Aewol black pork BBQ 600g with peanut salt: Nopo Dwaeji Aewol

Why we reserved an evening table for black pork at Nopo Dwaeji Aewol

Aewol black pork spot Nopo Dwaeji 🐷 A weekend Jeju trip with my sisters and a baby — four of us in total 🍊 Whenever I come to Jeju I feel like black pork is non-negotiable, so I went looking and found a great spot near where we were staying..!

It was a weekday, but just in case there was a wait, we booked ahead and visited Nopo Dwaeji Aewol in the evening.

Right at the entrance, two black pig statues greeted us! Plug it into your navigation and the giant sign plus the floor-to-ceiling window make it impossible to miss 🤤 Pigs, brace yourselves — the sisters who know good food are coming.

What comes in the 600g black pork set: pork neck and pork belly

Nopo Dwaeji's signature dish is, of course, the black pork set. We came here for black pork, so we ordered the 600g set right away 🐷 This combo mixes pork neck and pork belly!

They say it's aged for a whopping 168 hours, apparently. There's a review event that gets you a free jjigae or naengmyeon (cold noodles), so definitely leave a review and treat yourself to a good dessert too.

The crushed-peanut sesame salt I kept all to myself

Once you order, they bring out lettuce, perilla leaves, chili, sliced green onion, kimchi, and more. But the best part was that peanut crumb salt..? It's so nutty and just the right amount salty, and it's a perfect match with the meat. Why didn't I know about this before — I basically ate it all myself haha. They also serve water in clean bottled form, which felt nice and hygienic.

Staff grill it for you: is Nopo Dwaeji Aewol easy with a toddler?

The staff kept controlling the charcoal, sprinkling water and adjusting the heat. Then the meat we were about to demolish made its entrance. Look at that thickness. They said it gets a first sear on high heat before coming out — a nice touch that shortens the wait before it reaches our mouths^ I was already itching to eat.

Ta-da, look at that meat visual. Absolutely glowing. I'd already had lunch but this color made me hungry again,,

And I was so grateful to the staff — we didn't have to lift a finger, just wait, and they'd grill it perfectly and push it aside for us to eat. Even when one of them briefly stepped away, another would take over, so we could just sit there doing nothing lol.

My sister's daughter (a four-year-old niece) came along too, and as aunties, you really don't want to waste extra energy looking after a kid, right? Sometimes we skip eating meat ourselves because nobody wants to be stuck grilling solo, but this was so nice 🙊 And judging by that perfect crisp-outside-juicy-inside result, is this place staffed entirely by grilling masters?

⭐️ Just really, really delicious ⭐️

Kelp rice and seafood doenjang jjigae are the real highlight

Oh, and another kicker was the kelp rice. Wait, what's kelp rice..? I thought maybe it was just rice cooked in kelp water for color, but even eaten plain it's insanely savory — it seemed to boost the flavor of everything you eat with it by about 2.87 times.

Eating that kelp rice with the doenjang jjigae is basically a rice thief. The jjigae is a full seafood party, so it's insanely savory too,, dip the rice lightly in the stew, then top it with meat — you all know exactly what that tastes like, no need to explain???????

A rice thief has appeared! I'm going to blow my diet on this!

The self-serve bar and our extra pork neck order

When you're eating meat, sometimes you want more wraps or side dishes, and the self-serve bar lets you grab as much as you need — that's another nice touch. But you know what? We're serious carnivores who know our food, so

we ended up ordering more meat. Everything else was just a supporting cast lol. Our picky-eater niece ended up eating way more than expected, so of course we aunties had to blow our diet and order more^^

I like a firmer, chewier texture, so this time we added an order of pork neck. I was curious about galmaegisal (skirt meat) too ㅠㅠ but I'll try that next time.

Three bottles of Hallasan soju, then a walk by the sea

We went ahead and ordered Hallasan soju. I've been cutting back on drinking lately because of working out, but this kind of food really doesn't let me hold back on soju. Sorry to my sister who couldn't drink because she had to drive — let's come back again. We had great meat with three bottles of soju and then took a walk along the beach, and it was so nice 🫶🐷

Nopo Dwaeji Aewol: address, hours and reservations

• 📍 1-dong 202-ho, 5-1 Gwakji 9-gil, Aewol-eup, Jeju-si
• 📍 Recommend booking through Naver Reservation before visiting!
• 📍 Hours: open daily, 11:00–23:00

I'm coming back to Jeju, and I'll be coming back to this place often. I officially declare this a must-visit black pork restaurant.