Pyeongtaek Korean BBQ restaurant with pear slush: Ihwajeong

With my move just around the corner, I’ve been incredibly busy lately. There are so many things to worry about and so much to sort through. I definitely threw away a huge amount not long ago, but a few days later there’s another mountain of trash, and then another mountain a few days after that... Is this a home or a trash-generating machine? 🤣 Maybe because I’m tired, I started craving sweet charcoal-grilled pork galbi, so I headed to Ihwajeong Charcoal-Grilled Pork Galbi (이화정 숯불돼지갈비).

Getting to Ihwajeong Charcoal-Grilled Pork Galbi in Pyeongtaek

You can see the Ihwajeong Charcoal-Grilled Pork Galbi sign properly only from the road across the street. I put it into navigation, couldn’t spot the sign, drove straight past it, then had to make a U-turn and come back 🥲

The Ihwajeong Charcoal-Grilled Pork Galbi sign is hard to see from the road, so look for the Shabu All Day sign instead. Turn right at exactly the spot in this photo.

Ihwajeong Charcoal-Grilled Pork Galbi is on the building’s second floor. The entrance upstairs is between Mikkodam and Shabu All Day, and you can take the elevator inside the building.

Maybe because it uses the entire second floor of this large building, the restaurant was enormous. There were also partitioned-off areas further inside, so it looked great for family gatherings, group meals, or work dinners. We sat by the window today.

The table setting and meat menu

This was the basic table setting, and it came with a nice variety of side dishes. There was soy-marinated crab among the banchan (Korean side dishes), so I ordered a bowl of rice and had a little before the meat was ready. The crab meat came away easily, and it was sweet and delicious. The crab is included as a basic side, but an extra four pieces cost ₩8,000.

The meat menu includes Ihwajeong marinated pork (the signature), marinated pork galbi with bone, and beef rib meat.

Signature Ihwajeong marinated pork

We started with two servings of the signature Ihwajeong marinated pork. True to the description of tender, thick-cut pork neck, the meat was quite substantial and looked seriously appetizing even before it hit the grill!

Before long, the charcoal was ready, and why? Why did it look so pretty? Was I hungry? It reminded me of Calcifer from Howl’s Moving Castle haha. Ihwajeong says it uses oak charcoal that has been fired twice for a richer charcoal aroma. Seeing it in person, the pieces were large and the heat was impressively strong. So that’s why the charcoal looked pretty!

Time to properly start grilling! The meat was also shaped nicely, so it could be arranged neatly on the grill. I like things like this... haha

Marinated meat is a little tricky to grill over charcoal. I tend to burn it often, but the easiest way not to burn it is to flip it frequently! Somehow my husband knows the timing—he grilled it wonderfully without flipping it nearly as often as I do.

Before I knew it, the meat was almost cooked. The smell of marinated galbi mixed with charcoal aroma wafted up, and even though I hadn’t arrived especially hungry, my appetite suddenly kicked into high gear.

The cooked marinated pork was glistening, incredibly tender, and delicious. I’m naturally a pork-neck person, so I enjoyed it even more, but even my husband, who doesn’t particularly like pork neck, said it was so good today. Since the pieces were thick, they were full of juices and chewed tenderly with hardly any dry texture.

Ihwajeong uses pear in its marinade for a gentle sweetness, then cross-ages the meat twice over 144 hours. Tasting it, the marinade had soaked naturally into the meat rather than tasting aggressively sweet, and it was remarkably tender despite being thick-cut pork neck. The sweet marinade and charcoal aroma worked so well together that, if you’re looking for pork galbi in Pyeongtaek, I really think you should try the signature marinated pork.

My favorite side dish was the pickled onions. The sauce was delicious to begin with, but the onions were sliced so thinly that they had gone soft, as though thoroughly steeped in soy sauce. They were sweet and crisp without any sharp heat. The meat tasted even better with onions that had fully absorbed the seasoning. My husband tore lettuce into the pickled onions and ate it that way too, and it was delicious. Another brilliant move from Mr. Foodie haha.

An extra order of beef rib meat

We had definitely said we weren’t that hungry, but it was so good that we ended up ordering one more serving haha. This time, we chose beef rib meat.

The beef rib meat is grilled in the same way as the marinated pork.

Once it was nicely browned on both sides, we cut it up. It felt a little chewy when eaten in large pieces like the pork, so we cut it smaller. You dip it in the sauce served alongside; according to my husband, it tastes like the sauce for dipping gopchang (beef intestines) or daechang (beef large intestine). I don’t eat either, so I have no idea what that sauce tastes like... haha

Anyway, the beef rib meat was delicious in a different way from the pork. But for us that day, the marinated pork was tastier than the beef rib meat. The marinated pork was so much better than expected that the beef ended up in second place haha.

Sunset, the pear concept, and post-meal pear slush

We visited in the evening, and the sun set while we were eating. The view outside the window was so beautiful. The sky was especially lovely that day, so my husband practically pressed himself against the window to take photos in the middle of dinner haha.

On the way out after our meal, I saw a tree and thought nothing of it, but on closer inspection it was a pear tree. There were pears hanging from the tree, and even the boxes underneath were pear boxes haha. From its pear-based marinade to its interior, Ihwajeong uses pears as a concept. I’ve seen plenty of cherry-blossom-tree interiors, but this was my first time seeing one with pears hanging from it, and it was cute.

And this is the post-meal dessert, which you absolutely, definitely have to try!!! I thought it was just ice cream, but it was pear slush. It reminded me of Tank Boy, and my husband said it seemed to be made with crushed pear drink. It was less sweet than Tank Boy but had a stronger pear flavor, and it was honestly so delicious. My husband even brought a separate one for me, so I wondered why we needed two instead of sharing one... but it was so good that I demolished an entire cup by myself haha. From the soft, juicy marinated pork to the pear slush that perfectly suited Ihwajeong’s concept, it was a truly satisfying dinner 👍

Overall

• The signature marinated pork was thick yet tender.
• Sweet marinade and charcoal aroma came together beautifully in the pork galbi.
• Its spacious dining room and separate areas make it a good spot for family gatherings and work dinners.
• I highly recommend trying the refreshing pear slush after the meal.