Weekend wait and hangjeongsal at a Jongno pork belly spot: Cham

Where is Cham Dwaejitgan Jongno Main Branch, and where can you park?

A Jongno pork belly spot worth knowing: Cham Dwaejitgan Jongno Main Branch. 📍 Location 1 Donhwamun-ro 5-ga-gil, Jongno-gu, Seoul, 1st floor Piccadilly CGV, Unit 1-89 ⏰ Hours Daily 12:00 - 23:00 🚘 Parking No on-site parking Recommended parking GS Grand Seoul (free parking with Hyundai Card Platinum)

How long is the weekend wait, and what side dishes come first?

A happy report from eating pork at Cham Dwaejitgan Jongno Main Branch, a Jongno pork belly spot! Feat. the super-kind owner!

We visited on a weekend so there was a bit of a wait — put our name down, and by the time our table was ready everything was already set up...! Right from the start I loved it. This Jongno pork belly spot came with mukeunji (aged kimchi), minari (water celery), perilla leaves, salad, scallion salad and pickled garlic scapes, all ready to grill. Loved that there were several dipping sauces too!

What two people ordered, and what it cost

Our couple can't eat as much as our appetite wants, so we kept it modest!

• Boseong black pork samgyeopsal ₩16,000
• Boseong black pork hangjeongsal ₩19,000
• Jirisan kudzu bibim naengmyeon (dessert) ₩7,000
• Doenjang jjigae (dessert) ₩6,000

Boseong black pork samgyeopsal ₩16,000, Boseong black pork hangjeongsal ₩19,000. I've been to a lot of pork belly spots lately, and I liked that the portions felt generous for two people here. Ordering meat also comes with grilling vegetables — gwariggochu (shishito-style peppers), king oyster mushrooms and sliced potato — and these were really delicious too (everything's good grilled, haha).

The owner grills every cut from start to finish

I didn't expect the meat to be grilled for us at this Jongno pork belly spot, but the owner grilled everything start to finish, which made it even better. We were so hungry we didn't have the energy to grill it ourselves, haha.

The owner sears both sides to seal in the juices, and he's kind about it in a gruff-but-warm way that made it even better. You can tell just by looking how good the meat quality is, right?

Jirisan kudzu bibim naengmyeon: noodles with a difference

While the owner was carefully grilling the meat, we were hungry so we dug into the naengmyeon (cold noodles) that came out first — and it was the best naengmyeon I've had at any Korean BBQ place. This Jongno pork belly spot's naengmyeon is Jirisan kudzu bibim naengmyeon, and maybe that's why the noodle quality is on a totally different level.

I'm not usually into bibim naengmyeon, but I went in for just a taste and ended up stealing half of it — seriously recommend. The noodles really are on another level.

Doenjang jjigae and rice to finish the meal

I'm a hardcore doenjang jjigae person, so I ordered a bowl of rice and dug in — the stew was also incredibly, incredibly good. Honestly everything at Cham Dwaejitgan Jongno Main Branch is delicious. It's right in the middle of a busy commercial district so I didn't expect much, but the meat quality and dessert menu were both great, and I was kind of moved.

While we filled up on kudzu naengmyeon and doenjang jjigae, staff or the owner kept kindly grilling the rest of the meat for us~

Once it's beautifully golden like this, it's finally time to eat~ Apparently hangjeongsal gets nuttier the longer you grill it, as long as it doesn't burn. So the owner moved the samgyeopsal aside first and let us keep grilling the hangjeongsal a bit more.

Grilled kimchi, minari and refills from the self-serve bar

It's delicious eaten alongside the naengmyeon too... eating it with kimchi, bean sprouts and grilled minari is pure bliss. I already love grilled kimchi, so being able to eat as much of it as I wanted at this Jongno pork belly spot made me even happier. If you run low on sides, you can just grab more from the self-serve bar!

Best combinations and the final verdict

The meat quality is so good it would taste great dipped in just salt. The tip combo they suggest for enjoying samgyeopsal at Cham Dwaejitgan Jongno Main Branch — grilled potato + meat + garlic scapes + mushroom wasabi — is genuinely a work of art. The owner was kind, the meat was delicious, and it was such a satisfying meal — a Jongno spot I'd fully recommend. Highly recommend Cham Dwaejitgan Jongno Main Branch, a top Jongno pork belly spot.