Icheon charcoal beef BBQ with baby chairs and mini table fans: Jowatso

This time I went to Icheon for some delicious beef 🥩🔥. The place I visited was Jowatso!

📍 Jowatso Janghowon Gamgok Main Branch / 📌 Address 25 Seodongdae-ro 8809beon-gil, Janghowon-eup, Icheon-si, Gyeonggi-do / ⏰ Hours Daily 11:00 - 22:00, last order 21:20 / 🅿️ Parking Available in front of the restaurant → if the front lot is full, use the lot behind

Jowatso parking and what the restaurant looks like inside

Jowatso has parking both in front of and behind the restaurant, but by the time we arrived, the front lot was already full. Honestly my expectations started rising before we even got inside haha.

🚘 When we got to the parking lot the front one was already packed! So we used the lot behind instead, and right then I started thinking this might be a real hidden gem haha 😆 But once we walked inside...

...there were so many people! At that point I thought, okay, we definitely found the right place haha.

What we ordered at Jowatso, plus the side dishes and self-bar

At Jowatso we ordered three things: the Jowatso signature special-cuts platter, mul naengmyeon (cold noodles), and yukhoe (beef tartare). We came for beef 🥩🔥, so of course we had to try the signature dish 😋

• 1️⃣ Jowatso signature special-cuts platter
• 2️⃣ Mul naengmyeon (cold noodles)
• 3️⃣ Yukhoe (beef tartare)

First the side dishes (banchan) arrived, and overall they were really tasty.

There was also a self-bar set up on one side, so we could easily grab more of whatever side dish we wanted.

I especially loved the 🥬 chive salad! Putting it on a piece of meat gave that crisp, well-seasoned crunch that kept my hand reaching for more haha.

Mini table fans: how Jowatso handles the heat of charcoal grilling

One thing that quietly impressed me at Jowatso was the mini fan available at every table. Since it's charcoal grilling, once the charcoal comes up to the table you inevitably feel the heat right on your face.

But here they had a mini 🌀 fan ready for use at the table! We put the little fan on the table just like in the photo and used it a lot, honestly 😂 That kind of small detail feels really thoughtful from a customer's point of view.

Jowatso signature special-cuts platter: the five cuts and how they taste

The Jowatso signature special-cuts platter arrives with several cuts on one plate: udae galbi, bonkkotsal, sogalbisal, buchaesal, and seasoned sogalbi. The platter we'd been waiting for, finally here!

From udae galbi to bonkkotsal, sogalbisal, buchaesal, and seasoned sogalbi, it came generously piled so we could try several cuts at once. The color of the meat looked fresh and the whole plate was seriously mouth-watering 🤤. We laid the pieces one by one on the charcoal grill 🥩🔥, sizzle sizzle.

Grilled it right over the charcoal and took a bite 😋 — delicious haha! The meat felt fresh and with the charcoal aroma added on top, it was really good. Especially since the meat wasn't chewy but tender, I could feel the juices 🥩 more the more I chewed.

'Melts in your mouth' is exactly the phrase for it 😂 Each cut had a slightly different taste and texture so it was fun picking through them one by one. The kids, of course, said the galbisal was 🍖 the best haha. Personally, the udae galbi was also amazing to me.

Grilling it over charcoal really let us taste the meat itself properly ❤️

How were the mul naengmyeon and yukhoe at Jowatso?

Jowatso's mul naengmyeon (cold noodles) did a great job cutting through the richness from all the meat. A beef meal without naengmyeon just wouldn't feel complete haha. Slurping down a cool bite, then eating a piece of meat, then more noodles — that combo was as good as ever 😋

And there's one more dish you can't skip! Yukhoe (beef tartare) ❤️ Dark red beef tartare sprinkled with sesame seeds on top,

...served alongside an egg yolk and pear, looking picture-perfect from the start! I popped the yolk and mixed it well into the yukhoe, then tried it together with the crisp, sweet pear,

...and the yukhoe was fresh, with seasoning that wasn't overdone, which I really liked. The sesame seeds sprinkled on top added a nutty flavor, and eating it with the pear 🍐 gave a great textural balance too 😋

What made dining with kids easy at Jowatso

There were several baby chairs set up near the entrance of Jowatso, and there were plenty of families dining there. Looking around the restaurant, there really were a lot of family groups.

The self-bar was convenient to use, and more than anything, the mini 🌀 fans the staff had thoughtfully set out meant we could eat comfortably the whole meal without any hassle.

And what stuck with me most was seeing so many local residents there! Even when we visited, there were a lot of customers who looked like neighborhood locals, and seeing that just made me trust the place more, you know?! Tourist spots people visit once are nice, but a beef restaurant that locals keep coming back to — isn't that the real sign of a good place 😊

The note posted on the wall at Jowatso

Inside Jowatso there was a notice posted about their chef's qualifications and their special sauce.

At Jowatso, a professional chef holding certifications in Korean, Western, Japanese, and pufferfish cuisine personally oversees everything, and we always do our best to supply high-quality meat. Jowatso's special sauce is made with care, in-house.

At first I thought it was just the kind of notice you see at any restaurant, but after actually eating the 🥩 meat, I felt like it wasn't just words posted for show haha ❤️

This trip to Icheon turned into a really satisfying 🍽 meal thanks to some proper delicious beef. If you're in Icheon wanting to eat good beef with your family and looking for a beef restaurant around Janghowon, drop by Jowatso 🥩🔥