Myeongdong pork soup restaurant: black pepper and daytime soju, Baekok

Where is Baekok Myeongdong in the Myeongdong alleys?

Baekok Myeongdong is a pork gomtang Korean restaurant hidden inside an alley right in the middle of Myeongdong, at 8-23 Myeongdong 8-gil. Hours are 11:00-22:00. I've always eaten at Myeongdong Gyoja whenever I came to Myeongdong, but I'd been wanting to try pork gomtang ever since seeing it on Culinary Class Wars, so for once I went to Myeongdong for something other than Myeongdong Gyoja. I've walked through Myeongdong sooo many times and never knew an alley like this was hiding here.

Has anyone else seen an alley like this in Myeongdong? If there were an outdoor pojangmacha (street food tent) vibe like the old industrial alleys in Euljiro or Seongsu, the atmosphere here would be insane (well, there's no outdoor tent here haha).

And there it is, Baekok, hidden away. But there were a lot of foreign visitors around — seriously, how do foreigners even find their way this deep into the alley? Haha.

Baekok Myeongdong menu and prices

Baekok Myeongdong's menu is built around pork gomtang, with yakgomtang (seems to have herbal medicine ingredients) and bulgomtang (spicier) as variations, and the regular pork gomtang itself comes in regular and special sizes. On top of that there are cabbage dumplings, grilled pork tail, and cold jeyuk (boiled sliced pork).

They say it's domestic pork shoulder. Regular is ₩11,000 and large is ₩15,000. Yakgomtang is a bit pricier because of the herbal ingredients, and the spicy version costs ₩1,000 more for the chili paste. I ordered the regular pork gomtang and the cold jeyuk. Most places use shoulder meat for cold jeyuk too, but here they said it's cheek meat, so I was curious.

They said the meat is cooked at a low temperature, sous-vide style. The rice is Sindongjin rice. The broth is made from pork bone, shoulder meat, and root vegetables. Feels like a lot of care went into it haha.

Cold pork cheek jeyuk with tohajeot (salted shrimp)

First out was Baekok Myeongdong's cold jeyuk. I wondered what the little side dish was — turned out to be tohajeot (fermented tiny shrimp sauce). The owner really knows flavor pairing haha. It goes really well with tohajeot. Must be the cheek meat, but it's incredibly chewy.

There's barely any fat, so why is it this chewy? It pairs really well with tohajeot, and since it's cold jeyuk, it's not served warm — maybe that's part of why it's chewier.

Tohajeot is probably shrimp seasoned with sauce — 'toha' is likely the hanja for shrimp or something like that (my hanja is elementary level). Anyway, it goes really well with the tohajeot.

What the pork gomtang broth and shoulder meat taste like

Then came Baekok Myeongdong's pork gomtang, served in a brass-looking bowl. Even without an explanation, the visual alone says a lot of care went into it. The shoulder meat is sliced thin, skin and all. There's no off pork smell, just a clean meaty aroma.

Steam rising gently.

The shoulder meat includes the skin, and the fat-to-lean ratio is really good.

I was trying not to drink soju but... hahahaha. This is a menu that's a shame not to drink soju with.

It's shoulder meat but however they slice it, the ratio is amazing.

One of the chefs on Culinary Class Wars was apparently famous for pork gomtang, and ever since then I'd been really curious what it would taste like — now that I've tried it, I get why he's famous.

And apparently the rice is good quality too, so maybe that's adding to how tasty it feels?

The tohajeot cheek meat cold jeyuk is amazing. The broth is clear but has just enough meaty aroma, clean and light, with the seasoning almost perfectly balanced.

Daytime soju and the black pepper pairing

Pork gomtang, cold jeyuk, soju, and daytime haha. This is exactly the flavor of daytime drinking.

There was pepper on the table so I sprinkled some in, and it seemed to be freshly ground and stored. The grains are coarse, and pepper goes reeeally well with pork gomtang. Seriously, really well.

Such a huge piece of shoulder meat. Not sure exactly how much more you get with the special size, but the regular is plenty for a simple lunch. If you're going to drink, either get the special size or add the cold jeyuk.

Tried the pepper again and the pairing is incredible. Pepper really goes so well with this.

Getting more and more pepper-covered haha. Not sure if any generic ground pepper would do, but this particular freshly-ground pepper really pairs well. There's no pork smell, just that distinctive meaty aroma, and the aroma and pepper are an insanely good match.

It really pairs so well with pepper. That pepper is a total cheat code for the pork's meaty aroma. I'm not exaggerating, it really works.

Dishwasher: ON.

A nice final touch — mouthwash and dental floss at the counter. Ate really well.