Thick 2cm pork galbi with self-bar banchan refills: Ihwajeong

Whenever I'm trying to figure out dinner these days, meat is always the safe, no-fail choice, right? 🤭 Especially when eating with family, I end up looking for somewhere with easy parking, spacious seating, and good banchan (side dishes) to go with the meat — not somewhere too loud or cramped.

This time I went looking for a good spot for a family meal out in Pyeongtaek and ended up at Ihwajeong Charcoal-Grilled Pork Galbi (이화정 숯불돼지갈비) 🥩. If you're after a good BBQ restaurant near Sosabeol or you like your Pyeongtaek pork galbi thick, this place is worth a try :)

Location and parking — Manse-ro 1662, plenty of parking

Ihwajeong Charcoal-Grilled Pork Galbi is located at 📌 1662 Manse-ro, Pyeongtaek-si, Gyeonggi-do. It's on Manse-ro, the road that leads from Pyeongtaek toward Wongok in Anseong, and it's in the same building as Mikkodam and Shabu All Day, so it wasn't hard to find.

One thing I really liked here was the parking lot! 🚗💨 Parking is always low-key stressful when you're going out for BBQ, but there's plenty of space here, which made driving over really convenient. Easy parking matters more than you'd think when you're moving around with kids or taking your parents out to eat haha. Since it's not tucked away in a crowded commercial strip, the whole atmosphere felt comfortable for families 😊

2nd-floor dining room — high ceilings, less meat smell

The restaurant is on the second floor. Once I went up, the space was bigger than I expected! Best of all, the ceilings are high and the air circulation felt good, so even though it's a charcoal grill place, the smoke and meat smell weren't overpowering. I liked that it didn't have that stuffy feeling typical of BBQ restaurants 👍

The tables had a decent amount of space between them, and there were various seating options, from 4-person tables to spots for larger groups. It seemed like a good place for a family meal with a baby, and I thought it would also work well for eating with parents 👨‍👩‍👧‍👦💕 Looking around while eating, I noticed other families there too, so I guess I wasn't the only one thinking that haha. If you care about the overall atmosphere when picking a BBQ restaurant in Pyeongtaek, this seems like a solid option.

Banchan and self-bar — refillable sides, extra charge for seasoned crab

As soon as we sat down, banchan to eat with the meat started coming out one by one, and there were more varieties than I expected, which caught my eye right away 👀✨ There was a refreshing salad, potato salad, pickles, and dressed lettuce — all things that go well with meat.

There's also a self-bar set up on one side, so you can go grab more of any banchan you run out of. There were plenty of staff around too, so it was easy to ask for anything we needed, and the self-bar itself felt clean and well managed.

The seasoned crab (yangnyeom gejang) costs extra, but the other banchan are refillable, which was nice :) With japchae (glass noodle stir-fry), pickles, seasoned raw vegetables, and potato salad all on offer, it felt more like a hanjeongsik (Korean set-meal) spread than a typical BBQ restaurant 😋 Eating seasoned pork galbi continuously can get a bit sweet or heavy after a while, but the tangy pickled onions and dressed lettuce in between kept my palate clean, so I kept going back for more.

Pork galbi, ₩17,000 — a thick 2cm cut

What we ordered was the seasoned pork galbi (돼지양념구이).

🥩 Pork galbi (seasoned grilled pork), ₩17,000

It's a dish made with a thick 2cm cut of raw pork, seasoned with the natural sweetness of all-natural ingredients, apparently.

Pretty good thickness even just from the photo, right?! 👀 These days at BBQ places, thick cuts like this just look so much more appetizing than thin ones haha.

How it's grilled — a hint of rice straw, keep flipping

The moment the meat hit the charcoal, that amazing smell started rising up, and I was starving right then and there 🤣🔥 The charcoal was pretty hot, so the meat browned quickly. It worked better to keep flipping rather than leaving one side down too long. The staff also checked in while we were grilling, so it was an easy, comfortable meal.

When they first set up the charcoal, they added something that looked like rice straw. I'm not sure exactly what it does, but it seemed to bring out a better charcoal aroma, and I liked that little touch haha 🤎

I tried a bite of the meat once it was browned and cut into pieces. Being thick, it had a really satisfying chew.

Despite the thickness, it wasn't as tough as I expected — actually pretty tender, which I liked. The seasoning also wasn't too sharp or overly sweet.

There's a moderate sweet-salty balance that goes well with rice, but it was also good eaten on its own 😋 Because it's sweetened with pear, the flavor felt naturally sweet rather than just sugary. If you love this style of pork galbi, I think this would really hit the spot when you're craving Pyeongtaek pork galbi.

Beef galbisal for one, extra order — piled high with garlic

There's also beef galbisal (short rib meat) for those craving beef 🥩 We ordered a portion of that too, and since it's grilled in a special soy-based sauce topped with a generous amount of garlic, the garlic aroma started drifting up as soon as it hit the grill 🤤

The galbisal had that distinctive nutty, chewy texture, and the sauce wasn't overly salty or sharp, so you could still taste the meat itself. The garlic on top got grilled along with it over the charcoal, intensifying in aroma, and it paired really well with the meat 🧄🔥

If the pork galbi was sweet and tender, the beef galbisal had a more savory, chewy appeal that was a bit cleaner in flavor. If you don't want to stick to just pork galbi, I'd recommend adding a portion of beef galbisal to the mix 😋💕

Finishing touch: pear slush

And to wrap up the meal, we discovered the pear slush 🍐❄️ This was a nice surprise haha. Your mouth can feel a bit heavy after eating meat, so a cool pear slush was the perfect way to finish. It had an icy, granular texture, but also smooth like a slush. Best of all, it wasn't too sweet, so it wasn't overwhelming, and it left my mouth feeling clean after the meal 💛