely felt different from typical thin frozen pork belly. It suited a day when we wanted to enjoy the meat's texture and juices themselves.

Jjagyechi and anchovy kalguksu on the side

Pork belly alone felt a little incomplete, so we chose side dishes too. First, jjagyechi was a great dish to round things off after eating meat. It combines black bean noodles with egg and cheese, so it is familiar but has that flavor that keeps you reaching back for more. Having it alongside the meat added a salty, savory note, and it worked well as part of the meal too.

Just watching the meat sizzle on the natural-stone grill made the fatigue built up after work feel as though it was easing a little. Mapo Gui Madang Seogyo Direct Branch says it serves only fresh, quality pork raised on corn, which was also useful to keep in mind when choosing the meat. It seems like a comfortable place to come for pork belly, with its focus on keeping prices low and quality high :)

After browning the meat, it was great with scallion kimchi or with rice for a filling meal. I think anyone who likes Jeolla-style scallion kimchi would especially enjoy this pairing. Adding bowls of rice made it a quite substantial dinner for two. A bottle of Chamisul went nicely with it too.

We also ordered anchovy kalguksu (knife-cut noodle soup). I liked that we could have kalguksu at a restaurant centered on meat. Its clean, warm anchovy broth was good for refreshing the palate between bites, and it paired nicely with both the rice and meat.

A Seogyo-dong meat restaurant for pork belly after work

Mapo Gui Madang Seogyo Direct Branch lets you choose from affordable frozen pork belly to thick-cut pork belly, so it is easy to pick according to your preference. You could order thick-cut pork belly as we did, or visit when you want a lighter old-style pork belly meal.

Above all, the pork belly and scallion-kimchi pairing is this place's biggest feature, giving it a slightly different charm from an ordinary meat restaurant. Cooking the pre-seared meat on a natural-stone grill was fun too, and ordering jjagyechi and anchovy kalguksu gave us a nice variety for dinner.

If you are looking for somewhere for pork belly after work around Hongdae or Seogyo-dong, it is worth visiting at least once. In particular, if you like good-value pork belly with scallion kimchi, you might want to choose Gui Madang's signature combination. We had a very satisfying meal that day with 600g of thick-cut pork belly plus side dishes. It was an evening that properly satisfied a craving for meat.