Gajeong-dong BBQ for light eaters: cheese scallops at Euljiro Yeontan

A Gajeong-dong favorite where you can enjoy pork belly, grilled scallops, and pork skin all in one sitting: Euljiro Yeontan Gui Luone City Branch.

Euljiro Yeontan Gui Luone City Branch: opening hours and what the place looks like

The exterior has a strong old-school vibe. The peeling stickers on the door and the worn paint on the handle really nail the retro look. Which interior office designed this, I wonder haha.

Hours: 4:00 PM – 5:00 AM next day / Last order 4:00 AM / No closed days

Where to park in the Gajeong-dong food alley

The alley itself is a bit of a maze to drive into since it's packed with restaurants, but parking is easy thanks to the underground lot in the building.

B1 is always full, so I'd recommend parking on B2. Personally, driving into the food alley is a real pain, but walking doesn't feel like an option either. Reason: ever since I quit smoking, other people's street cigarette smoke smells oddly amazing to me... I almost asked a stranger to share one, haha.

Why a couple who don't drink chose Euljiro Yeontan Gui

My household doesn't drink, so we don't usually go to places with such a strong drinking-spot vibe. But once I told my wife we could have pork belly and grilled scallops together, her eyes lit up and she followed me right out the door.

Grilling pork belly and scallops on the same fire? Ah, I can't resist that.

Here comes the old-school charcoal fire. Anyone born in the early '90s remember eating meat grilled over charcoal as a kid? Controlling the charcoal heat was a bit of a struggle, but that faint charred taste was a nostalgic treat.

Ordering pork by 100g: the right size for light eaters

What I loved about this Gajeong-dong pork restaurant, Euljiro Yeontan Gui Luone City Branch: I'm naturally a light eater who gets uncomfortable if I overeat, but I also want to try a bit of everything. This place lets you order pork belly, jowl, and other cuts by the 100g.

If you order pork belly, jowl, and skin at 2 servings / 1 serving / 1 serving (usually one serving is 150–200g), the two of us can't finish it all. But at Euljiro Yeontan Gui Luone City Branch, you can order by 100g, so light eaters can still taste plenty without it feeling short.

Side dishes and the self-bar at Euljiro Yeontan Gui

The basic side dishes. Since they're meant to go with the meat, the overall seasoning and saltiness are on the strong side.

If you run out, you can refill as much as you want at the self-bar. The self-bar also has soybean powder to eat with the pork skin.

Canned pineapple at the self-bar — loved this so, so, so much.

The owner decided to sell oysters and steamed dishes just because they wanted to eat them themselves, haha!! We were curious about the raw oysters and steamed dishes, thinking we'd order them if we still had room after the meat, but our small stomachs gave out quickly zzz.

A 12,900 won plate of scallops and how to grill them with cheese

One plate of scallops (12,900 won). I think we paid extra for cheese topping, though my memory's a bit fuzzy on that... Anyway, cheese topping is a paid extra, but I remember it not being expensive. I looked up Euljiro Yeontan Gui online and couldn't find the cheese topping price listed anywhere, which was a bit disappointing.

And that side of chili-garlic paste that comes with it — that's really the killer move here. Put the chili-garlic paste on the scallop first, spread cheese thickly on top, and grill it over the fire.

First we grilled the meat and mushrooms over the charcoal. Ordering by 100g definitely makes the portions look small (but it's just right for light eaters).

For those who eat a lot and want variety in generous amounts, we recommend the one-geun pork platter — belly, neck, back meat, jowl, skirt, skin, all together for 38,000 won.

Once the meat is slightly cooked, make some room on the grill and load the scallops up with cheese to place over the fire.

We're also trying to conceive these days, and eating anything raw carelessly could be a real problem, so I made sure to grill the scallops extra well-done. Eating meat alongside cheesy grilled scallops feels like quite the privilege, honestly.

Round one pork belly, round two scallops, round three pork skin

Round one, we finished off the pork belly and jowl. Round two, popping the cheese-loaded scallops into our mouths. It might scald the roof of your mouth, but the feeling is amazing. If we were drinkers, we'd probably have finished two bottles of soju each sitting right here, we're done for (though we could never actually eat/drink like that). My wife and I both went a little wild.

Round three: dipping pork skin generously into soybean powder.

Is Euljiro Yeontan Gui worth a visit?

• Affordable prices and good meat quality
• Grilled scallops and steamed oysters were also clearly reasonably priced
• Plenty of intense, dopamine-triggering side dishes that pair well with drinking, and they taste good too
• The interior isn't huge but felt spacious enough, and ventilation is excellent — no smoky feeling at all
• The basic side dishes are on the salty side
• Highly recommended for those who enjoy drinking and drink a lot