Cheongju single-menu grill house, 200g pork ₩14,000: Ttukbangjip

Ever since I was a kid, I loved tagging along with my parents to the five-day markets. Looking around the market stalls was fun, but honestly, buying and eating snacks along the way was the bigger draw for me haha.

There's something so fun about picking up little street snacks one by one, isn't there?

Among all of them, there was one thing I always had to get — gochujang-glazed pork grilled over charcoal briquettes.

Grilled over coal, it had that smoky char mixed with the gochujang (red chili paste) seasoning, a flavor I loved since I was little.

So recently I got a serious craving for it and went looking around, which is how I found Ttukbangjip.

I heard they served charcoal-grilled gochujang pork and really wanted to go, but they're only open for four hours a day, from 11am to 3pm.

The timing never worked out for a while, but this time my husband and I finally lined things up and made it there.

Where is Ttukbangjip in Cheongju, and where do you park?

Ttukbangjip is located in Sajik-dong, Cheongju, at 1F, 435 Musimseo-ro, Seowon-gu, Cheongju-si, Chungcheongbuk-do, South Korea. It's right by Musimcheon Stream, so it wasn't hard to find.

We parked right in front since there was a parking space by the restaurant.

Quite a lot of people seemed to park along the road following the stream and walk over for their meal.

Ttukbangjip hours and what noon on a weekday looks like inside

Ttukbangjip is open Tuesday through Sunday, 11:00 to 15:00, with last order at 14:00. Since they're only open four hours a day, timing your visit is the key challenge.

We visited around noon on a weekday, and there were already quite a few people eating.

I think there were about 10 tables total, and more than two-thirds were occupied.

Customers kept streaming in the whole time we were eating.

There were a lot of people who looked like they'd come for lunch from work, plus families and what seemed like group gatherings too.

The Ttukbangjip menu: charcoal gochujang pork and nothing else

Ttukbangjip has a single menu item. It's charcoal-grilled gochujang pork, 200g for ₩14,000, and the meal add-ons are kimchi mari guksu (cold kimchi noodle soup) and a bowl of rice.

Since there's only one menu item, there's no need to agonize over what to order, and it made me even more excited — this place is clearly betting everything on flavor.

Outside, the owner was grilling the meat over real charcoal, wearing what looked like a gas mask, and watching that made me think 'this looks delicious' while also thinking 'the owner must be so hot right now...'

I think I understood a little better why they only operate four hours a day.

How the charcoal gochujang pork and the cheonggukjang taste

While we were chatting like that, the food arrived, and it was even better than I'd expected.

Just the look of it, grilled over charcoal, was exactly what I'd been picturing.

The charcoal smokiness really came through, and the gochujang seasoning wasn't too intense, pairing really well with the meat.

And just as memorable as the meat was the cheonggukjang (fermented soybean stew).

It had exactly that authentic cheonggukjang flavor! Savory and deep, and it went really well eaten alongside the meat.

Verdict: worth a return visit to Ttukbangjip if you can make the hours

I went looking for this place because it reminded me of the charcoal gochujang pork I used to eat at five-day markets as a kid, and eating it again after so long brought back those memories in a way that felt genuinely nostalgic.

Grilled directly over charcoal, the smoky flavor really came through, and the gochujang seasoning paired well with the meat — I really enjoyed it.

I especially loved the cheonggukjang that came with it. It had that truly authentic(?) savory cheonggukjang flavor, and it went great with the meat.

And the water wasn't just plain water — I think it was something like barley tea, and that was also really refreshing and delicious.

It's a bit of a shame that the short business hours make it hard to time your visit, but if you're someone who loves charcoal-grilled gochujang pork like me, it's worth checking out at least once.

This was our first visit, and it was even more delicious than I expected, so I left satisfied.

The short hours make timing tricky, but I'm definitely going back!