Munjeong-dong pork belly with butter fried rice: Minari Naengsam

Today I visited Minari Naengsam!

It's located in Munjeong-dong, right in the Munjeong legal district area, so it's convenient for office workers heading out for dinner after work. Sitting there eating, I noticed a lot of people in their 40s and 50s — the frozen pork belly and soju combo looked really good on them.

Where is Minari Naengsam, and what are its hours?

Minari Naengsam / 114 Beopwon-ro, Building C, Units 127-128, Songpa-gu, Seoul / 15:00 - 24:00 / Last order 23:00 / Closed Sundays

It's just 127 meters from Exit 4 of Munjeong Station. I thought it might be hard to find with all the shops around, but once I turned on directions, it popped right up. Not hard to find at all!

How many people fit? Group dinner capacity at Minari Naengsam

Inside Minari Naengsam there are about 9-10 tables of 4, so it looks like it can hold up to around 40 people.

Menu and prices at Minari Naengsam: what we ordered

The menu is simple.

They also serve fresh pork belly, and even have hangjeongsal (pork neck) and chadolbaegi (brisket). Since the name is literally 'Minari Naengsam,' I came here wanting to eat frozen pork belly, so I ordered two servings of that plus one serving of fresh pork belly.

• Flower-cut frozen pork belly, 1 serving - ₩14,900
• Fresh pork belly, 1 serving - ₩15,900

Side dishes: gat kimchi, green onion kimchi and minari

The basic side dishes at Minari Naengsam are green onion kimchi and gat kimchi (mustard leaf kimchi), plus napa cabbage kimchi and minari (water dropwort) set out for grilling. They also bring out a mix of perilla seed powder and vinegared red pepper paste for dipping, saying it's delicious that way — and it really was!

Above all, the gat kimchi here was seriously good, haha.

They have glass-bottle Coca-Cola here!! But it's not zero-sugar, so I ordered a Coke Zero instead. I do have a weakness for glass bottles, haha, but gotta eat the meat properly — so zero-sugar drink it is!

Is three servings of pork belly enough for two people?

Here's the portion for two servings of flower-cut frozen pork belly and one serving of fresh pork belly. It felt slightly on the small side for two people. Since it's frozen pork belly, if two people are visiting I'd actually recommend three servings of frozen pork belly plus one of fresh, haha.

What makes flower-cut frozen pork belly different?

The good thing about frozen pork belly is that it cooks really fast. The moment you put it on the grill it sizzles right up, cooked on both sides almost instantly. Unlike other places, this one uses a 'flower-cut' style rolled into round shapes, which felt more tender and had bigger, chunkier pieces — I liked that.

And the scallion seasoning here is really tasty, haha. Good scallion salad is surprisingly hard to find, but this one has a savory depth that's different from other places, with just the right seasoning and flavor! It didn't taste like they just tossed it with vinegared red pepper paste alone.

Unlimited minari refills at no extra charge

Side dishes like minari and napa cabbage kimchi come out immediately when you ask, so you can eat as much minari as you want, all at once if you like, haha!

The heat on the grill is really strong, which is great. While waiting for the fresh pork belly to cook, I tried wrapping some flower-cut pork belly with minari — even though it's frozen pork belly, it was juicy with plenty of that pork aroma coming through, not tough at all, and delicious.

They also bring cheongyang chili peppers right away when you ask. This wrap was so good. Imagine how delicious it is when you stuff a big bite into a wrap like this!

Even for a single bite, I always ate it together with minari. Minari with pork belly has been trending for a while now, and the fragrant minari really cuts through any gamey smell the pork belly might have, while also improving the texture.

But at a lot of places that do minari with pork belly, you get charged every time you ask for more minari. At Minari Naengsam, you can enjoy as much minari as you want without worrying about extra charges — that was great. If you're having a group dinner here, anyone who loves minari can eat their fill without feeling awkward about it, haha.

Doesn't the meat quality look great and delicious?

Ending with butter fried rice and a runny fried egg

To finish, of course — fried rice! The fried rice is mixed at the back and comes out ready, but they melt butter on the grill and fry the rice on top of that. It gives the fried rice a softer, richer flavor.

Another small but really nice touch was the fried egg on top, haha! It comes out soft-yolk style. I'm more of a well-done egg person, so I cooked mine a bit more on the grill, but if you love a soft yolk, popping it and mixing it into the rice would be really delicious too.

I added some of the gat kimchi I loved on top and ate it with the fried rice and fried egg together — it was so good, haha. After the meat and then the fried rice, I ended up perfectly full. The owner and staff were all so friendly, which was another plus!

Highly recommend if you're near Munjeong Station craving good frozen pork belly!