Songpa Seoul Korean BBQ with tableside grilling: Yukmong

This is a great place for enjoying good meat, nicely grilled, in a really good mood. Corkage is free for one bottle of wine too, so it is perfect for pairing good meat with a good wine!

A neat space and a wide range of drinks

The interior is very neat, with a slightly upscale Korean set-menu restaurant feel. It seems like a good fit for treating someone to a meal, or for a company dinner too.

Up on the second floor, there is a larger space with more atmospheric wallpaper. Exhaust ducts are usually fixed above the ceiling and tend to block the view a little, but there was nothing like that here, so it was easy to see and talk with people across from us.

They seem to put real effort into their lineup of traditional Korean liquor and premium drinks.

Shrek Galbi sold out, so we ordered pork neck, belly, and skirt meat

The menu is impressively broad, starting with Korean beef and moving through pork, with everything from traditional Korean liquor to wine. I had wanted to order the Shrek Galbi, which seemed to be one of their signatures, but sadly it was sold out that day. ㅠㅠ Instead, we ordered two servings of pork neck, two of pork belly, one of pork skirt meat, and cold buckwheat noodles.

Banchan begins with seasoned raw crab

When banchan (Korean side dishes) arrives at a barbecue restaurant, you normally expect kimchi or pickles. Here, they start you off with seasoned raw crab.

Wow, seasoned raw crab as a basic side dish? That is insane.

There was almost no fishiness, and the seasoning was clean with a slight kick, so it looked great with rice too. The crab shells were especially soft, with barely anything getting in the way as you chewed, making them easy to eat. There were also shredded radish salad, white kimchi, pickled onions, seasoned cucumber, japchae, and fresh cabbage kimchi, so the variety of side dishes was considerable. The pickled onions and cabbage kimchi in particular were the kind of sides that go straight with meat, so I kept reaching for them throughout the meal.

Meat grilled to your preferred doneness

They offer a grilling service, so while you sit and wait, enjoying the side dishes, a staff member grills the meat and serves it on a plate. The grill itself is a little unusual too: the metal sections make a substantial amount of contact with the meat. With this structure, it felt like the surface would develop a good Maillard crust and cook up crisp.

I also liked that they first served the grilled meat on a plate and asked about my preferred doneness. They adjusted the meat that followed to that standard, so you can eat it just how you like. Tamarind sauce, ssamjang (seasoned soybean paste), wasabi, and Maldon salt were provided, and I was told the pickled ginger is made by preserving yuzu.

The seed jeotgal (salted seafood condiment) was fun too, haha. It is on the dry side, making it nice to put a little on top of the meat, and it contains herring roe and nuts including pumpkin seeds. I had never seen this combination before, so it felt quite fresh. It even made me want to try recreating it at home while I was eating the meat.

Simply grilled pork neck

I started with the pork neck. They explained that, because it comes from the shoulder area, it had been grilled a little more thoroughly; it was delicious with just a touch of wasabi. The clean, characteristic flavor of pork neck remained intact, while the grilled aroma on the surface made it easy to eat.

Tamarind sauce with pork belly

The pork belly arrived cooked to exactly the right point rather than all the way to well-done. It was really nice that they asked about doneness at the beginning and tailored it accordingly. The fatty richness and meatiness were both good, and I especially liked the pleasantly crisp bite from the skin. They recommended tamarind sauce with the pork belly, and it worked very well. Its acidity and garlicky aroma cut right through the richness of the pork.

Pork skirt meat with an impressive meaty aroma

Next came the pork skirt meat we had ordered additionally. I found it a little fascinating that, after grilling the meat, they wiped away the remaining fat on the grill with sandwich bread. Since the grill condition matters when cooking the next meat after fatty pork belly, it seems they pay attention to details like this too.

Personally, the pork skirt meat had the most memorable meaty aroma of all the meat that day. Its characteristically clean yet firm texture was lovely, and the more I chewed, the more the flavor of the meat itself came through. It is really good alongside cold buckwheat noodles. A bite of clean-tasting pork skirt meat followed by a forkful of noodles is quite the combination.

Cold buckwheat noodles more generous than a dessert portion

The cold buckwheat noodles had great springiness. They retained a pleasantly firm, chewy texture, and the noodles seemed very well cooked. I recommend cutting them to a manageable length with scissors. At ₩9,000, I initially wondered whether they were a little pricey for dessert noodles, but once they arrived, the portion was far beyond dessert size—generous like one from a dedicated naengmyeon restaurant. Since so many side dishes come with the meal, the noodles and sides alone would be plenty. Honestly, it even felt like you could come for the noodles and order a little meat to go with them.

The cool, clean flavor of the noodles keeps resetting the clean yet meaty flavor of the pork skirt meat, so I just kept eating.

A meal complete with varied accompaniments

Overall, Yukmong Bangi Direct Branch (육몽 방이직영점) felt like more than just a Bangi-dong Korean barbecue restaurant where you grill meat. It clearly pays attention to the grilling service, varied side dishes, and sauce pairings that change with each cut.

Starting with seasoned raw crab as a basic side dish, there were fun accompaniments that are hard to find at ordinary barbecue restaurants, such as seed jeotgal and yuzu pickled ginger. It was a bit disappointing that I could not try the Shrek Galbi because it was sold out, but the pork neck, pork belly, and pork skirt meat alone made for a thoroughly satisfying meal. Next time, I will have to come back when Shrek Galbi is still available.

If you are looking for a Korean barbecue restaurant in Bangi-dong where you can enjoy varied sides along with a grilling service, Yukmong Bangi Direct Branch is worth adding to your list. Since they grill the meat for you, there are no interruptions while you eat, and you can enjoy your meal comfortably.