Jongno grilled hanwoo set with staff grilling: Jonggak-ap Nosang

I wanted to eat meat with my husband so we went to Jonggak-ap Nosang Gongyeong Juchajang, a well-known spot in Jongno, Seoul. The 1++ hanwoo and pork were both excellent, and the space is spacious and upscale enough to make it a great Jongno spot for a company dinner too.

Location — 5th floor, no sign visible

I definitely arrived at Jonggak-ap Nosang Gongyeong Juchajang, but I couldn't see a sign. It's on the 5th floor of the building, so no sign shows from street level. If you see this entrance, just head up to the 5th floor.

Taking the elevator up to the 5th floor, this entrance appeared. It felt like walking into some kind of new space.

Since it's open from lunchtime, it's a good Jongno BBQ spot to keep in mind for a lunch company dinner — worth remembering.

Seating good for company dinners — private thanks to partitions

They make good use of partitions, so even though it's an open space, you can eat privately — a great Jongno spot for that.

The tables are arranged in a straight row, which makes it excellent for a Jongno company dinner. The chairs themselves also act as a kind of partition, giving a sense of separated space.

This is a Jongno spot that sticks to only 1++ hanwoo and domestic chilled sow pork. And they age the meat deliciously using Jonggak-ap Nosang Gongyeong Juchajang's own know-how. It's a place where you can eat delicious aged hanwoo, pork belly, and more.

Charcoal grilling service and side dishes

They grilled the 1++ hanwoo over live charcoal. A staff member grilled it for us directly, so we could eat comfortably. When the meat quality is good, having someone skilled do the grilling for you really is a plus.

The basic side dishes weren't the type you'd eat with rice, but ones that go well with meat. The baek-kimchi (white kimchi) and pickled onions were good, and the garlic sauce had an addictive charm. No spiciness or sharpness, just delicious and mild. It went really well with the meat.

As a sesame oil lover, this caught my radar. This scallion salad (pajeori) is clearly made with high-quality domestic sesame oil. The nuttiness was so intense that I kept eating it even before the meat arrived.

Recommended set ₩99,000 — hanwoo 150g + pork neck 200g + pork belly 150g

Recommended set _ ₩99,000 (150g today's hanwoo + 200g pork neck + 150g five-layer pork belly). They serve delicious aged meat. You can tell right away — it's different from grilling meat at home. This was also the first BBQ place I've been to that grills corn.

A tasty aged meat spot like this is well worth visiting for a Jongno company dinner. The meat is genuinely delicious enough to make you want to drink and dine more.

Don't skip the maeljeot

They first boiled up some maeljeot (fermented sand lance sauce), and please don't skip this — really try it. It has a pungent yet deeply savory flavor. It's almost like the taste of shrimp innards, that kind of umami — genuinely rice-stealing good.

1++ hanwoo taste — melts away with no gamey smell

They grilled the 1++ hanwoo first.

It was genuinely, seriously delicious. My husband and I are the type who just won't eat beef if it's not good. If beef tastes off, it's really off. But here, the hanwoo melted in the mouth and had absolutely no gamey smell. I'm guessing it might have been chaekkeut deungsim (sirloin), but I didn't ask, so I don't know for sure haha.

It's delicious with a bit of garlic sauce and ssamjang on top. The garlic sauce wasn't overpowering, so it didn't get in the way of the hanwoo's flavor. It was so good that my husband and I kept saying "wow..." with every bite.

Wow... wow...

The texture was firm yet melted away at the same time. My husband usually prefers well-done, but the person grilling for us cooked it a bit more medium. Still, he said the hanwoo melting away was so delicious that he liked the doneness too.

Just this much~ ugh, it was so good I want to eat it again.

Kkakbokkeum-bap ₩6,000, half-and-half naengmyeon ₩7,000

Kkakbokkeum-bap (radish kimchi fried rice) _ ₩6,000. We wanted a hearty meal, so we ordered fried rice too. No other meat or spam in it, just kkakdugi (cubed radish kimchi). Every bite had finely chopped kkakdugi, giving it a crunchy texture.

It felt like they used a lot of kimchi juice to make it. Every bite had a strong kimchi aroma. At ₩6,000, it's great value, so it's good to order one and share among several people.

Half-and-half naengmyeon (cold noodles) _ ₩7,000. The half-and-half naengmyeon was genuinely delicious. It solved the eternal dilemma of choosing between mul-naengmyeon (cold noodle soup) and bibim-naengmyeon (spicy mixed cold noodles). I highly, highly recommend ordering this half-and-half!! BBQ restaurant naengmyeon can sometimes be disappointing, but this Jongno spot was a total naengmyeon specialist.

The mul-naengmyeon was refreshing, tangy, and delicious, and the broth was so good that I drank it like soup even after finishing the noodles. The bibim-naengmyeon sauce was also well made and really tasty. Both the bibim and mul versions are great, so I fully recommend the naengmyeon at this Jongno spot.

Thick pork neck and pork belly — salt, maeljeot, and scallion salad combos

While we were still enjoying the delicious hanwoo, they started grilling the pork neck too.

The pork neck was so thick I wondered if it would even cook through. Someone who's skilled at grilling clearly has their own know-how. They cooked it perfectly to eating temperature.

I dipped a plump piece of pork neck in maeljeot. This is a Jongno BBQ spot where the pork is delicious too. The outside had a slight crispness while the meat inside was tender. There was no toughness at all — it was chewy in a good way, with a subtle, pleasant charcoal aroma.

Maeljeot went well with it, but dipping it in just salt was also delicious. If anything, pork neck might actually pair even better with salt.

The scallion salad with its intense nuttiness adds savoriness to the meat even with just a small amount on top. Honestly, truly delicious meat is delicious with any combination — that's the truth.

They grill corn at a BBQ restaurant

It was surprising to see corn come out. As far as I can remember, this was the first time I've had a BBQ restaurant grill corn for me. It seemed like chodang sweet corn. It was genuinely delicious. My corn-obsessed husband finished his own quickly, then eyed mine and polished it off too, haha.

The pork belly had great meat quality, but the grilling skill involved felt remarkable too.

It wasn't just "good" — the fat flavor of this pork belly was different from any I've had before. They grilled the fatty parts so well that the fat actually tasted flavorful, almost rich. The fat and skin parts were crispy with real fat flavor coming through, and it was fantastic. Did pork belly always have this kind of fat flavor? It was genuinely so delicious...

Summing up — good for dates and company dinners alike

Jonggak-ap Nosang Gongyeong Juchajang, a great Jongno spot for a company dinner, is also a good place to visit on a date. So what's the biggest strength here? The meat is genuinely delicious. The 1++ hanwoo and the pork were both truly amazing!