Seoul Korean BBQ restaurant with window seats: Chowon Salt Grill
In short
Chowon Salt Grill (초원소금구이) is an outdoor-grill beef BBQ restaurant in a side alley of the Bangi-dong restaurant street in Songpa, Seoul. Arriving at 6:20pm on a weekday meant 3 groups already waiting, so putting your name down in advance on Catch Table helps; a lucky window seat came with a beef brisket and scallop samhap (three-way grilled combo), brisket doenjang jjigae (soybean paste stew) and kimchi fried rice. The meat and seafood at Chowon Salt Grill were good, but the cool, fully ripened kimchi was the most memorable part.
Good to know
- Location
- 37 Olympic-ro 32-gil, 1st floor, Songpa-gu, Seoul
- Hours
- Fri–Sat 16:00–01:00, all other days 16:00–24:00
- Parking
- No parking available
- Reservations and waiting
- Reservations and advance waitlist via Catch Table
- Wait on arrival
- 3 groups waiting at 6:20pm on a weekday
- Ordered
- Samhap combo, doenjang jjigae (includes 1 rice), fried rice
as written by the visitor on Sep 16, 2026
Where is Chowon Salt Grill, and what are the hours?
Chowon Salt Grill is an outdoor-grill beef BBQ restaurant on the 1st floor of 37 Olympic-ro 32-gil, in Bangi-dong's restaurant alley, Songpa-gu, Seoul. It's open Friday and Saturday 16:00–01:00, and other days 16:00–24:00. No parking available.
Chowon Salt Grill 📍 Location: 1st floor, 37 Olympic-ro 32-gil, Songpa-gu 🕐 Hours Fri, Sat 16:00 - 01:00 Other days 16:00 - 24:00 🚙 Parking: Not available
Really... first of all........... highly recommend........
Turn slightly left off Bangi-dong's main alley and Chowon Salt Grill appears right away. I honestly didn't have huge expectations, but even arriving at 6:30pm on a weekday there was already a wait, so I figured it had built up quite a reputation!
What the outdoor seating feels like on a weekday evening
Chowon Salt Grill keeps its whole hall open and runs like an outdoor barbecue spot, so on a nice weekday evening, tables kept filling up with a mix of people fresh off work and couples on dates.
The weather's been so nice lately that they had the whole hall open, and it really felt like an outdoor barbecue night! Grilling meat and eating outside in weather like this — how good does that feel? Since it was a weekday, there were lots of people who came straight from work and lots of couples on dates too, and honestly the waiting line just kept getting longer and longer.
This right here is outdoor-grill romance!
How long is the wait, and how to book on Catch Table
We got there around 6:20pm, and there were already 3 groups waiting! You can reserve through Catch Table, so I'd recommend checking the wait beforehand and joining the pre-waitlist before you go ♥
Yesss, great seat too! Right by the window!
Ordering the samhap combo and brisket doenjang jjigae
We ordered Chowon Salt Grill's famous samhap (three-way combo) and added a doenjang soup (soybean paste stew). The soup comes with one bowl of rice.
Since the samhap is the famous item, of course we ordered that. And added a doenjang stew!
The owner is dead serious about eating things the right way hahahahahaha — there were notes all over the tables and walls explaining how to eat it properly (but honestly, eating it that way really is the tastiest).
The side dishes are kept simple. The main dish is what matters.
The doenjang soup comes with a bowl of rice! Brisket doenjang stews often skimp on the actual brisket, but this one was packed full, and these days portions of rice tend to be small too...(?)... but they gave a huge scoop, like at your grandma's house!
How good are the beef and scallops in the samhap?
The samhap arrives. Honestly, combo-style menu items usually drop in quality compared to ordering things separately, but the meat quality here was still excellent. I was a bit worried about the seafood too since it's summer, but it was so fresh.
Ah, I want to eat it again already.............
Isn't the meat quality great? (How can you tell from just a photo, you ask)
The kimchi at Chowon Salt Grill stole the meal
And honestly, the kimchi here is insane. They could run a business just selling kimchi. Actually, just sell it to me directly.
It's so vivid and sour — should I call it sour kimchi?... it's really tangy. You'd think well-aged kimchi (mukeunji) would get a bit mushy when it's really aged, but this stayed so fresh.
Like this, one bite of the samhap, ahh!
Keep grilling, keep eating
So much outdoor-grill vibe~ feeling good~ weather's so good~
Best way to eat the brisket and specialty cuts
All the beef besides the brisket was great too! It was just labeled 'specialty cut' so I don't know the exact cut, but everything melted in the mouth. When eating it in the samhap style, brisket is the tastiest option, and for the other cuts I'd recommend dipping them in the salt sauce.
Finishing with kimchi fried rice
We finished with fried rice! We were genuinely full, but the reason we still ordered fried rice was, again, the kimchi. It was so good that we were 100% sure the fried rice made with it would be delicious too, and sure enough... insanely good....
And on top of that, we piled on more kimchi too ㅠ Seriously, just sell me the kimchi.
We finished with a completely empty bowl,... and today, once again, I became a chubby little pig...
Where it is
37 Olympic-ro 32-gil, 1st floor, Songpa-gu, Seoul, South Korea서울특별시 송파구 올림픽로32길 37 1층
